Photography Schools

In order to dramatically transform an apartment or cottage you don't have to tear down walls and partitions. It's often enough to visually "reshape" spaces. In the professional designer's arsenal there are a number of ways of doing just this - optical illusions, which allow one to move walls and raise ceilings virtually. With optical illusions architects gain an understanding of changes in the visual perception of scale within the premises which arise under the influence of colour and contrast. In this way, interior spaces can be adjusted primarily using the colour and texture of the main elements in the interior, the correct placement of lighting, while taking into account the direction of light streams.

Among the classical techniques for creating optical illusions we find, for instance, the creation of a suspended ceiling and the use of illumination in the upper zone of the property - this helps to visually raise its height. The same effect can be achieved by painting the floor a rich colour or varnishing it, and also by using wallpaper with patterns in contrast with the main background. However, concerning experimentation with colour scheme on floors, designers warn that light blue in all its shades does not work well in rooms you plan to spend a lot of time it, but does make rooms appear more spacious. Yellow makes a residence sunny and free, but visually fails to provide a sense of dependable safety.

It is possible to visually move walls with the help of colour contrast on vertical and horizontal border planes as well as by using clashing and contrasting textures. A small room gains a sense of spaciousness if you make use of a fresh, light tone - shades of grey-blue, pearl, or pale green. If, on the contrary, the room is very spacious to begin with then a range of rich or pastel tones would be more suitable.

A change in the perception of space is extremely conducive to the texture of interior design materials and objects. For instance, horizontal stripes visually expand rooms, creating more floor space but, at the same time, reducing their height. Vertical stripes are the opposite and visually reduce horizontal space while increasing the height rooms. This same tricks can be applied with ornaments; those that are small visually expand space, where as larger objects reduce space. White objects on a dark background expand spaces, making them wider and longer. Walls with checked, striped, and repeating patterns appear larger than single-colour walls of identical dimensions. The use of the vertical plane in wall decor visually raises the height of the property.

Without a doubt, one of the most original ways of altering the visual proportions of a residence is to create decorative paintings or shapes. With this highly artistic approach it is possible to expand spaces or visually increase the height of a ceiling; transporting the residents of an urban apartment to an ancient courtyard or making them onlookers in a bucolic scene. It is no coincidence that such pictures - landscapes, false arches and windows - are called "tricks". An effective combination of both real and depicted objects can become a genuine interior gem.

When commissioning a wall painting it is important to follow several rules. First of all, it is necessary to work out the size of the picture: all images must be in keeping with the size of the residence and the height of people there. It is no secret that in modern apartment buildings there are usually low ceilings that create a "pressing" sensation. Artists can easily solve this problem by choosing light tones when painting walls and ceilings, creating pictorial borders and base-level decorative panels. In between these features the wall is painted the same colour and the area above the border appears to be a lot higher than it is in reality.

However, it is not only walls that can be painted but also protruding pipes or beams - basically, any elements you may wish to "conceal". A professional artist can transform these undesirable spaces into parts of an artistic composition.