Creating Drama with Paint, Wallpaper and Fabric

Hi! Thanks for popping in … I love sharing ways to use what you have and make it better. Adding a bit of drama and interest can make a huge impact in how your home feels.

Over the years I have had the opportunity to work in so many different style homes which is so exciting … but also very challenging! The majority of homes have been built in the 1950 - early 2000 range and with that comes homes that were built with very little architectural detail.

Here is where we come in to create something that is entirely “you” by using wallpaper, paint or fabric.

Wallpaper:

This is a typical style home built in the late 90’s - early 2000’s with lots of angles.

A couple of things you will notice here … not only does it look like there is a large gape in the upper left side but with the darker paint on the wall and the white on the vaulted portion it looks as if there has been a literal “line in the sand” drawn. Very choppy.

If you don’t like something, and really don’t have the budget or the desire to tear down the wall and start over? Then let’s CELEBRATE it! Take the unlikeable part and make it shine!!

Here’s what we did. Painted the wall a neutral color to blur the angles. Then to add wallpaper. We could have just added the wallpaper in the same manner that the wall was painted. But that would just be repeating the negative. By framing out the wallpaper on the larger portion of the wall under the low ceiling we created visual cohesiveness and here’s where we took the spot we didn’t like and framed and wallpapered it to become a focal point as opposed to a ick point!

Paint:

This kitchen began to take shape with the buffalo plaid settee as a banquette feel. The goal was to create a keeping room at the end of this long kitchen and not just float the table in the center as it had been before. I know the snow doesn’t help, but look how blank it all looks. We couldn’t remove the door, and it’s a little odd to put a piece of furniture in front of a door. So instead of pretending it is not there, let’s celebrate it!

What we did:

Completely ignored that door, treated it as a window, painted the whole thing black for definition and then added window treatments. Yes, one is still a door, but now they look intentional and we celebrated the dislike of that door. Slap that negative down and make it SHINE!

Fabric:

This is the main focal wall of this bedroom. Why oh why do we have uncentered windows? Ever? Well … we are going to dismiss this problem and bring it to life!

To create a cocoon in this bedroom, with the desire for the bed to be centered, not crowded on one side, we added a wall of drapes. The fabric offers a beautiful “wall” and still able to open if you want to bring in the light during the day.

There is nothing like working with a blank slate to create your dream room. But sometimes, more often than not, the blank slate isn’t always ideal.

I want to share another photo from one of my favorite designers Sister Parish Look how they took a blank wall and created a window effect with contrasting paint and drapes. It is now a visual delight and draws you in!