Interior expert reveals monochromatic tip to make a room look bigger

Colors to make a room look bigger, cream sofa with soft furnishing

(Image credit: Sweetpea & Willow)

last updated 11 March 2021

Farrow & Ball have revealed how to make a room appear instantly larger, but their advice is not exactly what we anticipated from a paint company.

Instead of focusing on the color of the walls, Patrick O’Donnell, ambassador at Farrow & Ball focused on tangible pieces of home decor - or, even more specifically, the influential tones of soft furnishings.

‘Whilst small rooms can feel like a greater challenge to decorate, if you follow a few basic principles, you can help accentuate the feeling of more room through carefully curated color choices and decorating styles,’ Patrick began.

Colors to make a room look bigger, living room with pillow and seatte

The Farrow & Ball representative continued: 'The first option is to keep your palette soft and monochromatic - don’t introduce too many contrasting colors. Using similarly toned shades on the soft furnishings and trims will also enhance the feeling of space.’

While the color of your cushions and curtains might not have been the first thing you would change to improve the space of your room, Partick is not alone in understanding their understated power.

‘Changing cushions is probably the easiest update you can make to a living room,’ declared Camilla Clarke of Albion Nord.

‘By updating soft furnishings such as cushions and throws allows you to breathe new life into your living room and add a fresh style for the new season. Pull the new colors together with additional accessories in the same theme, such as etched candle motifs and endearing ornaments, to create a cohesive look,’ she advised.

Colors to make a room look bigger, living room soft furnishings thrown over seat

After starting with the intricate colors of your soft furnishings and plush accessories, Patrick extended his advice, urging us to extend the monochromatic palette to other hard furniture pieces, such as tables and wardrobes.

‘You can carry this technique on to furniture too, such as painting your wardrobes in Estate Eggshell in the same color.’

See: Farrow & Ball's trending paint colors and how to use them at home

‘This will help reduce the sense of volume of furniture in a space where the floor area is at a minimum,’ Patrick concluded.

Small spaces are some of the best rooms to experiment with color and design. Sticking to a monochromatic color scheme doesn’t mean you can't be bold with your color choices. Abigail Ahern and Kit Kemp are both advocates of taking a risk with your color choice in a small space.

So be bold no matter how small the room is.

Megan is the Head of Celebrity Style News at Homes & Gardens. She first joined Future Plc as a News Writer across their interiors titles, including Livingetc and Real Homes, before becoming H&G's News Editor in April 2022. She now leads the Celebrity/ News team.

Before joining Future, Megan worked as a News Explainer at The Telegraph, following her MA in International Journalism at the University of Leeds. During her BA in English Literature and Creative Writing, she gained writing experience in the US whilst studying in New York. Megan also focused on travel writing during her time living in Paris, where she produced content for a French travel site.

Megan currently lives in London, where she relocated from her hometown in Yorkshire. In her home, she experiments with interior design trends and draws inspiration from the home decor ideas she observes in her everyday work life. Her favorite pieces include her antique typewriter and her expansive collection of houseplants. When she isn’t writing, she is browsing London’s coffee shops and bookstores to add to her ever-growing library, taking over the open shelving in her apartment.