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Adding Pattern

If single colors make spaces look bigger, it follows that anything that breaks up a run of one color has the opposite effect.

Dominant patterns are best avoided in small rooms unless you want to make a feature of the cosy, intimate feel, as they can create a frantic, over-busy impression that can be distinctly uncomfortable to live with.

If you are tired of flat painted walls, try a color-washed effect that softens the surface with a textured look without adding any obvious sense of pattern. You could also try small, discreet patterns, such as tiny floral springs, or checks or dots, which have a neat, contained look that can work well in bedrooms and children’s rooms. The other type of pattern that is worth considering is a subtle stripe, which can enhance the height or width of the room if you use it judiciously.

Adding patterns makes the room look more lively and you can create dramatic effects with various types of patterns available in the market.

Strong Colors

Continuing with our discussion on colors, your selection for other colors depends on how important it is to you that the space looks as large as possible. The stronger the color, the more it seem to advance, making the walls close in and the rooms look smaller, so color needs to be carefully handled. You may decide that some areas(bedrooms and dining rooms, for example) do not need to feel so spacious and might actually benefit from feeling warmer and more enclosed.

Warm colors, like reds, yellows, oranges will increase the warmth even more, while cooler shades, like blues, greens and lilacs will help the walls to appear recede. So, in principle, pale, cool colors are the best space-makers, and deep, warm colors the least effective. However, do not automatically exclude these stronger colors when decorating small spaces. By using flashes of colors, on single walls or in alcoves, or for individual pieces of furniture rather than as a background shape dominating the entire room, you can harness the energy and vitality they add, and use them to bring a neutral room to life.

Choosing Colors

Color is the crucial factor that brings rooms of all sizes to life, making an instant impact in establishing their mood and defining their shape. Therefore, the first principal to take on board is the fact that light colors make rooms look bigger.

In a small living room, whites and creams are the most obvious choices for wall colors. They are simple and elegant, providing a neutral background against which to arrange furniture, pictures and artefacts. The brightest whites establish a stark, cool environment, good for functional warehouses-style apartments and for creating a studio-like setting if you have pieces of art you want to display.

Bright white may be too cool, though, if the room doesn’t benefit from much sunlight. You could be better off choosing a creamy, parchment white or one of the many alternatives whites now available from paint companies. It is actually quite hard to find a pure white paint unless you opt for basic ‘trade white’, but there are hundreds of ‘designer’ whites that let you choose just the right level of cool or warmth and the exact depth of tone you want to suit the setting.