Trim Paint Colors That Help Rooms Look Bigger

Just like kitchen cabinet paint colors can totally reshape the look and feel of a room, painting trim can help emphasize a wall paint color or balance out a particularly bright shade. The baseboards, chair rail, wainscoating, or crown molding—whatever you want to call it—is capable of transforming a room. A bold trim paint color can serve as the focal point of the space, while a neutral one allows the eye to be drawn to another feature, such as a distinctive piece of wall art or a bold rug. The effect trim paint has lies in selecting the right paint color, though. Some trim paint colors can make rooms look bigger than they actually are, while others can make a space feel cramped. Walk into a paint store and you’ll be faced with hundreds of trim paint options to choose from. Having that many options can be paralyzing. So, how do you select the right paint color for a room’s trim? One trick for making rooms feel larger is to paint the walls and trim the same color, advises Bethany Adams, an interior designer in Louisville, Kentucky. “Any contrasting trim color will draw attention to the trim which makes a room look smaller,” Adams says. Here, the pros share the best trim hues for making rooms look bigger. (Just remember to choose the same paint color for the walls.) Our favorite: Pointing by Farrow & Ball Our favorite: Metropolitan AF-690 by Benjamin Moore RELATED: Benjamin Moore’s 2019 Color of the Year Is Here—And It Will Make You Want to Repaint Our favorite: Very Navy by Behr