A grey bedroom? In a 100 sqft. room? At the onset, it didn’t seem like a good idea. Because truth is, we tend to steer towards lighter shades if the surface area is less because lighter colours reflect light, thereby making your space look bigger. But truth is, darker colors can do just the same although in a slightly different way. I know, I know. It sounds weird but it’s true. And all these years I was chicken.
So, hear me out. When you paint a room all white, the main purpose of doing so (other than the aesthetic choices of course) is to make your space look larger. And that works. Dark colours, on the other hand, make your space look large too by reflecting very less. Because it’s not defined by light and it absorbs most of it, the definition of your room gets blurred thereby giving you an illusion of space.
And that is why, when I painted our bedroom wall a sultry shade of grey green, it didn’t make any difference in visually sizing the room. The only difference it make was a good one. The changing lights throughout the day makes the wall appear magical and it’s a beautiful thing to stare at!
Having white walls for more than a decade, I wanted to add in a little depth to my home. Haha, not to mention I was being categorized as someone who just likes white which actually is not the case. It is my favorite color no doubt but I love throwing in a few shades now and then and it was time to give in to this long-standing wish of having a grey wall and yet make it all calm, cozy, comfortable and carefree- all at the same time. A grey bedroom it is.
Also, I think over the years I have become very fond of how light plays with your home colour through out the day. While white makes it all look very bright- the light can feel very static. A dark wall on the other hand is pure magic. As the light changes through out the day, so does the shade of your wall and for a person like me who thrives in visual stimuli, it’s all very thrilling.
But then, what kind of Grey?
Sure I’d like a grey bedroom but what kind of grey. This is the exact sentence I had in my head. “Something nice, calm, cozy but not nun-ish. Not Rat grey, something forest-y. Something moody, provoking and not sterile. Something equal parts hygge and modern beach house”
Yup. I’m not easy when it comes to paint or colors in general. But I am so glad I found the exact shade I created in my photoshop palette.
I fired my Cycle (I’d like to believe its a magic machine), zoomed onto the nearest paint shop and got myself a lovely bucket of the prettiest Grey-Green called Elegant Grey and gave our window wall three coats of it. And contrary to what a lot of people told me and what I personally believed- it did not make my bedroom look small at all. As a matter of fact, it instantly added that graceful, sober, classic charm to this space which I am falling in love with every day.
“Hello grey bedroom, I waited for you for years”
And believe it or not, the smaller the space, the darker you can go!
And the trick is called High contrast! So instead of painting the whole room dark, you just paint one wall or corner in a dark shade that adds depth to your home. Dark colours recede from the viewer, thereby visually enlarging the space. Talk about crushing conventional wisdom eh? And that is exactly what I did to my room. Instead of painting the whole room grey, I highlighted the window wall. It works to my advantage in two ways-
- The changing light throughout the day changes the dark shade beautifully- from early morning green to mid day grey and then sultry grey in the evening
- Because I have a lovely balcony outside, the eye instantly go there thereby making my bedroom look larger.
Try painting your TV wall, a corner of your living room, book shelves or one wall of your bedroom in dark shade and see how it looks. But do make sure that you are choosing a wall that gets enough natural light.
And I would suggest to keep your dark hues in cool shades- from Charcoal to Blue but it’s really upto you. If you can rock a burgundy wall, who am I to tell you otherwise
But for now, I think we have a winner. A blasphemy in this White house and a beautiful one that I am clearly loving. Going against the wind never felt this good.