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Popular opinion states small rooms must never be painted dark. It seems like the only way to “open up” your small space is to make sure everything is whitewashed, so light reflects off it, making the space feel lighter and look bigger. However, interior designers in Singapore are moving from that school of thought to embrace colours, especially darker hues for your homes, no matter small or large.
While white is usually the go-to, adding dynamic, dark shades makes the room interesting, and can reflect light differently. Dark jewel tones or greys with cool undertones can light up your room in a way whites fail to do.
Here, we’re going to get some inspiration from the interior designers featured on Renodots.
In this HDB unit at Canberra Street designed by Ethereall, it is as if the home is in grayscale. But oh, doesn’t serenity exude itself from it?
Grey tiles, cemented walls, and dark furnishings create a calm space, almost zen, without greeneries.
Though primarily dressed in dark hues, this home does not feel small. It has ample light streaming in from the blinds, mirrors to reflect it and pastel highlights from the cushion and art displays to balance the unit.
When looking to design a home that leans on a darker and cooler colour palette, it is crucial to introduce textures.
Here, you can see the texture design between the tabletop and the drawers below it are different.
In the bedroom, we love how the textures create depth. From the gunny sack print comforter, the wood grain cabinet doors, to the subway-tiled wallpaper behind the bed - the rough textures make the room feel more intimate. It is different from smoother surfaces seen in the living and dining area. Those look more formal.
You can almost smell the masculine musk just by looking at this room four-room HDB resale at 13 Upper Boon Keng designed by SHE Interior.
Black, brown and brooding, it is the perfect setting to light a cigar and sink into the leather sofa.
We love how this room has a yin and yang element, where half of the wall is painted and layered with black panelling. The cream-coloured wall flanked adjacent to it reflects light from the windows, creating a homely symmetry.
If you want your bathroom to look luxurious, don’t shy away from dark tiles and cabinetry.
We love the onyx back tiled walls that contrast greatly with the white bathroom fixtures.
A grey sky brings gloom, but a grey home brings comfort. So much so that Hollywood celebrities like Ellen Degeneres and Adam Levine have decorated their nests in grey.
In this contemporary-themed resale HDB at Compassvale Walk, Nue Konceptz introduced a fresh new hue that is very much raved - the gunmetal grey.
From the console to the sofa and a television wall resembling a grey squish art, the home does not feel claustrophobic despite the dark and cool hues.
When it comes to the bedroom, simple does it.
Here, you see the cushion panelling fixed behind the bed that works like a headboard extending to the ceiling. The light-out curtains ensure the sun does not peek in the room when the owners want an extended shut-eye.
However, the most crucial element that ensures the owners can be lulled to sleep is the colour - and grey is a great choice.
If you are looking to design a contemporary home, grey is a choice base to start. Play with shades and use different textures to accentuate the colour. Or else, your home will look like a two-dimensional picture, and that, my friends, will be the epitome of boring.
If you are not convinced dark colours can help your home appear bigger, use greys with whites.
If you are not afraid of the dark, then go all out - like how Arche Interior decorated this HDB at Toa Payoh East.
Placing dark furnishings over caliginous walls brings drama and mystery.
However, the space we love most in this home is the sleek and sophisticated kitchen. If you are looking to recreate this, ensure you’ve got natural light streaming in, and don’t forget to add additional light placements to ensure you know what you are cooking when in the kitchen.
The under-cabinet lighting gives this kitchen an ultramodern vibe.
The bedroom - black. And you know what they say, once you go black, you never go back.
Why?
Because darker rooms reflect less light, it helps the sleeper, sleep better!
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