Playing with your room’s proportion

You might think you're stuck with a poky bathroom or a long narrow living room, but there are different visual tricks you can employ to change howthe room is perceived, without having to take on major renovations.

Colour change

Colour can be a very helpful tool to create optical illusions, making the most of your room’s best features, camouflaging others and bringingthe room into balance.

For example, warm yellow and red colours like Resene Pohutukawa and Resene Hacienda can bring in the wallsof large, uninviting spaces, making them feel closer and cosier.

Cooler shades of green and blue such as Resene Reservoir and Resene Hemisphere can make walls recede and give the impression of more space, making them a good choice for smaller, narrow rooms.

Scaling down

The two-tone walls, with tonally matched floorand furniture, not only make this child’s bedroom seem bigger and taller, butthey also keep it nicely on its penguin theme. The upper walls and the top ofthe dresser are in Resene Quarter Frozen with the lower wall, the rest of thedresser and the floor in Resene Spinnaker. The iceberg painted ‘headboard’ isResene Sea Fog, Resene Frozen and Resene Blue Moon. The shelf and dimpled vaseare Resene Frozen, with the box in Resene Matisse. The pencil cup and the vaseon the dresser are Resene Fuel Yellow. The pendant light is Resene Bright Spark. The dark vase is ReseneBullitt. Duvet, pillowcases, blanket from Citta, penguin puppet from Toyco. Projectby Laura Lynn Johnston, image by Bryce Carleton.

You can also combine colours to change your perception of a room’s shape and size.

For example, to scale down large rooms use a dark colour on all the walls, but don’t go all the way to the ceiling.

Paint the top section of the walls and the ceiling in the same contrasting colour. Combinations to try are deep blue Resene Indian Ink on the lower walls with ceilings in Resene Eighth Tea. But you can create the sameeffect with a less dramatic, more neutral combination such as Resene Perfect Taupe on the walls and Resene Half Thorndon Cream up high.

Alternatively, if you want to lower an over-high ceiling, paint your lower walls a lighter shade and paint the ceiling and upper section of the wall in a dark shade.

How high you make the change in colour will depend on the dimensions of your room, and what you’re trying to achieve but a good place to start is to go to just above the tops of your doors.

The thing to remember is that your eye will be drawn to the line where the colour changes. It’s essentially telling your brain that one part of the room stops at the line and another begins, which changes how we view the room.

To really scale down a large space you could paint your ceiling and walls in a darker colour down about three-quarters of the wall. Then paint your flooring and lower walls in your chosen lighter shade.

To shorten a long, narrow room, paint the long walls in a lighter colour, and the end walls in a darker colour to make the room feel shorter.

Scaling up

To add a sense of space and airiness to a smaller room, paint your walls and ceilings in the same colour then paint the ceiling in a lighter colour. For example, for a serene beachy feel in a small lounge try painting the walls and floor in Resene Calypso and paint the ceiling in a pale, warm neutral such as Resene Barely There. It will help make the room feel much more open, as though the ceiling has been lifted.

To add a sense of width to a room, paint the floor and ceiling in the same or similar darker colour, then make the walls a lighter shade. Try something bold like a ceiling and floor in charcoal Resene Porter with walls in fresh Resene White Pointer, or go more minimalist by using different colour intensities of Resene Thorndon Cream; triple strength on the floor and ceiling, and quarter strength on the walls.

Add stripes

The darker tones of Resene Quarter Stackagainst the contrasting yellow Resene Hypnotic and walls, chairs and small vasein Resene Quarter Surrender, make this small dining nook feel much larger thanit is. The eclectic mix of furniture is co-ordinated together by painting themin the same colour. The table is painted in ReseneHalf Carefree, the candlestick and tall vase are in Resene Sublime and thefloor is in Resene Half Duck Egg Blue. Pendant light, $299 and mug fromCitta, cushions from Shut the Front Door, wooden fruit from Kikki K. Project by Emily Somerville-Ryan, image by Wendy Fenwick.

If you want to go for something unexpected, vertical stripes will also make a space feel taller - just as horizontal stripes will make a space feel smaller and more contained.

Resene Wallpaper can be a really impactful and simple solution to adding stripes. Try the teal-toned stripes of Resene Wallpaper Collection E300135 or the muted neutrals of Resene Wallpaper Collection MR70709.

This stripe effect is also worth remembering if you’re putting in a fence or deck outside. The direction you lay your timber will change how long or wide your outdoor area feels. Looking along long lengths of timber will elongate your space, while upright posts will shorten the space and make your garden feel more compact.

A note about dark colours

While it is true that dark colours tend to advance making spaces feel smaller, and light colours tend to recede making rooms seem larger, it doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t use dark colours in a small space.

For a start, you may want a bedroom, sitting area or study to feel cosy and contained. But by blurring the edges of your room, the dark colours can recede to create the sense of one continuous space. The trick to doing this is to have fewer visual edges. Paint trims in a similar dark shade to the walls and try Resene test pots in different dark shades to see how they play with the light in your room.

Try darker side walls with a lighter colour on the end, particularly around a window to make your space feel longer, or try the reverse with darker end walls and lighter long side walls to make your room feel wider.

Colour outdoors

You can use colour to play with scale outdoors as well. Paint patio ceilings or shelter screens lighter or darker to make your space feel bigger or cosier.

When it comes to painting or staining your fences, think about the colours around the fence. A dark fence on its own may feel like it’s hemming your garden in, but behind shrubbery and fines, a dark stain like Resene Woodsman Shadow Match or Resene Woodsman Canopy will recede, softening the edges of your section.

Optical illusion tips and tricks

Darker lower walls in Resene Karaka anchor thisliving area while the upper walls in pale Resene Pewter make the space feellight and airy. The floor is Resene White Pointer while the coffee table isResene Bud, and the bookshelf has a Resene Eagle interior with Resene Sootheexterior. The striped planter is Resene Karaka, Resene Pewter and Resene Bud.The bowl on the table is Resene Just Dance with coasters in Resene Karaka, Resene Soothe, Resene Bud andResene Pewter. On the shelves the small round bud vase is Resene Pewter, thebottle vase is Resene Soothe, and the tall vase is Resene Pewter. Project by VanessaNouwens, image by Bryce Carleton.

If you have angled or asymmetrical ceilings, try carrying your wall colour over the ceiling to simplify the ceiling.

Disguise functional but unattractive features like vents, cords or conduits by painting them the same colour as the walls or ceiling they’re sitting on. If you have connecting rooms, such as a master bedroom and an ensuite, painting them the same colour will blur the edges between the spaces and make both feel bigger. However you can also give the impression of added depth to a main room if it is painted in a darker shade, and the adjoining room is painted in a complementary lighter shade.