STYLE UPDATE PAINT A FEATURE WALL
Have a go at these clever paint ideas and transform your living room from drab to fab!
Define a fire surround
Paint your fire surround in a bright, happy shade, like sunshine yellow, and top it with colourful accessories to make it the focal point of your living room.
To take the injection of colour up a level, try filling a disused fireplace with logs painted in a variety of complementary shades, sticking to a palette of bright pastels for an uplifting summer-ready scheme.
Avoid the look becoming too fussy with a plethora of pattern and instead style your fire surround with colour-block accessories. Try revamping old vases and other ceramics with co-ordinating matt paints.
Pick out a single feature in your living room and treat it to your favourite shade. This warm pink doesn’t overwhelm because it’s restricted to one area only – the chimney breast. Pick a shade and integrate it into your room by using the same colour on a single piece of furniture and for a small selection of accessories.
A great way to save space is by having bespoke cabinetry built to fit in an alcove, meaning you can use the whole wall for storage – from floor to ceiling. A creative way to make this a feature wall, which as well as serving all your needs looks like a uniform wall, is by painting it all one statement shade. If you also paint the skirting and fireplace surround the same colour, it will make the look feel seamless.
PAINT BESPOKE STORAGE Be inspired by nature
Not all hero colours are bold attentionseekers. This soft tone that hovers between brown and grey is a quiet game-changer that will make a room look sophisticated and warmer at a brushstroke. Plus, it plays well with other colours, so you can indulge pretty much any whim when it comes to accents. Sandstone blends with other browns, as well as greys for a smooth mix. Brown neutrals can feel sludgy and dull unless you cut through them with the right accent colours.
HIGHLIGHT FEATURES
An accent colour border will draw attention to lovely period door frames, skirting boards and picture rails. Picking out key architectural details can help to add depth to your living room and create interest. Even if the space is devoid of features, you could fake it with clever paint effects. No skirting board? Simply paint a two-tone feature on the wall to create the illusion of its presence.
Frame a knock-through
With open-plan living rooms growing in popularity there are often two spaces merged into one that you might like to give a slightly different purpose to. While it makes sense to paint the two spaces in the same colour, you could clearly define the two rooms by adding accents on architectural points of interest, such as archways. Using a spot colour to define two connected, but separate spaces is a fun way to inject some colour. Tie the colour in as here through accessories like cushions and ceramics.
ADD A STRIPE
Try out a new twist on the living room feature wall. Paint a band of colour running around the centre of the room like a belt between jeans and a T shirt! Take the stripe through anything that it touches, too, as interrupting the bold strip of contrasting colour would lessen its impact. If you have an open shelving unit, why not make the band the same width as one of the shelves and paint the whole thing to blend in with the backdrop?
Use colour blocking
Create an uplifting colour-block wall in a living space by using a tonal palette separated with a white border. Think vertically to add height to the room, using blocks of pastel blue and green and dividing the area with an off-centre stripe of white.
The use of the white for the dividing line mirrors the skirting board and ceilings to create a frame around the colour for additional impact. Co-ordinate the look with matching soft furnishings and accessories in other cheery shades such as lemon yellow, blush pink and lilac.
Alternatively, choose a living room colour scheme to suit your personal taste and use this technique to make the look totally unique for your home. Go as bright as you dare or keep it grounded with tonal neutrals.
‘GREY IS STILL THE MOST POPULAR NEUTRAL COLOUR CHOICE FOR LIVING ROOMS,REPLACING CREAM AND BEIGE FOR THE MODERN HOME’
Work a whitewash
Brilliant-white paint has a transformative effect on interiors. Use it on walls and ceilings and it will make a star of every non-white piece of furniture and accessory in your living room.
White is a wholly selfless shade, providing all the light and energy while deflecting the attention elsewhere. In this coastal-style living room, as the white sofa recedes, pictorial and striped cushions are brought into sharp relief along with a collection of accessories on the shelving. Look for characterful pieces with a nautical vibe in contrasting reds and blues.
Painted tongue-and-groove walls and cupboards give this scheme additional coastal kudos. Opt for a good-quality white paint that’s durable and washable to avoid knocks and smudges showing up easily.
‘THANKS TO INSTAGRAM WE CAN SEE INSIDE OTHERS’HOMES ALLOWING US TO GAIN A BETTER INSIGHT INTO WHAT IS TRENDING’
STACK TONAL SHADES
Add interest to a room by using two different shades to create a divide without having to put up a picture rail. In this calming scheme, the already decorative wall panelling is giving a sense of division thanks to the banding colours painted one above the other. Use shades that work well together but allow enough of a difference to make a statement. Try a grounding palette of dusky blue and earthy neutrals.
BALANCE DARK COLOURS WITH NATURAL ELEMENTS FOR CONTRAST
Combine the richest, deepest of shades on walls and woodwork with much lighter neutral accents on furniture, upholstery and floors. Going dark need not be scary – it can bring a real sense of character and sophistication to your living area. In this blue living room, the heady mix of textures and rich tones makes for a luxuriously atmospheric space.
Create a watercolour finish
Embrace your inner artist, or better still, pay a skilled decorator to take the pressure off. Use brushstroke patterns to add an artistic flourish to any scheme. Don’t be afraid to experiment with innovative paint techniques. Choose your favourite colour and work with shades from the same palette to create a graduated effect along one feature wall. Think about contrasting moody watercolour-washed walls with angular furniture and contemporary metallic accents for dramatic effect.