Dining area

Natural wood. Natural wood, whether in a mirror frame, rustic tabletop or chair, helps lighten up dark walls while also emphasizing their richness. You can’t go wrong with a driftwood or barn wood mirror, a farmhouse table or bentwood chairs.

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Emphasize height. Black has a tendency to draw eyes to it, so using darker colors in high-ceilinged spaces can have a dramatic affect. Amoroso cautions that this method doesn’t work to give the appearance of high ceilings, so it’s not recommended for rooms with low ceiling height. “That can look a little cartoonish, like a little kid’s drawing of a house

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Create the illusion of more architecture. When you have amazing architecture, textural white moldings can make a statement on their own. But when you don’t have a lot to work with, painting your trim black can create the appearance of more interesting structural features, lines and movement.

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