Simple Color Tricks to Help Sellers’ Interiors Look Larger

Simple Color Tricks to Help Sellers’ Interiors Look Larger

 August 3, 2016

Buyers love space and it’s one of the things they look for in a home. Small homes feel like caves, and home sellers with such homes should do everything they can to make them appear larger. Simple color tricks can make tiny spaces look bigger. Small homes don’t have to look cramped. Here are some things home sellers can do to visually enhance their small interiors.

Use Lighter Colors Palettes 

While dark colors can make a style statement, they shrink rooms. Home sellers should use light colors like white, beige, ivory, cream, and gray. These make interiors open, light, and airy. Neutral walls are more reflective and maximize both natural and artificial light. Buyers love bright rooms because they are bigger and inviting. Homeowners who don’t want to use white paint can try off-white paint or pastels. They can paint the trim and molding a lighter hue than the walls. This will make the walls retreat into the background and the interior will seem bigger.

Choose the Right Color Saturation

An interior with a monochromatic theme appears bigger than one with a range of colors. Color consistency decreases the eye’s capability to see spatial dimensions, leading to the appearance of largeness. A room devoid of contrasting colors is also more peaceful and inviting. Contrasting colors make the details in a room to pop, hence the eye is able to start and stop – reducing a person’s perception of the room’s space. But a neutral room looks spacious and tranquil. Potential buyers step inside it and don’t want to leave.

Use Gray to Neutralize Interior Colors

Gray is wonderful backdrop to any design – from classic to modern. Furnishings pair well with gray and the hue works well with different colors like blues, greens, pinks, purples, and reds. Gray comes in different shades that range from light to dark. It is a complex hue that can assume shades of blue, pink, green, and even purple. Home sellers looking to capture buyers’ attention can use different shades of gray to create a layered look. Others can use gray as a background color as it has a subtractive impact on adjacent colors and highlights their brightness.

Paint the Ceiling – the ‘5th Wall’

Most home sellers forget about their ceilings when painting interiors. But a ceiling can determine the look and feel of a room. Homeowners should use light colors on their ceilings to open up their interiors. However, they should use different colors on the walls. The key to opening up a space is to decrease the color contrast between the walls and the ceiling. A room with a red ceiling and orange walls may look smaller, while one with light blue walls and a white ceiling may seem bigger.

Home sellers should choose paint with a flat sheen to hide imperfections on their ceilings. Ceiling paints are great because they are thicker than wall paints and are resistant to splatters. Paint with a metallic or glossy finish should be avoided because it is ideal for big rooms with high ceilings or ceilings without flaws. If used in a small room, it may be too intense and will draw attention to the defects on the ceiling.

Modern homes are much smaller than older ones. They can be hard to sell because they don’t have the one aspect that buyers value most: space. If your sellers have put their small homes on the market, advise them to use the above simple color tricks to enlarge their interiors. The best thing about color is that it can make a space look different. It can create an optical illusion and change a buyer’s visual perception of the size and shape of a room.

 


Ronique Gibson

By Ronique Gibson

Ronique Gibson is an Associate Architect and a LEED Accredited Professional, who has been in the design industry for over 13 years. She started her design blog in 2009 and today it has become a premier destination for helping homeowners with everyday lifestyle challenges. Her readers check in daily for help with their homes, DIY project ideas, recipes, crafts, and inspiration to beautify and enjoy their homes.