The app driver had just bought a 36 m² apartment. During the race, he said that the biggest concern was the children's room, a 4-year-old girl, a 2-year-old boy and a baby on the way. How to accommodate the needs of three children at such different stages within a small room? The answer isn't just in the floor plan, it's also in the use of color in compact apartments. This scene, reported by interior designer Sofia Kerr, illustrates a challenge that is becoming common. "Apartments are getting smaller and smaller, and thinking about every inch of them ends up becoming something crucial", explains the designer. "People leave their parents' homes, who grew up in a completely different real estate context, and sometimes have difficulty adapting to apartments with half or even less than the reference they had." For Sofia, it is precisely the interior design that makes this change compatible: "It brings possibilities for using space, storage and flow that solve a series of problems." For Eduardo Bathke, general director of Tintas Verginia, a brand that has manufactured its own line of paints since 1991, this scenario requires a perspective that goes beyond personal taste. "Color doesn't solve dimensions, it solves perception. Therefore, having a technical look at this choice can be even more essential in a small space than in large spaces, where a possible error in the choice has more space to be diluted", he states. Why apartments are shrinking Sofia's report appears in the Brazilian real estate and demographic market figures: Rental: the median size of apartments sought for rent fell from 71 m², in 2023, to 58 m², in 2025, according to a survey by Ademi-RJ based on data from DataZAP. Launches in São Paulo: properties up to 45 m² already represent 65% of residential launches in the city, totaling more than 110 thousand units, according to Secovi-SP. Financing: the average size of financed properties in the country fell 12.75% between 2018 and 2024, according to the Central Bank. Purchasing decision: 65% of buyers would accept paying more for a well-located property, and 64% point to security as a decisive factor, even with less area, according to research by Abrainc in partnership with Brain Intelligence Estratégica. Demographic profile: the proportion of Brazilians living alone grew 52% in 12 years, reaching 14.4 million people in 2024, according to the IBGE. In 2022, single-person homes already accounted for 18.9% of the country's homes, compared to 12.2% in 2010. Together, the data paint the same scenario: the square meter loses space in the decision to buy or rent, but what is left of it needs to provide more function in everyday life. These are smaller houses, often occupied by just one person, but with the same storage, rest and work demands as a larger house. It is this type of situation, according to Sofia, that requires a more conscious interior design. According to her, without an analysis of the environment, it becomes more difficult to reconcile individual and collective needs within a small space, especially when more than one person shares the routine in that property. “And it is precisely at this point that color stops being a finishing detail and becomes part of the space planning from the beginning, alongside decisions such as layout, storage and circulation”, agrees the general director of Tintas Verginia. Color is a technical decision In small spaces, the choice of color is no longer just a matter of personal taste. "It becomes a technical choice, above all. And it has to be a conscious choice, not only for aesthetics, but for the visual effect that this will create in the space", explains Sofia. Three technical factors come into play in any color interior project, according to the designer: Luminosity: the ability of a color to reflect back the light it receives. Saturation: the degree of purity or intensity of the pigment (the closer to pure color, the more saturated; the more mixed with white, black or gray, the more neutral). Absorption and reflection: the way the painted surface interacts with ambient light throughout the day. None of these three factors work in isolation. A color with high saturation and low luminosity, for example, tends to behave very differently from an equally saturated color, but with high luminosity, even if the two appear close in the range of paints. “In very small environments, these choices are intensified, because everything is so close,” says Sofia. "A small space is less forgiving of mistakes. A color error in a large apartment may even get lost in the overall property, but in a compact apartment it dominates the entire space and draws attention all the time", adds Bathke. The most common mistake: painting a single wall One of the most common mistakes, according to Sofia, is painting just one wall in a strong color while the rest remain in very light tones, such as white, gray or beige. “It gets tiring and you soon get sick,” he says. The reason is physiological: the high contrast between the colored wall and the light walls forces the eyes to work simultaneously in "opposite modes" of capturing light. "This causes eye muscle fatigue and visual discomfort", explains the designer. Cold or warm color? The physics behind the feeling of space There is a physical explanation behind why blue environments feel larger: cool tones, like blues and violets, have shorter wavelengths, and the brain interprets this as a feeling of retreat. But Sofia makes an important caveat: pure colors practically do not exist in practice. "Each sample is a complex combination of pigments, such as a red with a hint of blue that 'cools' the tone, or a yellow with a greenish background", he explains.
Color in compact apartments: see how to make the right choice
The app driver had just bought a 36 m² apartment. During the race, he said that the biggest concern was the children's room, a 4-year-old girl, a 2-year-old boy and a baby on the way. How to accommodate the needs of...
Disclosure. It is this type of nuance that appears, for example, in the description of neutral tones in the Tintas Verginia catalogue: "Papel Picado", a greyish off-white from the brand's own line, is described on the official website as a color that "brings the luminosity of white with a touch of warmth". A practical example of how the luminosity of a tone, and not its classification as "white" or "beige", is what determines the feeling of space. Therefore, according to Sofia, whoever designs a compact environment should pay more attention to the luminosity of the color than the color itself. It is this factor, and not the chosen tone, that dictates the sensation of spaciousness. And this is what explains why two people can choose tones from the same color family, apply them in rooms of similar size, and still have completely different results. Brightness is one of the factors that most influences the feeling of spaciousness in compact environments. Leonard Oliverio How to avoid the obvious Light tones are the most obvious choice for those who want to visually enlarge a small space. But Sofia warns that this should not be an automatic rule. "If the priority of the project is not just to expand, you can play around a lot. But it's important to understand the sensation you want to cause." A space designed to be cozy and intimate can completely lose this effect if it is forced to use light or cold colors just to appear larger. Medium and dark tones, applied in the right places, also add visual depth, as long as they are aligned with the desired atmosphere. In practice, this means that the initial question of any interior project should not be "what color makes this room look bigger", but rather "what feeling do I want to feel when I enter this room". The technical answer about tone, luminosity and saturation comes after this definition, not before it. Colored ceiling? Be careful with the ceiling height Sofia is a fan of colored ceilings to give personality to the space, but she warns: the feature does not work well in spaces with low ceilings. In rooms where the distance between the floor and the ceiling is not so great, excess color on the ceiling tends to visually reinforce the feeling of compression, rather than giving personality. As for the back walls, the choice of color can change the perception of depth: Red: visually brings the back wall closer. Blue: creates the opposite effect, of distancing. Matte, glossy or satin? In addition to tone, the type of finish directly influences visual comfort in small spaces. "It interferes a lot! And it all depends on how each of them reflects the light", says Sofia. Matte Spreads light evenly. Disguises small imperfections and undulations in the wall. It is associated with a softer feel. It is precisely this characteristic that appears in the description of Tintas Verginia's matte lines: Standard White Matte is presented on the brand's website as capable of disguising "imperfections, ripples and surface defects", while Premium Papel Picado Fosco promises a "velvety" finish that "hides irregularities". Shiny and satiny They work almost like mirrors. In small environments, they create very strong reflections and points of light. They reproduce the same visual fatigue effect of high contrast between colors. "Matte ends up being a much safer choice to add lightness to the environment. Glossy surfaces are interpreted as more vibrant, and matte surfaces as softer", summarizes Sofia. "The choice of finish is as strategic as the choice of color. There is no point in getting the tone right and making mistakes in the way it reflects the light within the space", confirms Bathke. Continuous palette or color to sectorize For apartments with few physical divisions, such as studios and flats, Sofia recommends evaluating the objective of each room before deciding on the palette: Continuous palette (same color on walls and ceiling, in all rooms): creates a feeling of fluidity and spaciousness, because "the eye runs through the rooms without encountering visual obstacles", according to the designer. Color to sector (different colors between rooms): demarcates different functions, useful when there is no physical wall separating the spaces. "By painting everything with one color, you create unity, a concept of rhythm. If you change the color between environments, you create sectors", explains Sofia. According to her, the use of color indicates how the brain will read the space. “Color is almost a magical food within a project", summarizes the designer, remembering that the same logic applies both to a small, integrated plant and to a larger apartment divided into several rooms. What to consider before painting a compact space Bringing together the technical points raised by Sofia, some precautions help to avoid the most common mistakes when deciding on the palette of a small space: Prioritize the luminosity of the color, not just the tone. Avoid painting a single wall in a strong color and leaving the others too light. Define what feeling the environment should convey before choosing between light and dark. Use colored ceilings with caution in low-ceilinged environments. Prefer matte finish in small spaces. Use a continuous palette to integrate environments; change the color between them to sectorize. Interior designer Sofia Kerr, partner at Tintas Verginia. Patrick Harlen Color as part of a greater purpose For Eduardo Bathke, decisions like these connect with a greater purpose of Tintas Verginia: to build a more colorful and lively world through the spaces where people live. A purpose that, according to the director, makes more and more practical sense as these spaces decrease in size. "The demand for compact properties has grown consistently in recent years, and this has brought a new technical question into the home: what tone and what finish makes this space really work, not just appear bigger", says the general director. "That's why we reinforce this type of technical content: we want those who live in a small space to have access to the same quality of information as those who design a large house", adds the general director. With the growth of studios, one-bedroom apartments and properties occupied by a single person, the tendency is for this demand for technical information about color to continue to increase, not as an aesthetic detail at the end of the project, but as part of space planning from the beginning of the project. To learn about Tintas Verginia’s paint lines and explore the brand’s color catalog, visit Tintasverginia.com.br.
