5 Small-Room Rules to Break

Reimagine small spaces in your home with insider decorating tips from top designers.

By Susan Kleinman

"Paint the walls white".

"Hang lots of mirrors."

We've all heard the conventional wisdom on how to make small rooms look larger. But while knowing the rules is certainly helpful, knowing when to break them is actually the key to creating small spaces that sizzle. Here's how these leading-edge designers break the rules to make the rooms:

Forget White, go for WOW!

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Rule to Break: Paint Small Spaces White

When decorator Nick Olsen moved into his 525-square-foot studio in New York City, the walls were painted white, in keeping with small-space convention. "But the place just looked gray and dingy," says Olsen. And so, rather than just slapping on a newer, brighter coat of white, he painted the apartment's main room Oregano Green (Benjamin Moore 2147-10), in an oil-based metal enamel, to resemble lacquer.

"Although the apartment is small," says Olsen, "it's actually rather grand — with 12-foot ceilings, huge windows and a high-relief fireplace. So I felt it would be a shame to tone it down with a pale color or white." For even more impact , he painted the doors glossy black and the trim white, and added a deep teal velvet sofa. Olsen didn't shy away from bright color in the 35- (yes, 35!) square-foot kitchen either, wallpapering the fridge in a bright spring pattern and painting the walls and the ceiling Sea Mist Green (Benjamin Moore #2041-50). "To make color work in a really tiny room like this kitchen," Olsen suggests, "paint the walls and ceilings the same color so you're eye doesn't stop at the ceiling line."

Photo by Nick Olsen