Visual cleanliness must be your ally when choosing lighting and paint colors for your Jaco Beach condominium unit.

By Carolina Ruiz

When you are dealing with small living spaces, there is nothing better than applying the proper measure of light and color to create comfort and space where it does not exist. Furniture and decorative elements can be key allies as well, as long as they are chosen and placed correctly.

Modern residential construction in Costa Rica tends to be small, particularly in resort communities such as Jaco Beach. Nonetheless, you can make a corner office, a cramped bathroom, a small bedroom, or a den seem larger if the right paint colors are chosen, and if the lights and furniture are strategically placed.

Color specialists at Comex and lighting experts at Sylvania, both international firms with a strong presence in Costa Rica, offer the following five tips:

1. Install general lighting without causing a “cave effect”. With general lightning, space looks uniform; also, vertical illumination (called wall wash) can create three-dimensional perception and a sense of depth.

2. Choose bright paint colors to provide a feeling of cleanliness, clarity, elegance and depth. These tones tend to reflect more light; hence, they should be used on walls where light comes in directly so that they reflect it to the rest of the room and create a feeling of more space. The roof should have colors that are lighter than the walls to provoke a sense of more space as well. In this regard, the recommendation in rooms with low ceilings is to split walls in half and to paint the bottom part with a dark color and the upper part with a bright one. This will make the ceiling seem higher. Choose white or neutral paint colors so that that the room decoration stands out.

3. Remove divisions and unify spaces to create connected environments. In this type of shared areas, it is crucial to ensure that the decor remains consistent.

4. Place frame-less mirrors on neutral colored walls and in front of windows to generate amplitude, and to increase the room’s luminosity as well. Standing mirrors are perfect for narrow and poorly-lit environments.

5. Use functional and adaptable furniture in order to maximize the available space. Multipurpose furniture pieces are usually made of lightweight materials, have simple lines, take up less space, and are intended to serve more than one purpose because their design was made for functionality and comfort. As for the curtains, choose light-colored fabric and place them from floor to ceiling so that they create an effect of greater height.