Do you feel trapped by bland walls and low ceilings? With the flick of her paintbrush, Debbie Travis, author of Debbie Travis' Painted House, offers this trick to raise your roof and brighten your room!
Supplies
  • Three complementing colors, in three shades each
  • Chalk line and painting tape
  • Roller
  • Thin paint brush
How to Create a Recessed Illusion
  • Before you paint your ceiling, paint a sample of one corner.
  • Choose three main colors. For each main color, get a lighter and darker shade.
  • Imagine two adjoining edges on your sample are one of the corners of your ceiling.
  • Starting from the edge, measure and tape off three five-inch stripes separated by about one inch. Your tape marks should create an L.
  • Fill in each five-inch L with one of the main colors you chose.
  • Imagine there is a light source (like a window) along one of the legs of the L.
  • Paint each of the one-inch stripes along this leg the darker shades of the main colors. This creates a shadow effect.
  • Paint the remaining one inch stripes on the other leg of the L the lighter shades. This creates the illusion of light going away from the light source.
  • The one-inch stripes should meet in a diagonal.
  • If you are pleased with the sample, start on the ceiling!
  • Follow the shape of the room entirely.

See Demonstration

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