The Illusion of Colour

The choice of colour in a room can give whole new proportions to a space, create an illusion of more space, more or less height and can highlight the good features of a room and camouflage defects. The use of colour in a room can totally change it's shape, from bright and airy to warm and cosy. Clever use of colour can create many illusions in your room.

Some basic principals are that warm colours advance and stand out more than cool colours, which tend to recede.
Light colours tend to make an area seem larger whilst dark colours have the reverse effect.

Here are some examples:

 To make a room feel larger paint the walls in a cool shade such as light blue and match the flooring with the walls.
A dark floor with walls in warm tones will help create a small and cozy space.
Using white, neutrals or shades of the same pale to mid-tone colour on all surfaces will giving the illusion of light in a dark room by making it appear more light and airy.

To make a a long, narrow room appear squarer paint a warm, deep colour on short end walls with a lighter colour on the adjoining longer walls.
To make a room appear wider match the floor and ceiling in a similar colour, then paint the walls in a lighter shade.
To make a room appear smaller use a dark colour on the walls below picture rail height, and a lighter colour above the rail and covering the ceiling.
To give the illusion of a lower ceiling use a light colour on the walls below picture rail height, and a darker colour above the rail and covering the ceiling.

Use vertical stripes to give walls more height and make the ceiling look higher.

To create the illusion of changing a rooms proportions paint a dark colour on the ceiling and walls down to dado height, with a lighter colour on the lower part of the walls to match the floor.

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