How Colour Can Make a Room Look Bigger

If you're decorating a small kitchen, bedroom or bathroom, it's important to first understand how colour can make a room look bigger. Using the wrong colour combination will make your space feel cramped and small, but when you choose lighter colours and enhance them with the right lighting, you can make even the smallest room feel bright and airy.

At FCI London, we've been designing interiors for almost 40 years and we've learned all the tricks along the way. Here are our top tips from our knowledgeable designers to make your small rooms feel larger than life.

1. Use light colours on the walls to reflect light and make the room look bigger

The first place you should start is with the largest surface area in your kitchen or bedroom: the walls. It's a simple optical illusion, but using dark colours on your walls instantly creates the perception of a smaller room.  Light colours reflect light whereas dark colours absorb it. It, therefore, follows that you should always use light colours for your walls if you want to create a feeling of space. 

When choosing the colour for walls, many people tend to stick to white, especially in their bathrooms. It's a safe colour choice and will certainly create that airy feeling, but it can also feel quite clinical if you don't pick the right furniture and decor.

Safer choices that are more pleasing to the eye are soft tones of off-white, pale blue and pale green. Our senior designer, Ben Ibanez, says that a clever hack is to paint your wall trim and skirting in a lighter colour than your walls. This makes the walls appear farther back, which in turn makes your kitchen or bathroom seem even bigger.

Ben confirms that you can have an accent wall in small rooms, but the key is to keep within the same colour palette, allowing the room to feel more cohesive and, in turn, more spacious.

2. Paint the ceiling a lighter colour than the walls to create the illusion of height

Once your walls are done, you might think your painting job is over - but we have news for you. Ceilings are considered the fifth wall of a room and many of our clients are unaware of the impact that the ceiling colour can have on a space. If you're decorating your bathroom or kitchen with soft pale hues, now is the time to add a shade of bright white to your ceiling.

Lighter, brighter colours create the illusion of height, which is especially useful if your house has a very low roof.

3. Choose pale furniture instead of dark pieces, which will make the room look smaller

You've chosen your colours and your small kitchen or bedroom is looking beautifully spacious and airy. But you're not out of the woods yet.

Choosing the right furniture for small spaces is of paramount importance. Firstly, remove dark and heavy furniture which will drain the light from your living room. Ensure that you don't clutter the small space with oversize pieces that are simply too big.

Think light wood beds with tapered legs, slim-fit cabinets for bathrooms that are stacked vertically instead of horizontally and smaller, lighter countertop appliances for the kitchen that won't usurp your counter space. ‘To achieve a light and spacious feel within a room, you'll want simple, refined furniture in light tones and natural finishes," recommends Ben.  

Fun fact: furniture items without legs that sits that sit directly on the floor are amongst the top items that interior designers avoid when decorating small rooms as they appear to take up more space. 

4. Use mirrors to reflect light and create the illusion of space

When considering accessories for your small bathroom or kitchen, you can't go wrong with a well-chosen mirror. Placing a mirror correctly in a small room instantly creates the illusion of space as they reflect natural light.

Our designers recommend putting them up in a place where natural light from a window falls directly onto them. When the mirror reflects the light, your small space brightens and instantly appears larger.

If you're choosing a mirror for a small bathroom, choose a simple design so that it doesn't feel over-accessorised.

5. Add plants and flowers to brighten up the room and make it look more spacious

Bright and colourful plants and flower pots liven up just about any room and reduce the feeling of cramped walls. This works especially well in bathrooms where the space is generally quite small unless you've designed and built a new house yourself. Hanging plants are best as they don't clutter the walkways and they draw the eye upwards towards the ceiling. If you have lots of natural light coming in through your windows, peace lilies are an excellent option. They look quite luxurious but are easy to take care of and bloom best in brighter light.

In Conclusion

At FCI, we are experts in luxury furniture and interiors and we will always guide you with our best recommendations for your home design projects. Get in touch with us and we'll gladly answer any questions you have about making the best of your smaller spaces.