What colour to paint a windowless room?

[MsSampson]

We've got a small windowless room in our new house which we are going to use as a home office until we can afford to knock everything through and reconfigure the place next year. It's currently painted satin magnolia and makes me shudder every time I go in.

We've bought a pretty good daylight bulb to try and mitigate the cave like atmosphere, but now really need to paint it. Anyone got any experience with spaces with little to no actual daylight? I started one wall with Dulux Just Walnut (our favourite greige which we have used in our bedroom) but it seems to be transforming it from doctor's waiting room to battleship. Help! Trade white to maximise light? Something softer? I'm going to be working from home at least two days a week so my sanity is at stake here...

I would focus on getting some great lighting installed or buying a really good desk lamp and then it won't so much matter what colour you choose, but obviously anything pale and non-cold, so with a faint yellow or pinkish undertone is going to be more homely and bright than something with a blueish or greenish tinge.

We used Dulux light & space paint for a room in our place with minimal natural light

Cotton breeze is a lovely neutral

If you are painting it an off white colour painting the roof the same colour can make the space feel bigger and brighter (depending on the shade), it also saves the need for cutting in.

Our hallway didn't have any windows and even magnolia (which I hate anyway) was much too dark. We went for a much lighter colour than we normally would have done (can't remember what now, though). It was whitish, but not clinical white. As a PP has said, think carefully what undertones the paint has. I think something like that and really good lighting should help.

Pictures on the wall really help tiny windowless rooms I think, they almost trick the eye into thinking there are windows. I think it's more the expanses of unbroken colour that make small rooms seem smaller than the colour itself. Though I totally know what you mean about the battleship, I did something similar in a bathroom once!

Great, thanks everyone. I'll investigate some light and space paints for a start. I tend to avoid creamy/warm coloured off whites but it makes sense that it would work in this room. The daylight bulb is very blue tinged (on purpose to stop us falling asleep! ) but we do need something to soften it.
We've got some big brightly coloured pictures to hang too so hopefully that will also help.
Just can't wait to knock the walls down though. Who extends and leaves a windowless reception room ffs?! (the answer is the kind of person who wires all the hallway, landing and bathroom lights together so you can't turn them on independently, gah).