The Paint Colour Experts Say Will Add Value To Your House And Make It Feel Bigger (and Its Not White)

Having space is often top of the wish list when it comes to what people want from their existing home or a new property.

But if someone has a small house, unless they start knocking down walls or extending the property, it’s not easy to get it.

However, while it may not yield square footage, it is possible to create the illusion of a spacious property, while creating neutral decor and adding value.

With the right knowledge (and some tins of paint) it’s possible to transform the look of a house or flat.

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Here, an expert reveals the colours,techniques, and optical illusions that will help make rooms look bigger.

How to choose a colour

According to painting and decorating expert Pat Gilham, light tones give the impression of a wall or ceiling being further away than it actually is, making the room look larger – and this doesn’t have to mean white, it could be neutrals or other light tones.

As a bonus, neutrals are known make a property attractive to prospective buyers, adding value to a home. Pat said: ‘You may have a colour in mind for your rooms, drawing inspiration from the furniture, floor, or artwork.

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‘But it’s important to decide whether you are going to go for an all-light look or contrast with darker tones.’

The reason the shade used is so important is because colours change the perception of space.

Light colours have the effect of receding away from the viewer, explained MyJobQuote.co.uk’s Pat, opening up the space and making it appear larger.

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Meanwhile, medium shades can shrink a room, and dark, warm colours advance towards you, creating a enclosed feeling.

Understanding these effects can help when it comes to deciding where to use lighter and darker colours – depending on the shape of your room and the desired look.

For example, when it comes to long, narrow rooms, using a deeper shade on the two shorter walls and a lighter hue on the longer ones gives the impression of a larger, square space.

If a room has a low ceiling,painting the ceiling white and the walls a darker colour makes the room seem vertically larger.

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Which colours are best to enlarge a room?

Classically, the favoured colours to make a room appear bigger are neutrals, light shades and various white tones. However, some rich dark colours can have a type of ‘bottomless’ effect whereby the eye can’t actually focus on a definitive depth to the shade, thereby creating the impression of a larger room.

Pat noted that if people do prefer a dark colour for their walls, this should be contrasted with light colours in other areas such as the furniture, bedding, décor and so on.

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Colour drenching

A trending and brave approach to making a home look bigger is colour drenching – a technique where each of the surfaces in the room is painted the same colour. This means the walls, from top to bottom, the doors, any mouldings and often, the ceiling and floor as well.

This technique can make a room look bigger as because there is only one colour, the eye is not distracted by, or drawn to, any contrasts or boundaries where there is suddenly another colour.

‘This offers a seamless impression with no harsh visual breaks, immediately giving the feeling of space to the room,’ said Pat.

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He added: ‘Semi-colour drenching is a compromise and leaves some surfaces, such as the ceiling, out of the chosen colour. Instead, the doors are painted along with the walls, creating an unbroken shade around the vertical surfaces.’

In addition, colour drenching can also save money as only one colour of paint is needed for all the surfaces in the room.

Create an optical illusion

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Just as choosing particular shades and colours of paint can create the impression of larger rooms, so too can using certain optical illusions. According to Pat, stripes can be used to create height or width.

‘By incorporating stripes either horizontally or vertically, you can make a room appear wider or the ceiling seem higher,’ he said. ‘Our eyes are naturally drawn to the direction of the stripes, and this fools our brains into thinking that the space is bigger as a result.

‘So, for a room with a low ceiling, painting vertical stripes on the walls will draw the eye upwards and for narrow rooms, horizontal stripes will make the space seem wider.’

Paint the ceiling a different colour

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Another way of tricking the eyes is to paint the ceiling a different colour to the walls, typically a cool tone or an off white.  This has the effect of drawing attention upward and making the ceiling seem higher – or it serves to distract from the size of the room altogether by pulling focus away from the walls.

‘Avoid stark white ceilings, as this often only accentuates the divide between the ceiling and walls,’ Pat advised.

Pick a darker colour for skirting boards

Having dark skirting boards and light coloured walls is an excellent way of creating a sense of height within a room.

‘In reality, anything that is below the midpoint of our eyeline can be darker, and the rest lighter, in order to make the room seem larger,’ said Pat.

Work with the natural light in your home

According to Pat: ‘By making the best use of the natural light in the property, you can create a sense of space and openness.’

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Pick a paint that has a high Light Reflective Value (LRV). This value represents the amount of light that is reflected from a surface when it is illuminated by either a natural or artificial light source. A high LRV will help to make a small room seem bigger.

Mirrors also trick the eyes into perceiving space. Try to keep bushes, trees and foliage trimmed around the windows so they don’t block or reduce the amount of light coming in.

‘If you position mirrors where they will bounce the natural light around the room, you effectively double its effect,’ Pat noted.

Harmonise the wall colour with your furniture

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A good way of making a small room seem bigger is to harmonise the colour on the walls with the colour of your furniture. This will make the space seem bigger as the eye is not distracted by strong contrasts and dividing lines.

‘Using different tones of the same colour as your furniture can blend the room together,’ said Pat.

He added: ‘This tone-on-tone approach uses the same colour throughout the room but in varying shades and tints.

‘So, you can go from very light to darker tones. By staying within the same family of colour, you create a harmonious and visually pleasing space that feels expansive.’

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