The illusion of space

Ah long and narrow rooms - most of us have them and most of us (except moi)!! don't know what on earth to do with them. Fear not because although they do present challenges (as the space can look easily unbalanced) they don't have to look like a corridor. There are a number of tricks of the trade - they key is to visually break up the longness (is that  a word)?. So place furniture diagonally rather than slap bang against the wall. Trick the brain by painting the longest wall in a light colour to recede. An arrangement of shelves or quirky display of art makes the shorter walls in the room appear wider, as does using wallpaper with a bold pattern or scale. Another trick is to avoid casting to much light on the ceiling as this will emphasize its shape instead pump up the ambient and mood lighting. Armed with these techniques you can easily create different perspectives to disguise the nature of the room. Hurrah! [caption id="attachment_328" align="aligncenter" width="240" caption="Photography Graham Atkins Hughes"][/caption] Yes its narrow but its also fabulous and it doesn't feel like a corridor. Furniture in this home office is on a small scale but has been moved away from the walls to improve the visual flow, while the bold rug also attracts the eye. The window has been simply adorned with a lace curtain that draws little attention to the end of the room.