If you live in a smaller house or apartment, the lack of space can make you feel enclosed and uncomfortable.

Fortunately, plenty of visual tricks can make your smaller rooms feel much bigger than they truly are. They’ll help you feel more comfortable in your home and even wow guests.

With that in mind, here are 10 color and painting tips to make your small room(s) feel bigger.

1. Stick with the Same Color

An excellent way to maximize that feeling of “openness” in your home is to paint all your walls and ceilings the same color. 

You may want to paint your bathrooms or bedrooms differently, but sticking with the same color, in general, will create that continuity that offers a perception of a larger room.

2. Add One Accent Wall

We’re going to slightly break rule #1 with an accent wall. Adding a color that contrasts with the rest of the home can draw peoples’ attention to a single point, which can make the rest of the room feel larger in comparison.

3. Emphasize Rectangular Room Length

Rectangular rooms offer an easy way to expand their perceived size. Paint the long walls darker than the short ones — whether a darker shade of the same color or completely black.

Doing this draws attention to the long walls, helping to emphasize the room’s length.

4. Try Some Contrast

As the accent wall shows, some contrast can help. A great way to use contrast to expand how large a room looks is to use neutral colors that have high contrast with each other.

5. Try Stripes

Stripes are known for their height-enhancing effects in clothing. The same thing goes for interior design.

Vertical stripes can make your walls appear taller, whereas horizontal makes them look longer. It’s up to what you’re looking for. 

6. Choose the Right Undertones

The undertones are the colors you blend to arrive at that final paint color. You want these undertones to match fixed items in your home like your floors and cabinets.

If you aren’t sure how to pick undertones, that’s what an interior designer like R&R can help with!

7. Lighten the Trim and Moldings

Paint your wall trim and moldings a bit lighter in color than your walls. This makes your walls look like they’re “pushed” further back than they actually are, adding some more perceived space to the room.

8. Lighten the Ceiling

Painting your ceiling a lighter color than the walls can give it the appearance of being further away, thus making your room feel taller. 

9. Dark Colors in Light-Starved Spaces

Natural light can automatically help a room feel bigger. After all, you can see the outside world.

But for those natural-light-starved spaces, you need some extra effort. That’s where dark colors can help. They can make walls feel pushed out a bit further.

Of course, you’ll have artificial lighting in these rooms. Make sure to test out a small bit of the paint on the wall under the light first before painting every wall.

10. Pick the Right Finish

Finishes range from matte (no shine) to high gloss (plenty of shine). That shine helps make your space feel bigger, but too much shine might be unpleasant to look at.

Ideally, go for eggshell or satin, as these fall in the middle of the shininess scale. They’ll reflect light to make the room look bigger without being too shiny.

At R&R, we understand the struggle of making a small space feel bigger. We use modern accents and fun colors to help your space visually expand and feel more open. Contact us today to get your free quote on our interior design services!