Painting to remodel volumes
Paint has a super power: it allows you to transform a room that is too big or too small into a pleasant space to live in, even when it is impossible to move the walls.
There’s nothing worse than a low ceiling for feeling like you’re suffocating at home… except, perhaps, a low ceiling and beams. The smart solution is to apply a dark color to the walls, and to paint the ceiling and beams or frame white. It is also often the preferred choice for converting the attic.
An easy pattern to paint, vertical stripes are another trick to give the impression of pushing back the ceiling. To accentuate this effect, consider playing with the wall decoration, by creating an ascending composition, like this composition made with plates.
A dizzying ceiling height is not necessarily more appreciable than a low ceiling: it’s difficult to create a cozy atmosphere! Here again, paint works miracles. This time we opt for a colored ceiling, and we play the extensions on the top of the wall.
Color is the most effective way to visually enlarge a room. We prioritize bright shades – white, of course, but also variations of beige, from ecru to sand. To push back the walls while introducing color, we opt for pastels.
The smart alternative to enlarging the room while having fun with color is to use paint to redraw the perspectives. Think about the wall frieze: a simple horizontal strip creates an impression of space.
Conversely, you may want to make a room more cozy. This is often the case in the bedroom, which we love to be cozy and cocooning. In this case, opt for dark and deep colors. In an XXL room, ocher or terracotta color are perfectly suitable. In a more modest room, we recommend cold, less stuffy colors.
Reconcile cozy spirit and brightness? Nothing could be simpler: just use paint to create a base, using a fairly strong color, combined with a bright neutral or pastel on the rest of the wall.
Painting to organize space
Few interiors have a sufficient number of rooms for them to be assigned to a single use. The living room or bedroom is one of the rooms that often has several functions. To organize the space, we of course play with paint.
Painting allows you to isolate a specific space from the rest of the room: office corner or reading corner, for example.
Organizing space does not always mean isolating an area: sometimes it is about giving coherence to the room. In the master suite, for example, we use paint to create harmony between the bedroom area and the bathroom area or the dressing room.
Structuring space with paint: 5 ideas to inspire you
We see: there are many tips for structuring a room using paint. In practice, it is often essential to divert them, or combine them.
Having an intimate corner while maintaining the open and bright spirit of the room: that was the challenge here. To meet the challenge, we opted for a bright neutral, a very safe choice to accentuate the feeling of space. And we move to the end of the room, where we paint the wall and ceiling in a more cozy dark color.
To create a compact but functional office area, we adopted the console desk here. In order to give depth to this small space, we chose a lighter shade than the deep pink that adorns the rest of the wall.
Creating a canopy with paint in the bedroom is great. It’s just as pretty in the dining room, to showcase the dining area, and it’s much more original! The painting here defines an intimate space. The good idea: break the strictness of the pattern by shifting the lighting, and accentuate the asymmetrical look with mirrors and green plants.
Moldings and parquet flooring: this hallway was originally very elegant, but a little too demure. An emerald green breaks the effect of depth, gives rhythm and, incidentally, enhances the ornaments.
This Haussmann-style living room does not lack charm, with its fireplace. With its long configuration, the room was no less difficult to arrange. A vibrant indigo blue breaks up the depth. We used the same strong shade for the fireplace and the desk, which widens the space. Good game.