Illusions For Decorating

Painted Illusions

• You can place very realistic, 2-D paintings at various places in your rooms that will fool guests into thinking certain things are present that actually are not. This is called a trompe l'oeil in French and means "deceive the eye." You can have a very realistic painting of a lit fireplace painted on a wall, a vase painted on the wall above a mantle or a faux moonroof painted onto the ceiling. In contrast, you may want to opt for more surreal wall paintings, such as a painting of a large hole in the wall opening to an outer space scene or a painting of a large crack in the floor.

Mirrors

• You can use mirrors to create decorative illusions in your home. Place one framed mirror on one side of a room and another framed mirror on the other side of the room directly parallel to the first mirror. When the two mirrors reflect each other, this creates an attention-grabbing feedback loop where the reflections appear to go on forever.

  You can also set up three large mirrors in a room placed edge to edge, with the two outer mirrors placed at a 45-degree angle. This illusion, which reflects three images of the person standing in front of the mirror, is not only decorative, but functional, especially when you are getting dressed and want to see your outfit from several angles at once.

Optical Illusion Paintings

• This is different from painted illusions in that these decorations are framed paintings of optical illusions from famous painters. Painters such as M.C. Escher, Salvador Dali and Marcel Duchamp were famous for incorporating optical illusions into their paintings. A framed print of one of these artists' works will have visitors to your home staring in amazement or in delighted confusion.

Miscellaneous Illusions

• There are other ways you can use optical illusions in your home decor. You can purchase an "invisible bookshelf" made of clear plastic that you attach to a wall. It gives the appearance that books (or whatever you place on the shelf) are floating in the air. You can also create illusions with hanging objects. Hang baskets or decorative globes from the ceiling with thin, clear nylon string so the objects appear to float.