Anyone who has ever painted or trimmed a room or a house knows the painting is the easy part. The toughest job can be choosing colors, picking patterns and deciding how to use trim to make the room more interesting. Your local bookstores are filled with books on decorating ideas, but choosing your own design can be as easy as taking a look at the things you already have and love.
Effective Use of Color
Color can be used to lighten up or darken. It can make your space feel larger or more intimate. Choosing colors is the biggest part of making your environment what you want it to be.
Warm paint colors , such as oranges and reds, will make a room feel lively. These colors go well with natural fibers and textures such as leather. To subdue them, use darker shades, well saturated.
Cooler colors of paint, such as blues and greens, provide a relaxing feel. They blend well in interiors with classic painted furniture or modern elements such as plastics and chrome.
Get a color wheel and learn a little about use it. In general, colors opposite each other on the wheel are most complementary. Consider painting walls in one color of the pair and trim in the other.
Paint and Trim Accents
Using paint and trim to add visual interest can be fun. Sketching out your ideas or even mocking up a 3D design in Google's free Sketchup design software can save time and trouble.
Try painting the room in one color and adding an accent, or focal, wall in a complementing color. Use painter's tape to separate the two areas for clean lines.
Separate two or more colors on one wall with stripes or try a diagonal line through the wall with one color on each side of the line.
Paint a wall one color, tape off designs, such as squares or stripes. Paint the wall a second color, and remove the tape when the paint is dry to reveal your design.
Use molding to separate frame type spaces on your wall. Use a monotone scheme or paint the inside of the frame a different color.
Using Trim Moldings Creatively
Trim can be so boring. Its primary function is to hide gaps in construction, and its decorative function can be overlooked. Use tall baseboards to provide a vintage feel to your space. Victorian baseboards were often 8 to 10 inches high with a simple round over on the top edge.
Add capitols to your door frames with small crown molding to give a luxury feel or, if you already have them, take them down to dress down your space.
Chair rail and wainscot are common trim pieces. Try painting them a unique color instead of the typical white, black or brown. You could even add stripes of color to a bead board wainscot.
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