Should I paint my ceiling & walls the same colour?

Choosing a paint colour for your walls is a big decision. This is the colour you are going to be looking at hour after hour as you spend time in your living room, bedroom or kitchen. But who said that paint colours were just for walls? Received wisdom is that walls get a colour, woodwork and ceilings either remain white or get a light and neutral tone like magnolia. Rules are there to be broken, however. So, if you’re considering a new lick of paint in your home, why not think about painting your walls, ceiling and woodwork all the same colour?

There are some very good reasons why painting ceilings the same colour as walls might work. Below we’ll outline the major benefits of going for a more complete paint transformation in your home.

1. It creates the sense of space

This kind of all colour saturation actually helps to create the sense of depth in a space. So, even a small living room can seem bigger when painted all in the same tone – even when that is a dark tone. The trick is to create one block colour, so don’t just stop at the walls, make sure you paint the radiators, and in-built furniture too. You may need to get some different types of paint to do this, but it is generally possible to get specialty paint mixed to the same colour as emulsion.

If you paint the ceiling, the human eye will naturally be drawn up into that space, which will create the illusion that the room is higher and more spacious. With a white ceiling or paint border, this can bring down the perceived height of the room and make things feel a little more cramped.

For more tips on how paint colours and techniques can improve space in your home, check out our guide on ‘How to choose the right paint colour for small rooms’.

2. Add the ‘wow’ factor

The saturated look of a total paint makeover can really add a dramatic appeal to your living room. It can be very easy to play it safe and paint everything white or neutral tones. While there is nothing wrong with that, it tends to be the bolder style statements that really have the wow factor. Walk into a room that is painted top to toe in one elegant colour and it immediately feels like a stylish space.

3. Add variation and accent with furniture

You might think that a room painted all blue, or green or even charcoal grey will be overwhelming. And if absolutely everything in there were the same colour then it might be. The trick is to break up the block colours with accent colours, so choose a furniture in a contrasting but complementary tone, and add more layers of colour with soft furnishings such as rugs and cushions. Essentially you’re using your wall colour as the base for your colour palette.

Time saving and better finishes

It might seem like painting more of the room is more time consuming. But actually the opposite might be true. If you don’t have to worry about cutting in or edging around the top of the walls or skirting boards, then you can save hours on the most boring parts of decorating (or save money paying a professional to do it for you). It also means that you can achieve a better and neater finish, without any wobbly edge lines or cracked corners. A darker shade all over your room can hide any imperfections in the walls or joins, and creates a sleek and professional looking paint finish with much less work and expense.

The Swyft range comes in a choice of fabric sofas, with modern, contemporary and comfortable styles.Our Model 01, Model 02 and Model 03 selection comes in a choice of colours to match all over paint styles.

All our models come flat packed for extra convenience and easy assembly. There is also a choice of materials, including soft touch linen and elegant velvet.