This room is shared by three small boys. It is long and rather narrow. In order to create a sense that the room was wider, (so that three beds didn’t seem too overwhelming) we added this large horizontal white stripe about 2/3 of the way up the wall around the entire room.

Since there is only a single stripe, it causes the eye to follow it from side to side around the room creating the illusion of width. It also gives the eye an easy resting place that is at the perfect height to display art.

In this little girl’s room, the stripes serve three (yes THREE!) purposes.

The first is to add “architectural” interest. At first glance, the stripes look almost like columns and create the illusion that the ceiling is higher than it is.

The second purpose of the stripes is to incorporate the little girl’s desire for a multicolored room. Call it creative parenting. She requested a pink, purple and blue room. The idea of these stripes was inspired by a striped grosgrain ribbon. It incorporated all of the requested colors without being unbearable.

And the final purpose is to make small art pieces seem substantial. The little shadow box frames are given instant punch by placing them on the stripes. A lot of bang for the buck. And it was all painted in less than an hour!