A Lighting Trick: Making Rooms Look Spacious
First of all, we’ve already discussed how painting the walls in a light color like a tan or a light blue makes the walls seem further away. What really completes this illusion is when you trim the room in a lighter color than the walls. The light walls with a lighter trim create a shadow effect. For instance, if your walls are light blue, then your trim should be in a white or an even lighter blue. This works wonders to make a room seem more spacious.
Mirrors are another trick that works wonders. Some people grab one foot squares and affix them flat to the wall. Designer mirrors are fine. What you want to avoid are the older brand of mirrors people used to put on the walls in huge frames like Venetian or Neapolitan wall mirrors. They are great for other places and other purposes.
But, they really don’t do the trick when you are trying to make a room look more spacious plus, they are even more expensive. Gardner polished edge mirrors that attach with plastic fasteners or two-sided abrasive strips will fill the walls quite inexpensively and create the impression that the room is larger. I’ll have to get into this into greater detail in future articles.
But for now, I would like to introduce you to a concept often overlooked. That’s why I’m the home improvement and interior design expert. Lighting directed toward the ceiling adds depth to any room. I once created a low cost solution to the lighting problem in a room.
I started with small shelving that I created from cuts of drywall. Since then, I have used other materials such as particle board and plywood. The drywall sheets were six inches in width and ran the length of the wall. I attached them six inches down from the ceiling and completely surrounded the room with the shelving.
Then, I fixed halogen lighting just above the shelving. I didn’t have to really run halogen lighting all throughout the room. I placed two lamps along each wall. I let the lights do the rest. Once the lighting was in place, I placed Plexiglas over the lighting. I had painted the Plexiglas blue so that the lighting would show up in blue. Then I attached sides to the shelving with more drywall.
I used a reverse shelving technique for both sides of drywall. The shelving side was fastened into place with corner fasteners placed upside down. They don’t appear on the bottom of the shelving and therefore, won’t appear at all. The outside side of drywall was attached to the bottom side of drywall with more corner fasteners so that the fasteners were once again on the inside. No fasteners can be viewed from the outside of the box lining the ceiling. The lighting shines on the ceiling alone and creates the impression of even more space.
I finished off the edges with drywall compound and reinforced the boxes with pieces attached at the ends. You have to make sure that you leave a three inch gap between the outside drywall and the ceiling so that light can show through. Also, you will be able to reach inside and remove the Plexiglas when it comes time to change the halogen lamp. It’s a cost effective solution to creating more space in any room.
Standing at the Ventless Gel Fireplace and looking around at the new lighting in the room, my client was very impressed. His room was beautiful. It was as classy as he wanted it to be. And his wallet was still full.
If you start to think about all the things I’ve written about in my articles, you will start to get great ideas for yourself. My knack for finding low-cost solutions mixed with your style of living will really start to transform your home. It’s your home. Make the best of it any way you can. Sometimes, the smallest things make all the difference in the world.
