A small room presents many challenges. Amongst trying to fit all the furniture you need in there and make it look stylish, you've also got to choose a very important path: light walls or dark walls?
We scoured past Apartment Therapy house tours to find some examples of small spaces with brilliantly bold dark-walled rooms and perfectly serene light-walled rooms.
LIGHT
1) Laura & Megan's Bright Vintage Inspired Apartment
2) Jamie & Byron's Elegant Art Canvas
3) Caitlin's Small, Stylish San Francisco Home
4) Harper & Caleb's Sophisticated Southern Gem
5) Emily Schuman's Modern Rustic Home
DARK
6) Bill Goes All Black
7) Axel's Clean & Cozy Nursery
8) Emily's Rochester Merrypad
9) Elinor & Andrew's Vertical Kind of Blue
10) Rachel & Marc's Bright, Beautiful London Home
Which do you relate to best? And how does your current home stack up?
(Images: As credited above)
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Seems to me, one way to look at this is "what time of day are you mostly using the space?" Dark walls make a night room cozier, light walls make a day room brighter.
I like both, but prefer my home to be bright. (Except the home theater and fmaily room adjacent, both of which are fairly dark in color.)
I was thinking about this issue but I guess I didn't think about it as logically as Sherrybinnh! That totally makes sense! When will you use it? Now I know EXACTLY what color I have planned for one room in particular
There is a saying that "If you have dark colors in a room, you have to have plenty of light". I think that the most under-appreciated feature of interior decorations/design is light. But it only works as long as they're lit. :)
I'm in the middle of painting my tiny bedroom walls - finally! I initially painted them a pale soothing lilac but my bedroom is south facing (I'm in Oz) and it was cold and bland.
Fed up with my wussy choice after 5 years, I let AT rule my reason and have gone dark and deep - Resene 'Blackberry'.
Sigh. And fingers crossed.
And I agree with Sherrybinnh & Millislim - how and when you use the space does govern your palette. I focussed on sleep and rest, so a bold jewel colour should look magical at night, dramatic and cosy.
I painted a room dark just because I was fed up with rental off-white/beige.
Make sure you have good light, enough light or colored furniture or soft goods (window treatments, upholstery, etc) to contrast the darker color and you'll be hard-pressed to really notice a difference after the initial shock wears away.