Paint colours, how to create distinct areas?

[Racquelscottish]

We have a first floor maisonette with a hallway on the ground floor + stairs leading up, landing leading to a big open plan kitchen one way and then a corridor leading to the other rooms off it. (I hope that makes sense).

We need to repaint and I am wondering if it would look strange to try and create distinct "areas" when the wall space all flows into each other. I am worried that with one colour it will make the space seem smaller than it is. I also like the idea of a moody, dark hallway and a light and airy kitchen and hallway.

Would this look strange? And how would I do it - there would have to be quite a distinct "line" of colour either at the top or bottom of the stairs.

I'd like to the same with my open plan hall / living room. but I haven't got around to it (or convinced DH).

maybe try out the 'line' with masking tape to see where it should go & if it looks odd.

I think it’s extraordinarily difficult to achieve this. We have a huge open hall with stairs, lounge and kitchen off it. Every wall is the same colour. Every space flows into another space so joining paints on where walls meet was a potential nightmare.

What we have, is rooms that have doors are individually decorated. Paint and decor is for specifically for that room. So bathrooms, bedrooms, dining room snd second sitting room are all different. Therefore decorate what you can with individual colours. Use fabrics and decorative objects to distinguish between spaces where you use the same paint colour.,But joining paints to zone is very difficult.