How to Choose Wallpaper That Makes a Small Room Look Bigger

To make a small room look bigger, choose a wallpaper in a light shade with a small or medium-scale pattern and a matt surface. Vertical stripes make the ceiling look higher; horizontal stripes make the wall look wider.

Colour: light, cool shades push the wall back

Off-white, light grey, ice blue and pale green reflect light and make the wall seem further away than it is. Dark colours bring the wall forward; in a small room use them on one wall only, and with care.

Pattern scale and stripe direction

• Small, dense pattern: reads as texture and does not shrink the room.
• Large pattern: adds depth on a single wall, closes the room in on all four.
• Vertical stripes: raise the ceiling in low rooms.
• Horizontal stripes: widen the short wall in long, narrow rooms.

One wall, light ceiling

Papering the wall you face as you walk in and keeping the others light carries the eye to the far end of the room. Keep the ceiling a shade lighter than the walls. Panoramic papers with a horizon line or a perspective design also give a small room depth.

Mind the surface

Should you wallpaper the ceiling in a small room?

Not in small rooms with a low ceiling; a patterned or dark ceiling seems to come down. If the ceiling is high, a light, finely textured paper can work.

A slightly glossy surface multiplies the light but shows every flaw in the wall; if your wall is not perfect, a matt, lightly textured paper is safer. Browse the designs in our wallpaper range.