Did you know that colors can actually make a room look larger or smaller? No, I don't mean just light and dark colors. Sure a dark color can make a room smaller but did you know that a warm color can also make the room feel smaller? A cool color makes a room look larger too.... Check this out....
Do you notice how the walls seem to fall back away from you? If you don't see it, look closer.... feel the walls, if you will. While many people consider blue to be a 'warm' color because they think it is restful and cozy the fact is that the color is techincally cool. By definition a cool color has more 'blue' in it.... Cool colors recede, or move away from the eye.
Ok, now what do you notice about this room? The brown walls envelope the room. It is not just because it is a dark color. It is because the color is warm. Warm colors tend to draw the eye in, making the walls feel closer. Warm colors, colors with more 'yellow' in them are moving foward colors.
Ok, so what does all this mean? Why is it important to know about receding and moving foward colors? What if you have a really big room that feels cold and unwelcoming? What if you have a really small room and need it to feel larger? Use your color knowledge to work for you!
Paint a large room a warm tone and it will get visually smaller. It doesn't have to be dark, just warm.... The room will envelope you.
Paint a small room a cool color. The walls will visually move away from you, making the room feel larger....
Now, go have fun with color!!
(*photos are from bhg.com)
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Melissa Marro, a published artist, now turned staging advocate and national speaker speaks her mind about real estate and the home staging industry. In her 'no holds barred' approach, audience members find real answers to the industries pitfalls and learn how to overcome them with tried and true information and guidance. With marketing as her passion, she turned a small home based business into one of the nation's largest home staging and training facilities. Selling her successful home staging company in January 2012, Marro is now a full time speaker and instructor for Staging And Resign and Real Estate Staging Association (RESA)'s trade events.
For more information on having Marro speak at one of your real estate functions, please contact her at 843.619.1593 or email at marro.melissa@gmail.com
Like it, though some high end designer with lock jaw told me once that a dark color with crisp,hi-gloss white molding made a room feel bigger. That and large furniture, "ve-ry few piece though, of cawwwss." I took her at her word... after all, it was years until I found out my mother was teasing when she told me that paintings with rocks in them were less valuable than landscapes without! <sigh>
And a happy "quandong" to you, AR. I dont' even wanna know what that is!
Well, I suppose if the dark color were cool, then it would in fact be true. Think of a teal blue or sunshine yellow. (add too much 'gold' - ie brown to it and you are back to warm)
If you just think about a dark warm color - say chocolate brown, a deep barn red, cinnamon orange - they would all make the room feel smaller.... can you feel the walls enveloping you?
Beth - just make sure they paint it a cool color...
Maureen - the color doesn't have to be blue. There are a lot of cool shades that are not blue. I don't personally like blue very much either, but there are cool shades of red, cool shades of green.... if you really watch the color wheel and see how the colors effect you, you'll be able to figure it out. I probably more clearly should have said undertones of blue & yellow.....
Hi Melissa,
You made a Perceptive Post!
Color is Captivating!
As you know, my wife is a Color Expert.
What you write in your post is absolutely true!
Color creates the atmosphere!
Melissa, Thanks for sharing! You can see the difference in the pictures, it really helps. I love blue!
thanks for the colorific mini course. Loved it!
Wow, thank you for the info. That really puts it into perspective for me. I never really noticed how the cool hues pull away.
I just painted a small but not tiny bathroom that was a goldy yellow, a new shade of a grayed light green. Huge difference in perception of size and of course a total change in the style.
you are always a great source of information. and yor pictures say it all, great thought to keep in mind when staging.
Shobha
It's fun when you know how things work, isn't it? Just another edge and tool of the trade to pull out...
Hi Melissa-
How do you feel about the technique of painting the powder bath a dark color on walls,ceiling, and baseboards-thus really creating a "cave" look? One of the builders around here really pushed that technique with some dark metallic colors & it feels very unsettling to me. Maybe I am borderline claustrophobic or something. Just wondering your opinion...
Kathy
I love the photos you chose to illustrate your point. Thanks for the lesson!
Melissa,
Ah color, one of my favorite subjects. Yes, some colors do recede and some advance. You also need to keep in mind the purpose of the room as you select your colors and how people respond to color. Some people are a little claustrophobic, so that is also another consideration. The impact and importance of color is absolutely amazing! Wonderful pictures to demonstrate your point, too!
Have a Colorful Day!
Aloha Melissa,
Great topic concerning color. I also like to use warm colors to envelope narrow spaces like hallways and half baths and cooler colors in rooms that open to the out of doors.
Peace,
Vern Yip spoke of this very thing last week, and said that painting a small room a dark will not make the room appear smaller, that was a falicy, HE also said NEVER use fake fruit when staging and never use greenery above kitchen cabinets.. HEY RULES are meant to broken. Real apples ROT when staging a vacant house, LOL
Phyllis Pafumi
I just painted 2 short adjoining walls in my own livingroom a rusty red. That leaves a long wall of a golden yellow, a short walls of windows and a 1/2 of the red wall in fireplace. It does seem smaller but much cozier. The very large wall unit (TV) is an antique in light wood and really stands out now, against the red.
That is a great Blog ! It is not easy telling people what colours can do ,you explained it in a very simple way so every one can understand it ,what an inspiration
Thanks for sharing
Melissa, your wisdom goes in all directions. Thanks for the little lesson in color.
Great post, as always. Had to laugh at the second picture-in college my roommates and I ALMOST painted one bedroom chocolate brown with white trim because we read that dark colors make the walls recede. Maybe it was the same designer that Juliet mentioned-LOL!
Thank you (personally and professionally), Melissa for your professional advice on color.
In my real estate business here, in Ellicott City Maryland (a suburb) of Baltimore, my business partner and I make many recommendations every year to sellers that need to neutralize the color in their homes. Despite everything you explained about color, it's still a very personal thing. And, sometimes there's just way too much of it.
A few years ago we "discovered" a color that one of our sellers had chosen on their own. It's called Tuscan Beige by Baer Paints. It's so classic and neutral and, if your walls have any sort of chair or crown moldings, and you paint those white, the result is stunning!
I'll be looking for more color and design ideas from you soon!