How to Choose Paint for a Small Room

Lighter shades on the paint sample are better for small rooms.

It may be intimidating to pick out the best paint color for a small room -- most people aren't designers and don't know exactly how to decide what paint color or techniques to use to make the room look bigger. A wide range of possibilities exist to make the room appear larger and enhance its overall appearance with the use of paint.

Difficulty:

Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Paint Charts

1. Consider cooler paint colors in the blue, green or purple family. Pick a color at the lighter end of the spectrum.

2. Choose a single paint color. If you paint a small room in one color, it draws your eye out and makes the room feel bigger.

3. Use white for the ceiling. White will blend in with the walls. If you use a different color it will remind people the ceiling is there and make it feel lower.

4. Add a bit of a darker color on the shorter walls if the room is particularly narrow. This will make it feel wider.

5. Draw attention to your favorite areas of the room by using a darker shade on that wall and a lighter shade on the remaining walls. Use a semi-gloss or satin finish for the darker wall. This will lighten the dark tone.

6. Consider sponge painting to add a feeling of depth to a small room -- a cooler color sponged over a white or off white paint will enhance without overpowering.

References

• Sherwin-Williams: How to Choose Colors