One common reason for painting a house interior is to redecorate it with new colours for a fresh look. But repainting rooms can also achieve other aims, such as disguising less-than-perfect walls or giving the illusion of larger or smaller spaces. Read on to see how you can achieve these aims with paint.

Disguising Wall Imperfections

The walls in your house might niggle at you every time you notice crumbly plaster or rough drywall. However, you can hide imperfections with textured painting techniques unless the walls have significant damage. For example, you can create antique effects with sponging. This process involves applying paint to the wall with sea sponges, giving the surface a mottled appearance. For a more subtle look, the colour is applied smoothly first. Then the wall is dabbed with sponges while the paint is still wet, which will remove dabs of it. You can make the effect as extreme or as soft as you wish. The walls will need to be prepared beforehand, but they don't need to be perfectly smooth. Textured residential painting treatments are also excellent for hiding dirt, so you could use them in a child's bedroom.

Change the Proportions Visually

Rather than redecorating for new colours or hiding wall issues, you might want to give the illusion that rooms are differently proportioned to what their actual measurements show. For example, you can make rooms appear more spacious by painting them in cool, muted shades like blue, green, grey and fawn. These hues recede and give the impression that the surfaces they cover are further away. Avoid dark colours as they absorb more light than pale shades.

Another tip is to avoid colour contrasts in rooms that you want to appear larger. For example, an obvious difference in hue between the wall and the ceiling will attract attention and make you notice the proximity of these surfaces. Without contrast, your focus won't be on the walls. It will probably be directed elsewhere, probably to furnishings within the room. Thus, you won't notice the room boundaries as much.

To make rooms cosier, use dark hues like deep red or blue. Or opt for warm oranges or tans. You could paint the ceiling a few shades darker than the walls to give the illusion that it's lower. Also, increase contrast by painting the walls and ceiling in markedly different shades or painting contrasting crown mouldings to break up large expanses of wall area. These treatments will attract attention, and the room's borders will seem closer as a result.

Contact a residential painting service in your area to get more tips.