March is the perfect month to repaint a room. It’s too early to start working in the yard, but we’ve got a spring itch for cleaning and refreshing our home so let’s roll – on the paint, that is!
Paint is a designer’s least expensive, yet most effective tool for creating visual change and excitement in a room. A can of beige paint and a can of fabulous emerald green both cost around fifty dollars, but there’s a whole lot more wow power in that can of emerald green. So read on and consider this point as we chat about choosing your hue. This year’s hot hues, include deep, rich blues and green, colours that appear to have come straight off a peacock’s tail, the waters of Tahiti or mined from famous gemstones. Pair them with organic neutrals and shimmering golds, bronzes or brass and you’ve created a simply stunning palate that will have all who enter this room envying your space.
Painting a room has never been easier with low VOC paint (no odors and no bad fumes), water-based paints that are as good a quality as oil-based paint (so clean up is a breeze) and even paint that is a primer and top coat in one. You can easily repaint a room in a weekend and then enjoy the reward for many years to come.
A hot paint trend is stripping. Imagine, horizontal stripes that vary in width and combine three to five different colours (including a metallic stripe) flowing around the dining room. Conversely, Chevron stripes are a terrific alternative to horizontal or vertical striped patterns, how would a sophisticated chevron pattern look in your office? Equally trendsetting is colour blocking, strong bold black combined with brights, neutral and of course a metallic. Using painters tape that has been designed for crisp edges (there’s no bleed through of paint and the tape is easily removed from the wall without taking the undercoat with it) create a pattern that will rival the most expensive wall paper. It’s paint and we are only limited by our imagination. Look for inspirational patterns that could be recreated on a wall in a favorite dress, wallpaper, drapery fabric or gift wrap. Looking to create texture on your wall? Try one of our favorite tricks , use molding .Apply plaster, mdf or wood molding to the wall in desired pattern and then paint it out with the same colour as the wall.
Now that I have you looking around the house for the perfect space to get rolling with, you need to choose your colours. Here are a couple of designer tricks for always getting the right shade the first time. Bring home small cans of your top choices and roll them out on a wall in about a two foot square. Look at the colours throught the day and night to ensure it’s the perfect shade. Light changes colours and the colours around a colour affect how we see colour so it’s always best to chose colour in the space that it will reside in. Colour looks lighter on the wall than it does on the paint chip so if considering a particular colour, consider the chip that is next in line- one shade darker is usually the better choice. Neutrals can be some of the most challenging shades to chose because they all have undertones of other colours. For example a taupe will have undertones of yellow, red, green or blue. If you can’t read the colour, ask the paint store what colours go in the mix when making that particular shade and that will let you know how it will read in the room. Guess what we will all be doing this weekend? Painting!
How can we use silk at home? Let’s start with the simple ways: elegant drapery panels for your window, this is my go to window dressing. Simply hung or tied back with a beautiful tassel, the iridescent quality of silk will dazzle in the sun while providing great light control if closed. Being a natural fiber, silk is prone to colour fading, so draperies must be lined and interfaced. Include a silk-upholstered pair of chairs or add some DIY silk cushions made from vintage silk scarves to an existing upholstered piece in the room. Consider hand-painted silk or embroidery on the pillows or even on the back of the chairs for a truly custom look.
