1. Paint one wall a color and the others a different shade of the same color, and you’ll trick the eye into believing the space is larger, says Melissa Birdsong, director of trend, design, and brand at Lowe’s.

2. Natural colors—chocolate, reddish brown, deep green, warm gray—absorb artificial light and give a room depth, says John Bruce, an interior designer on TLC’s While You Were Out.

3. Select two adjacent colors from a color swatch and paint in 12-inch alternating vertical strips. Like a short guy in a striped shirt, the room will appear taller.

4. Paint the ceiling the same color as the walls and you’ll achieve an infinity effect, says Bruce.

5. If ceilings are lower than 10 feet, overhead lights are claustrophobic. Place several small lights around the room and wash one wall with light to create a sense of space, says celebrity designer Stephen Saint-Onge.

6. The eye perceives more room when there’s less visual pollution. Control clutter, keep artwork simple, and leave space on your shelves. Perhaps it’s time to retire the bowling trophy you won in 10th grade.

Upgrade Your Living Room

137 WAYS YOUR HOME CAN MAKE YOU A BETTER MAN

From the editors of Men’s Health Living

Buy an LCD TV . . .
if your room has lots of light. “LCD screens are very glare-resistant and bright compared with a plasma’s glass,” says Steve Kindig, senior home audio-video editor at crutchfieldadvisor.com. LCDs resist burn-in better and are lighter and therefore easier to hang.

Buy a plasma TV . . .
if you love movies or video games. “Though the gap is closing, plasma televisions offer better contrast and black levels,” says Kindig. For gaming, their pixels update quickly to keep fast-moving screen images clear. True benefits of plasma kick in above 42 inches, but the room needs to be dark for you to see the difference.

Save the world with a switch
Forty percent of all electricity that powers TVs, DVD players, and other home electronics is consumed while the products are turned off but not unplugged. Plug everything into a power strip and switch it off at night. While you’re at it, trade your desktop computer for a laptop, which will use 50 to 75 percent less energy.

Boost your brainpower with games
Habitual players of first-person video games have stronger visual skills and make decisions 85 percent faster than nongamers. “You can read the newspaper, recognize a scene, or pick out facial features in a photograph faster,” says Daphne Bavelier, Ph.D., of the University of Rochester. Our current addictions: Halo 3 ($60, xbox.com) for the Xbox 360, Killzone 2 (available in February) for the PlayStation 3, and Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles ($50, nintendo.com) for the Nintendo Wii.

Understand everything
During the week, read a weekly news magazine (Time or Newsweek) and a monthly, like Harper’s, the Atlantic, or Vanity Fair. Check a daily online roundup (like Slate’s “Today’s Papers”). Watch BBC World News for a different perspective. On Friday, read the Wall Street Journal, particularly the editorials, says Jack Shafer, media critic for Slate. On Sunday, spend 1 hour with the Sunday New York Times: 15 minutes with the “Week in Review”; 15 minutes with the magazine, because that will be the discussion topic tomorrow; 15 minutes with the book reviews, because they’ll be the topics in 2 weeks; and 5 to 15 minutes with the business section for trends. Saturdays are for contemplation.

Corral the cords
Use carabiners to manage the wires of your entertainment system or home office. Unlike zip ties, they accommodate new cords as needed. $5.50.

Treat your iPod with dignity
The last thing your den needs is another black box with a cord. The Vers 2x’s handcrafted cherry-veneer cabinets bring a touch of class to the room, while two 3-inch speakers provide plenty of hi-fi mood music. $180. versaudio.com