Whether you dwell in a trendy tiny house, a modestly-sized nest, or a palatial pad, you can probably pinpoint one or more rooms in your home that are simply too small for comfort. Fortunately, there's a design trick you can use to amplify the dimensions of tight quarters without calling in a crew of contractors to extend the room: weathered wall boards. Here are five ways to incorporate distressed wood planks for walls in compact spaces to achieve big and bold looks that belie their true dimensions.
Play All the Angles
While slanted surfaces traditionally make already cozy quarters look and feel downright cramped, the weathered wall boards that cover the angled walls of this bedroom draw the eye upward to evoke the illusion of higher ceilings and increased foot room below. When paired with cool white surrounding walls and sheer drapes, the multi-toned reclaimed weathered wood planks reveal a hidden depth in the spare sleeping sanctuary that deceptively makes the room look like it goes on for miles.
Put Your Game Face On
If the kid's bedroom can’t contain the boundless energy of the little Lebron in your life, let your tyke sleep court-side by installing a reclaimed sports floor wood plank wall covering on a bare wall. The dimensional grain pattern and energetic colors and stripes of the peel and stick wood planks make the once humble bedroom feel as larger than life as your child's favorite basketball player, while a real basketball hoop mounted high on the wall allows little ones to fulfill all of their hoop dreams—and then hit the locker room—before bedtime.
Go Long
Installing weathered wall boards vertically creates a striped effect that makes rooms with short ceilings look infinitely taller. Here, the illusion of height created by the rustic wood wall and the long and lean bedside mirrors counteracts the loss of square footage from the large bed in the space and restores balance to the bedroom. What's more, the whimsical hue of the reclaimed weathered wood white planks lends a bright and airy ambiance to the space that expands the room
Make a Perfect Match of Materials
While dark-colored paint absorbs light and further constricts the dimensions of a horizontally- or vertically-challenged space, pairing a dark-colored painted wall with a light-colored wood wall is an excellent way to re-infuse the space with the light that was lost. In this diminutive den, the contrast between periwinkle paint and reclaimed weathered wood gray planks deceives the eye into seeing a more spacious room, particularly at the far corner of the room where the paint and wood meet in a mishmash of color and texture.
Counter with Color
Bathroom countertops, particularly in dark hues, subtract precious square footage from already space-starved bathrooms. Short of committing to a costly remodeling, you can't downsize the dimensions of your countertop, but you can minimize its appearance and maximize the size of the bathroom by installing reclaimed wood paneling that match the hue of the counter and countertop decor. This bathroom overcame its narrow gait by featuring milk-white Hamptons reclaimed pine planks behind a counter, sink basin, pitcher, and bath linens of a similar hue. The shared color scheme of the counter and the wall makes the black countertop look smaller and more understated, and the space above it look wide and open, while a mirror mounted above the vanity makes the bijou bathroom look twice as big.
