Playing with colours

If you think painting a room is always as monotonous as
just selecting a colour and rolling it on, think again!

With just a little imagination and a creative use of different colour combinations , you can dramatically alter a room’s appearance. Not only is it a great way to create good visual effects, but also to highlight a room’s good features, or alternatively, to draw the focus away from any blemishes or weak spots.

Visual effects with colours can be done in any room, no matter how challenging it may seem. Here are some tips of what you can do with various types of rooms that has different characteristics.

Rooms with a low ceiling
Is the ceiling of your home too low? You can create a heightened effect with some simple but effective contrast of colours. White is a common colour used for ceilings, as it is not only effective to brighten up a room but also adds height to it. Alternatively, any other light colours would also work well, especially if you contrast it with strong and bright colours on the walls.

Another effective way to create an illusion of height is to continue painting the same wall colour all the way onto the cornice and skirting. If your home have architectural features such as dado rails that can shorten a room’s proportions, you can address this by painting the rails the same colour as the wall.

Odd-shaped rooms
Some rooms are built in non-conventional shapes or with odd angles and this can be a challenge to decorate, often hindering the look and effect you might want to achieve. The right paint effect can cover and even enhance the shape of the room, to make it work for you. A simple method is to paint the whole room in one colour to minimise the oddness in shape and to smooth it over. This is particularly effective when you have a sloping ceiling, overcoming the difficulty in determining where the wall ends and the ceiling starts.

A fun way is also to emphasise the walls with vibrant advancing colours that can transform a room’s proportions. An L-shaped room can be made to feel squarer when you link the opposite walls together with the same colour, contrasting it with the adjacent walls.

Enhancing rooms using visual colour
If you find your home uninteresting or simply want to create a stronger visual effect, a little creativity and boldness with paint colours can instantly transform the entire outlook of a room. You can create a visual interest by picking out and highlighting details in the room such as skirting and window frames with contrasting colours.

An easy alternative is to create a feature wall by painting one wall a different colour. It should be a striking hue in comparison to the rest of the walls.

For the adventurous, try painting patterns onto the wall to create a striking style to suit your needs. Even a simple pattern such as vertical stripes with complementing or contrasting colours can make a big change in your home’s outlook.

Adding light and space to a smaller room
Even if you have a small space, it is still possible to create a spacious effect and have a bright and airy feel by choosing light tones. Although the most common choice to brighten a room is white, why not explore with some other light colours and cool tones such as light blue or green-which have a similar effect.

As a lighter colour tone will reflect light more effectively, painting the wall that face the window a light and warm tone will definitely brighten up the room.

If you own a small space, use a single wall colour throughout the entire flat to make it appear more spacious, with a soft sheen finish that reflects light.