Interior design · small room
Navy
A small room painted entirely in one color — walls, ceiling, panelling, doors, even the radiator.
The standard advice for a small room is to paint it white and it will feel bigger. It won’t. White only shows more clearly where the wall ends.
Here the opposite is done. One saturated color covers everything, so the edges disappear and you stop being able to see how small the room really is.
Type
A room for reading and working
Area
About 8 m²
Scope
Concept, color, cabinetry, visualizations
Status
Self-initiated
Concept
There is one color and it goes onto everything: plaster, baseboards, ceiling panelling, door leaves, frames, window board and radiator. The technique is called color drenching, and it works precisely because no exception is made.
The cabinetry in the alcove is the same color as the wall, so it reads as part of the room rather than as furniture. Only the books and objects on the shelves bring contrast — and they are the decoration here, not the furniture.
The slope above the window, which in a white room would be a problem to hide, simply stops being visible in a single color. So does the radiator.
The only two materials that break out of the color are the oak floor and the jute rug. The warm base balances the cool navy and keeps the room from going gloomy.
Materials and detail
Color
Deep navy, matt on the walls and ceiling, eggshell on the cabinetry and built-ins — the same color, two levels of sheen.
Cabinetry
An alcove with shelves and cupboards flush with the wall, paneled fronts in the same color, brass knobs as the only glint.
Floor
Natural oiled oak boards with a jute rug on top. The only warm tones in the room.
Do you have a small or dark room?
A study with no window, a north-facing room, a blind alcove — those are the rooms where a bold color works best. Describe yours and I’ll show you how it could look.