Rich black (Lamp Black) kitchen with bright white units and stools next to a black table.

How to make rooms look larger with paint

We all crave the feeling of space.

However, if large living rooms and generous bedrooms are a little out of reach in your current house, look to the clever use of colour to create a sense of space.

Here are a few ways to make a small space feel larger with the use of paint.

Kitchen painted in blue green (Tea with Florence) and dark green (Harley Green) with a round wooden table and chairs. — Units up to and including Shelf, and Wall Return: Harley Green, Above Shelf: Tea with Florence

Make walls seem longer with subtle tonal variations

Painting walls and woodwork in the same colour, or slight tonal variations of the same hue, creates a monochromatic scheme that seamlessly stretches the look of the walls from the floor and ceiling.

Continue the same colour across doors, door frames and crown molding to further create an uninterrupted feel to a room.

Look at the Colour Scales collection for 48 sophisticated neutrals, organised into 12 families. Each family has four shades with colours stepped in strength to achieve a harmonious colour combination when used together.

Hallway featuring walls painted in multiple shades of 'Bone China Blue' and a console table painted in 'Shirting'. — Facing wall: Bone China Blue Left Side wall: Bone China Blue – Mid Stair edges and back above stairs wall: Bone China Blue – Deep Inside of arch: Bone China Blue – Pale Woodwork in back hall: Bone China Blue – Pale Console table: Shirting

Choose light reflecting paint colours

Step back and examine your room.

Which walls have direct, natural light on them from the windows?

How does the light move across the room during the day?

Each Little Greene colour has a Light Reflective Value (LRV) and this describes how much light will be reflected by the paint colour.

Space-expanding whites like Loft White (LRV 92), pale blues like Gauze (LRV 77) and cool greys like Flint (LRV 66), do the job of reflecting light back into the room exceptionally well and create a sense of increased space.

Also consider painting kitchen cupboards, baseboards, window frames and bannisters in a gloss finish.

Use Intelligent Gloss to reflect light in otherwise matte schemes and darker corners.

Kitchen diner with walls painted in the grey-green shade 'Pearl Colour', alongside a wooden table with a white bench.

Pearl Colour Kitchen

Main wall: Pearl Colour – Dark

Window seat and back door and kitchen unit: Pearl Colour

Table and bench: Pearl Colour – Pale

Browse Pearl Colour

Bathroom with a freestanding bathtub and a dark grey (Grey Teal) wall to the left and a light grey (Inox) wall to the right.

Wall (right): Inox

Flooring: Shallows

Browse Shallows

Velvet forest green sofa in front of a light grey (French Grey) wall and on top of bright white wood flooring in Loft White.

Wall: Livid

Wall (Front): French Grey

Woodwork: Loft White

Browse French Grey

Living space painted in dark green (Puck) with a grey sofa, armchair and a white table on a rug. — Walls & Woodwork: Puck, Ceiling: Slaked Lime – Mid

Use dark paint colours to make walls seem further away

Dark colours might instinctively be colours to avoid if you are looking to create a feeling of space, as people fear making their room look smaller.

But, conversely, very rich blues like Hicks' Blue, dark greys like Dark Lead Colour and fathomless greens like Puck have an almost bottomless depth that our eyes find hard to focus on – and thus create a sense of a wall being further away than it actually is.

This works especially well on walls at the far end of rectangular living spaces, or behind headboards in smaller bedrooms.

Child's playroom painted in dark blue (Juniper Ash) with multi colored stripes on the right, and toys placed on top of a unit. — Left Wall – Gauze, Main Wall - Juniper Ash, Stripe Detail: Citrine, Juniper Ash, Bone China Blue, Tuscan Red, Carys, Canvas - Tuscan Red, Grey Stone, Citrine, Unit - Grey Stone

Introduce vertical painted stripes to create the illusion of height

If your ceilings feel too low, elongate the feeling of the height of your walls using vertical painted stripes, forcing your eye to look upwards along the stripe.

Paint vertical stripes in an array of colourful shades on a strong background like Juniper Ash. This fun and lively scheme works perfectly in a nursery or playroom.

For a more sophisticated scheme suitable for a living space, use paint in neutral tones to create wide vertical stripes on uninterrupted walls.

Living space painted in dark orange (Middle Buff) with a contrasting deep blue sofa, grey armchair and wooden table on a rug.

Wall: Middle Buff

Detail Stripe: Hammock

Window Frame: French Grey

Ceiling: French Grey – Pale

Browse Middle Buff

Bathroom featuring 'Sage Green' paneled walls, a white freestanding bathtub and a Purple-Blue stool in 'Mambo'.

Wall: Sage Green

Stool: Mambo

Browse Sage Green

Paneled bathroom painted in light green (Salix) with a white bathtub under a large window.

Walls: Salix

Bath Panel: Whitening

Side table: Bone China Blue

Floor: Whitening

Browse Salix

Paint floorboards to elongate a room

Painted floorboards instantly create longer looking rooms because of their ‘in-built stripe’, which draws the eye along the room’s longest length.

All the paint colours on the Little Greene chart are available in our hard-wearing Intelligent Floor Paint - a water-based floor paint with a drying time of just two hours.

Look for light reflective colours to enhance this vital feature of the room and make a small room look bigger.

Explore our guide on how to incorporate floor paint in your scheme.

Neutral living space painted in 'Portland Stone' with grey drawers, fireplace and an armchair. — Ceiling & Cornicing: Portland Stone – Pale Wall: Portland Stone Drawers: Baluster Fire Surround & Crittall Window: Pompeian Ash

Use lighter colours closer to the ceiling

In small spaces, stick to the dark-to-light rule:

Keep the darkest colours towards the floor, disappearing to white by the time the colours reach the ceiling.

This gives an open and airy, cloud-like feel to the room where colours disappear to almost nothing.

The dark-to-light rule gives an instant sense of space in an otherwise tiny room.

This living room uses shades from the Portland Stone family on the walls and ceiling, alongside dark accents of Baluster and Pompeian Ash closer to the floor on the drawers and fire surround.

For bespoke interior design advice on how to make a small room feel bigger with paint, contact our expert Colour Consultants or visit your nearest showroom.