Colour advice needed!

pineapple

Just about to paint a small spare bedroom. How do I minimise the awkward dimensions? The ceiling is over 8 foot high (in old money ) but it is also a small narrow room. As you walk in, the window is at the far (opposite) end.
Previously I've painted the ceiling in high rooms a warm darker shade and that has worked very well to visually bring the ceiling down. But if I do that in this case won't I just emphasise it as a narrow strip?
As for how to visually shorten a long room I've seen advice to paint the end wall in a strong warm colour. I've also seen advice to paint the end wall a light colour to widen the room. It seems the colour tips for solving different problems conflict with each other when there is more than one issue. :doh:
I'm all at sea! Any colour tips for a small narrow rectangle with an out of proportion ceiling height? Cheers

notanewuser

Horizontal stripes have a widening effect. They don't have to be bright or really obvious.

pineapple

notanewuser wrote: »

Horizontal stripes have a widening effect. They don't have to be bright or really obvious.

Thanks but wouldn't that be on the narrow ends? In my case the door is at one narrow end and the far narrow end opposite is taken up with a lot of window area.

Doozergirl

Paint the ceiling the same colour as the walls. Very fashionable and will blur where the ceiling actually is.

Or, exacty as you've done before. A darker shade of the same colour to bring the ceiling and far wall towards you.

DigForVictory

I can vouch for the horizontal stripes having a widening effect. Never wore that sweater again...

Interior paintwork? Cheat with a "picture rail" & paint dark above, bright & light below.

Why are you painting it? It needs doing? To sell? To persuade boomerang child to emigrate? As you may find desired occupant actually wants it magnolia with purple & yellow polka dots....

pineapple

DigForVictory wrote: »

Why are you painting it? It needs doing? To sell? To persuade boomerang child to emigrate?

It absolutely needs doing. It was originally created out of a larger space so I have a mixture of new plaster, successive years of bad painting on the original bits enhanced by dirt and plaster/crack repairs. :eek:
Previously I just used it as a dumping ground for all the things that would have been in a garden shed if I had one!
Might be selling in the spring, not sure yet.

olias

DigForVictory wrote: »

I can vouch for the horizontal stripes having a widening effect. Never wore that sweater again...

Interior paintwork? Cheat with a "picture rail" & paint dark above, bright & light below.

Why are you painting it? It needs doing? To sell? To persuade boomerang child to emigrate? As you may find desired occupant actually wants it magnolia with purple & yellow polka dots....

Surely its the other way round? Traditionally you would always paint lighter above a picture rail. The benefit in this situation would be, if you painted the section above the rail the same colour as the roof, to make the roof area, and therefore the room, appear bigger.

The other obvious thing, of course, is to put a really large mirror on one of the side walls.

Olias

olias

For 'roof', read 'ceiling'.......:o

olias

pineapple

olias wrote: »

Surely its the other way round? Traditionally you would always paint lighter above a picture rail. The benefit in this situation would be, if you painted the section above the rail the same colour as the roof, to make the roof area, and therefore the room, appear bigger.

Yes but by the same token the recommendation is to paint the ceiling and area above the rail the same darker colour if you want to bring down the height of the ceiling. Which I do.
This is what I am talking about - the solutions to the various issues are conflicting.

cte1111

I think if you paint the ceiling a dark colour, it will make the whole room look a bit dark and poky.

I'd paint the ceiling white, the wall with the window a warm colour and the other walls a pastel shade of the same colour (or mix the remaining white with the remaining coloured paint).

Something like:
http://www.dulux.co.uk/colours/yellow/#tuscan_treasure_3

with
http://www.dulux.co.uk/colour/quilted_calico_3

A mirror on the side wall sounds like a good idea too.

pineapple

cte1111 wrote: »

A mirror on the side wall sounds like a good idea too.

Or even a bit naughty seeing as it is a bedroom :eek:
Has anyone tried those 'light and space' paints?