This One Smart Paint Trick Will Make Your Room Look Infinitely Bigger

A fresh coat of paint can work wonders on your home decor. Not only can a punchy pigment add a jolt of personality to a room’s four (often boring) walls, but the right shade can also create an optical illusion. It might be common knowledge that some colors—both light and dark—can make a room appear larger, but have you ever thought about painting your ceiling? Turns out, it’s the industry’s best-kept paint secret.

“Utilize color to change the scale of your rooms and create visual architecture,” explains Los Angeles designer Oliver Furth. “By painting your walls and ceiling in the same color, the room’s corners and boundaries disappear, making spaces feel more expansive and immersive.”

Design by Denise Morrison; Photo by Lance Gerber

Though it might feel like a safe bet to paint your walls and ceiling a foolproof, goes-with-anything neutral, Los Angeles designer Linda Hayslett wholeheartedly disagrees. Rather, this is an opportune time to inject some color. 

“When you paint the ceiling the same color as the walls, especially in a non-traditional shade like a dusty lavender or rich taupe, it completely transforms the room,” she explains. “This approach extends the visual height of the space, making it feel bigger and more enveloping without overwhelming the senses.” The result, Hayslett says, is a “modern look that feels both bold and inviting.”

With so many shades on the color spectrum to choose from, how can you possibly pick one perfect hue to paint the entire room? Personal preference will provide major sway, but a home’s bones can offer some unexpected insight. Or, as Furth puts it, “listen to what rooms ‘want’ to be.”

Design by Oliver Furth; Photo by Roger Davies

“Some spaces start off bright and light-filled; honor that by treating the walls in light colors and reflective textures,” he explains. “Include more negative space.” If you want to make the most of a sun-drenched space, you might want to consider paint with a glossy finish: The sheeny effect will help bounce light around a room.

On the flipside, spaces that are naturally darker might benefit most from a deeper, moodier hue. “Painting a dark room in light colors won’t make the space feel different,” Furth adds. “It will only make it feel gloomy. Use deeper colors on walls and ceiling, and materials that are textured or patterned.” But remember: Paint isn’t a one-shade-suits-all situation, so you will want to swatch your walls to see how a specific color looks at various times of day.

Though finding the right color will require some elbow grease—and plenty of trial and error—the results can bring out the very best of your home’s architecture. “By using similar colors for walls and ceilings, you create a seamless visual transition between different elements of a room,” says Denise Morrison, an interior designer based in California’s Orange County. “It’s a clever way to enhance spatial perception and add a touch of tranquility.”

Design by Denise Morrison; Photo by Lance Gerber

Understandably, it can feel incredibly risky to paint your walls and ceiling the same color, but Morrison has the perfect solution for anyone looking to break up the color: Add touches of patterns as she did in this sweet office space above. “We played a lot with stripes done in varying widths and subtlety to them as shown in the wallpaper,” she says. “There was an intentional interplay of stripes that contributed to the layered cozy effect.” Subtle and statement work together without sacrificing an ounce of expansive style.