A drab living room becomes a contemporary show-stopper
A striking herringbone pattern and copper leaf stencil have
transformed this once lacklustre living room into a contemporary masterpiece.
See page 58 for instructions on how to paint this herringbone
pattern yourself.
The budget
Andrew Maritz, Home’s art director, and his wife, Debra, decided to update the lounge in their home in Little Mowbray, Cape Town – starting with a fresh colour scheme. They also wanted to mix things up with a striking new focal wall and stencil detail on the floor.
As time was of the essence, they called in the help of Home contributor Shelly Bergh. Labour excluded, they managed to pull off a paint makeover for just R2 000.
The project
To start, the walls and ceiling – previously nondescript beige – were painted with Dulux Luxurious Silk in White. The floor, which had been painted sometime in the past, was then sanded and painted with Dulux Eggshell enamel in the colour Steel Symphony 5.
“We’d recently painted the interior and exterior of our home white to spruce it up a bit,” says Andrew. “We then turned our attention to the lounge – it’s located in the middle of the house and we wanted to create a different mood in that space, and differentiate it from the rest of the house using colour. We decided on a grey floor to anchor it all.”
Shelly lent a hand with the detail on the floor. She first designed a stencil to create a simple yet stunning pattern and then decorated it with copper leaf. The skirting and door frames were also sanded, primed with Dulux Supergrip and then painted with Dulux Pearglo Waterbased enamel in White.
But the real star of the show is the herringbone focal wall. Using masking tape, Shelly taped out the pattern on the feature wall behind the sofa and painted it in Dulux Luxurious Silk Niagara Blues 1.
Andrew and Debra love the new look. “The crisp lines created by the herringbone pattern make the room so much more interesting,” says Debra. Andrew agrees: “It makes a bold statement and adds instant impact when you enter the house.”