7 of the best paint colours to make your room look bigger

1. White

The most obvious choice for making a small room appear spacious, opting for a bright, neutral shade like white in your home decor will reflect the light and encourage the illusion of space. It’s also a good choice for keeping your office space bright and uplifting. And if you’re working from home these days, you might want to add some space-saving soft furnishings to your office as well, with these ideas for a sofa for your work space .

2. Soft Black

When decorating our homes, we’ve long been schooled in the thought that painting walls black will make a room feel small, but that’s not always the case. Opting for dark, moody colours in your interior design palette actually creates the perception of depth, which helps to disguise the fact that your room is on the small side. Soft black paint also gives a room a grand, artistic feel, well suited to a living room.

3. Airy Taupe

If you’re keen on sticking with a light, neutral shade but don’t want to go for the stark, whitewashed look, an elegant taupe colour is a good idea to make your room look bigger. A rich, expensive looking hue, it can also add to the character of a room that is lacking in traditional features.

4. Blush pink

Maximise the natural light and space in a room that enjoys the late afternoon and early evening sun, by painting the walls in a delicate shade of pink. It’s a warm, enveloping colour, ideally suited to creating that all-essential cosy feeling in a bedroom. Pink can be a gamble, though, and if you’re slightly concerned about over-doing the frilly look, pair it with grey or black furniture, like this sofa,to make it less ‘frou-frou’ in appearance.

5. Soothing Blue

Blue is known for its soothing properties, but opting for a darker shade like navy can not only add a dramatic feel to a room, it will also create depth and make a room feel more spacious. A great option for bijou kitchens or to give your living room an illusion of grandeur. You may want to invest in a sofa for your kitchen  too, to really soften the space.

6. Cool grey

Choosing Lighter grey walls and painting your skirting boards a darker shade will give a room a sophisticated tone, and will be calming in a bedroom. Choose a shade with some luminosity to it and the light will bounce off it beautifully and make your small room bright and airy. And pairing the walls with your furniture, by choosing a light grey fabric for your sofa, will create a seamless look that adds to the feeling of wide open space in your living room.

7. Soft yellow

Giving an airy, spring-like feel, even in the winter doldrums, a soft yellow will create an illusion of calm and space. Yellow is never anything other than a cheery, fun colour, perfect for a child’s bedroom – and they so often get the smallest rooms in the house, after all. 

Does grey make a room look bigger?

Light hues such as a soft grey can make a room feel expansive indeed. You could opt for this on all four of the walls, as a feature wall that creates a sharp contrast can sometimes make a room feel smaller. However, if painting an accent wall is appealing then cool, dark tones are the best option as warmer tones like reds and oranges pull the wall to the eye. A navy blue, for example, will pull the wall away from the eye, making it visually recede and helping the room feel larger – and the blue pair well with the soft grey.

What painting techniques can you use to make a room look bigger?

Painting the ceiling in the same colour as the walls will draw the eye up and make the ceiling look higher than it really is – making the whole room look bigger in the process. Paint your woodwork and any feature mouldings a shade darker than any colour on the walls. This way, the architectural bones of the room become more prominent and the walls recede a little. Another trick is to p aint your wall colour up to around 10cm below the ceiling – or up to the bottom of the cornice – and then paint everything above it bright white. The extra band of white will allow the room to appear taller.

How do you paint a room to make it look bigger?

Try a tonal scheme for the whole room. Choosing your sofa and other furniture and fabric items, such as curtains and cushions, in varying shades of the same colour will help them to blend well and create an uncluttered space that feels bigger than it really is. Calming green tones are a good option. And once you’ve got your paint colours and home décor sorted, try hanging large mirrors on the walls, a classic trick for creating the illusion of space. 

Furniture wise, a sofa is a focal point of any room, but it needn’t take up all of the space. A multi-tasking sofa bed will make your room multifunctional, or if you just need a sofa that optimises your room space, we've got you covered with our fantastic small space sofa buying guide to help you choose the best sofa possible.