Imagine walking into a home with tall ceilings and high walls – what do you see? In your mind’s eyes, we bet you saw a spacious space and beautiful natural sunlight streaming in. The high walls and ceilings make an otherwise small room look larger and helping eliminate the ‘claustrophobic’ feelings associated with being confined. While tall walls are an attractive architectural element, it can be a challenge to decide what colours are suitable for them and how they can be decorated. Don’t consider high ceilings and walls to be an eyesore. In this guide, we would like to help you make most of these spaces.

Before we begin, a note of caution for our readers.

Colour selection is not a difficult process but one that requires careful deliberation.  If you have the wrong colour on a tall wall, it will make your room look stuffy and almost ridiculous because the walls will tower over the furniture and other room accents. Such a scenario will lead to a room look disproportionately large or small. You want to avoid both extremes. Planned use of colour will make your walls appear shorter, and scale them better with the rest of your furnishings. Fortunately, some professional painting contractors, designers and colour consultants, can guide if needed.

Is there a ‘right’ colour for tall walls/high ceilings? The answer is – ‘it depends’. For some, the right colour can be a white or a blended, two-tone solution. The height of walls, room’s size and use, lighting etc. will also affect colour selection. Read on for some pointers on how to select the best paint colour for tall walls.

Why should Walls be scaled down?

Low ceilings can have a claustrophobic effect and high ceilings can be particularly attractive – depending the room in question. So why scale tall ceilings/walls down?

Contemporary homes tend to look best with tall ceilings. In older home designs, like a country-style cottage for instance, a tall wall would actually take away the comfortable of the space. In such spaces, a high ceiling will undermine the effect of your decorating style and negatively impact the overall look of your surroundings.

Painting contractors in Toronto generally use tall ladders or scaffolding to reach high walls. While it’s not always unsafe to paint high up, caution should be exercised as painting ceilings is not very easy. Since interior painting is a careful, thought out decision, do not be afraid of bringing in some creativity. Personal accents, wall paneling, chair rails, and paint, altogether can help in scaling down a wall to better match the surroundings.

How to scale down Tall Walls using paint?

It is not difficult to scale down walls with paint. Some of the suggestions below can be combined with other techniques that take the attention away from a wall’s height.

Warm Colours: The right colour can make an otherwise dull room inviting or they can have an opposite effect. They can make it look dingy. If you need to make a space look visually cozy, warm tones like tan, red or yellow will make things appear closer than they really are. Cooler tones make things seem farther away. So, a cool white will creation the illusion of light and vastness. If you decide to switch it with an ivory, your walls will look smaller. If that’s the look you’re aiming for, go for it.

Two-Colour Variations: Two toned walls are a great way of breaking up the height to bring it down. To do this, select two shades of a colour, say a brown and tan. Or how about two shades of a blue (as seen in the picture). The upper part of the wall can be painted with the lighter shade, the lower half can be darker. Then, divide the colours with a moulding in the center. The size of the wall matters here, but the division can be at any length, at shoulder or eye level based on personal preference. What you now have is a clean, two toned wall that will even out the room and not dwarf over other elements.

Include Texture and Art: Using texture on ceilings is another method of scaling down. If you really need to make a wall seem cozier and in tune with the surroundings, combine warm colours and texture.

Here’s how you can do this:

Add a dark coloured wall panel on the lower half of the wall or put up a headboard. For the top, use a solid, light colour without texture to break up the wall. Alternately, use a dark colour on the bottom, and for the top, use wallpaper to create an interesting contrast or paint vertical stripes.

Warm colours and faux-painting also go hand in hand. One can achieve a fabric/stone/leather like appearance easily. Faux paint can be used sparingly on specific portions of the wall, such as the lower half to draw the vision downwards.

In addition to texture, incorporating art can be effective too. Vertical wall hangings, a gallery of images or single bold piece of artwork can make a room with tall walls look welcoming. Other than paintings, vertical wall installations or bookcases are also great ways to bring down a high wall. Some more decoration related suggestions can be found in this Forbes article.

Tips on Choosing Paint Colours for Tall Walls and High Ceilings

Go dramatic with dark colours – One major advantage of high ceilings is that one can experiment with dark colours without making the room appear closed.

Ecopainting has worked with clients who want a space to appear more intimate, one alternative to do is to paint an accent wall. Others can choose to paint ceilings with a dark shade and make your room feel more intimate and dramatic.

Our favourite dark colour picks: Charcoals, dark greys, and reddish browns absorb light and create a cozy feeling. Make sure you select a matte, flat or low-shine sheen – these will absorb light better than glossy finishes. If you have a country-side house, another option is to have a wood-slat ceiling, once again use a matte paint or leave the wood untouched.

It’s not always black and white: When clients ask us if they should paint a dark colour on tall walls, we first make sure the lighting is ideal and the room is of a desired size. You do not want a cave-like feeling by painting a dramatic dark in a room with horrible lighting. So what are your options? A cool white, that’s not blue or green will look great in a small room with above average tall walls. The cool tone will make the small room look wider and bigger in comparison to its height.

Our favourite light colour picks: An almost all-white colour scheme. Go all out with the pale colour, get white window blinds, rugs, furniture et all. Such a stark look will enhance brightness and all surfaces will blend together for a consistent and clean look. If the rooms lack good lighting and have sharp angular ceilings, there is a risk of shadows and a white paint that looks like depressing gray. To achieve success with an all-white colour scheme, select a room with the best natural or artificial light.

Conclusion

Paint helps in improving the visual appearance of a room, for tall walls, it makes the height seem lower and complements interior design principles really well. When you have a home with unusual structural elements, use paint to tone them down – like paint an accent wall or use the suggestions in this article for high ceilings. Discuss your concerns with an experienced painting contractor and seek their suggestions. 

Do you have a home with high ceilings? How did you choose a colour for them?