The surprising autumnal trend that can make your home feel more spacious

As autumn arrives, many homeowners are refreshing their interiors with colours that reflect the season’s cosy, warm ambience.

Moody blues, forest greens, and charcoal greys are popular choices, but there’s a common concern that such hues can make rooms feel cramped or gloomy.

However, interior experts are debunking the myth that dark colours shrink a room.

Instead, with carefully considered application and complementary styling, deeper hues can foster a sense of luxury, comfort and even spatial expansion that might surprise those who fear the ‘dark side’ of paint palettes.

Choosing a colour

Lucy Steele, paint and interiors expert at V&CO, recently told The Scottish Sun that warm undertones — such as subtle reds, burnt oranges or muted yellows — soften and enrich dark hues, creating a gentle glow that wraps the space in warmth rather than coldness or dullness.

For small or low-light rooms, warm white and soft neutrals can create a spacious feel, but there’s no need to shy away from dark colours completely.

London-based interior designer Jenny Luck told Livingetc that earthy green shades ‘are naturally inviting and always look comfortable in a darker setting’, while interior designer Andrew Griffiths told the publication: ‘I love using blue in rooms that don’t get much natural light, but it has to be the right shade of blue — deep and moody in tone. This brings a sense of calm and depth to a space that artificial lighting alone can’t achieve.

Testing paint samples at different times of day is vital, as colours shift subtly with sunlight and artificial lighting. This helps homeowners avoid coldness and achieve a balance of depth and brightness.

Double drenching

Double drenching involves painting the ceiling, doors, windowsills and skirting boards in a lighter shade of the same colour as the walls, and is a technique championed by many interior experts.

It removes the disruptive contrast that happens when architectural features are painted white or a completely different tone, allowing the colour to flow uninterrupted across surfaces.

The result visually stretches the room’s boundaries, creating an elegant layering that makes the space feel open and unified rather than chopped up into segments.

This method elevates dark rooms from potentially oppressive to sophisticated havens where colour envelops and releases space simultaneously.

‘Double drenching a room is the perfect technique for opening up a space when using a darker paint colour,’ Steele says.

Choose your room

The choice of room to embrace darker tones is important. Bedrooms, for example, shine when grounded with deep blues or lush forest greens, colours known for evoking calmness, restful luxury and intimacy.

Meanwhile, living rooms respond well to dramatic charcoals and midnight blues, colours that enhance evenings with cosy sophistication.

Kitchens and bathrooms can also be painted dark blue or earthy brown hues to add unexpected depth without overpowering. Livingetc also recommends using reds in kitchens, which adds richness and warmth to the space.

When carefully curated, these rich tones elevate functionality with atmospheric style, rather than detracting from it.

Lighting

Autumn’s shortening days make artificial lighting a critical element in ensuring dark walls never feel like an enclosure, but rather a warm embrace.

Multiple light sources, such as lamps with warm yellow bulbs paired with mirrors positioned to amplify natural light, can create layers of illumination, offering alternatives to harsh overhead lighting.

Steele says: ‘Layering these at different heights and angles throughout the room will maximise the brightness, allowing your beautiful wall colour to glow.’

This layering prevents the paint from becoming overly heavy, simultaneously lifting and grounding the room’s overall ambience.

Complementary décor

To maintain balance, dark walls benefit from lighter furnishings and accessories. Soft furnishings — cushions, throws and rugs in delicate, lighter shades — lend texture and create visual pathways that guide the eye around the room.

Homes & Gardens recommends pale, light-reflecting furnishings to keep the atmosphere bright, alongside well-chosen furniture with legs and expansive rugs to promote a sense of airy spaciousness.

Meanwhile, bright artworks or glossy furniture pieces provide contrast, breaking up expanses of dark paint and preventing the space from feeling too enclosed.

Clever use of mirrors and keeping window areas clear helps to maximise natural light flow, which is crucial in rooms where dark tones dominate.

Through thoughtfully balanced décor, alongside warm undertones, skillful double drenching, and layered lighting strategies, rooms bathed in darker hues can be both beautifully atmospheric and spatially generous.