How color and lighting can create an illusion of the perceived size of your room
If you have ever performed a simple card trick, you know there is always an illusion behind its success. While sleight of hand will not do much to enlarge your room, various color and lighting choices can!
Before you get started, evaluate the room. Note when the natural light is at its brightest and how many artificial lights you already have in the room. Also, try to take a fresh look at the wall colors. While you may know you painted the walls with Dusty Mountain Blue, the reality is the walls actually look more like Elephant Gray most of the time.
Now that you better know your room, you will be better able to see which illusion will be the best choice for altering the perceived size of your space. You might try a new lighting scheme, re-paint the walls or a combination of the two.
To make the room appear larger, the key is to strategically project a good amount of light onto the walls and ceiling. The light will reflect off the surfaces into the room and cause it to look bigger. Use lighting that will create the largest expanses of light onto the walls.
Also, try lighting all four corners of the room. The eye will tend to take in the entire scope of the room and will make the room appear to grow in every direction.
Cooler color tones on the walls tend to make a room look larger especially if you paint the ceiling a bright white. If you paint the moldings a darker shade, the effect will be even more prominent. Your room will open up and feel as though it has expanded significantly.
To lengthen the look of the room, you might create repetitive shafts of light along a wall. The eye will be drawn along the wall and it will appear longer. You can use this trick to elongate a hallway or the space above a fireplace by placing similar candles or sconces repeatedly in a straight row.
If you want to make your 9-foot ceiling stand as tall as 10 or 11-foot ceilings, keep in mind that vertical stripes can give the illusion of extra height. If you hang pendant lights low, the long stem will cause the eye to perceive a taller room.
Striped panels of color on the walls will also give the same effect. Select a wall and use painters blue tape and a level to mark off the places you want vertical stripes to appear. Apply the paint and wait until you get past the middle stages of drying before removing the tape. This will help you avoid bleeding paint. Your room will stand as tall and proud as a military officer with its new stripes.
