White Paint Makes Your Apartment Look Boring… Not Bigger.
As your friend & favorite DC renter, I feel compelled to say this… Your Apartment is Small, and You Need To Get Over It. Woah! Now that I got that off my chest allow me to elaborate.
In the years before I started Imani At Home, I consulted every blog & YouTube channel known to man-kind to figure out how to make whatever small space I was living in at the time feel bigger. And all the advice was the same. All the experts agreed if you want to make a room feel larger, you had to go with a lighter paint color.
And, technically, they are correct!
Darker colors absorb more light than lighter colors; thus, using them in small spaces can make a room feel smaller. But, just because something is technically true doesn't mean you have to follow the rule.
In my very humble opinion, nothing is more ridiculous than trying to make a small space feel larger. Like, sure, a 450 square foot apartment can be made to look larger with fancy angles, white paint, and strategically placed furniture, but if your bathroom is 15 steps from the kitchen, there is nothing you or Benjamin Moore's Chantilly Lace can do about that… it's small. So instead of trying to win the title of Miss Big Ass Apartment, focus on trying to win Miss Cool Apartment.
If you're not sure where to start or don't believe me, take my apartment, for example. On the left is my dining room in late 2019, and on the right is my 2022 dining room.
The room on the left is ugly and it also looks small. The table is too big, the walls are uninteresting to look at, and everything sort of blends into one boring white blog. However, the space on the left is popping. The wallpaper draws the eye in & because the pattern continues all over, the room feels expansive.
The size of your space doesn't matter. It's all about what you do with it. And I think you should add a ridiculous wallpaper. (Shop my wallpaper here.)
Happy Small Space Living,
Imani