The right wallpaper can make a small room feel taller, wider and brighter — not smaller. Here are six ways to do it, with designs to match each one.
Draw the eye upward with stripes
Vertical stripes lead the eye from floor to ceiling, which makes a low ceiling feel higher. Horizontal stripes do the opposite job: run them across a narrow room and the walls read as wider.
Keep the palette soft. Tone-on-tone or neutral stripes give you the stretch without crowding the room.
Keep the background light
Pale backgrounds bounce light around the room, so the walls seem to sit further back. Creams, soft greys and warm whites are the easiest wins in a small space — especially one without much daylight.
You don’t have to give up pattern to get there. A light ground with a gentle print still opens the room up.
Choose a pattern with breathing space
Small, busy patterns in high contrast can make a wall feel closer than it is. Look for designs with plenty of background between the motifs, or low-contrast patterns that read as texture from across the room.
Add depth with 3D and geometric prints
3D-effect prints give a flat wall a sense of depth, and the eye reads depth as space. They’re interesting to look at, too — a good way to give a small room some character without adding clutter.
Our Xpose wallpaper is a great example of the look.
Open up a wall with a scenic mural
A scenic mural — a forest path, a misty valley, a view to the horizon — gives the eye somewhere far away to land. On the end wall of a narrow room, it can make the whole space feel deeper.
Oversized prints add drama too, so a mural works best as the one big moment in the room.
Feature one wall, not all four
In a small room you don’t need to paper every wall. One feature wall — ideally the one you see first as you walk in — pulls the eye across the room and makes it feel longer.
If you do want every wall covered, choose a light, low-contrast design so the room feels calm and continuous rather than closed in.
Renting? Our peel-and-stick materials go up without paste, which makes them the renter-friendly choice. See how our materials compare.
Common questions
Does dark wallpaper make a room look smaller?
It can. Dark colours tend to make walls feel closer. That said, a dark, moody wallpaper on every wall blurs the corners of a room, which can feel cosy rather than cramped. If you want the room to feel bigger in the usual sense, stick to lighter backgrounds.
Should I wallpaper all four walls in a small room?
You can. A light, low-contrast pattern on every wall makes a small room feel calm and continuous. If you’re using a bold print or a mural, keep it to one feature wall.
Which wallpapers make a ceiling look higher?
Vertical stripes are the classic choice, because they carry the eye upward. Tall, upright patterns — climbing botanicals, for example — do a similar job.
Is wallpaper a good idea in a rental?
Yes, if you choose peel-and-stick. It goes up without paste, which makes it the renter-friendly option. Our guide to wallpaper materials covers the difference.
