Designing With Carol: Tips for decorating blank walls

As always, happy decorating

As always, happy decorating

Carol Collins, Texas’ only WFCP Expert

Sitting in a waiting room for over an hour this week, I found myself staring at a television on a blank wall. The experience started my creative juices flowing. There is nothing more boring than being surrounded by blank walls no matter what color they are. Walls are the background for the elements of our lives. Let’s start with the walls themselves. Look at them as your canvas. Choose your paint as an artist would. If the pieces you plan to exhibit are works of art, colorful collections or pieces of interest, start with a neutral palette.

Neutral usually means without color. Neutral colors such as beige, ivory, taupe, black, gray and white appear to be without color and yet in many applications these hues often have undertones of color. The undertone of a specific paint color or hue is the color you see when the paint is applied to a white or almost white wall. Therefore it is essential that you test the neutral color you have chosen on a small area to make sure the undertone color will not fight the objects you are planning to display.

Expand your concept of color. Include the multidimensional softness of a color-washed sky at twilight or the look of fine linen or raw silk. Let your inspiration be your guide to transform your home’s surfaces into visually stunning décor by using a few simple faux painting techniques, suggests Benjamin Moore Paints. Again I urge you to determine the content of what you plan to showcase. You never want the walls to overshadow what you want to call attention to.

So what do you want to display on your walls? Choose from a collage of family photos, works of art such as original paintings, objects of art mounted on floating shelves or a combination of all. Mirrors are another beautiful way of reflecting other items in the room. And last but not least, floral creations always add color and interest.

Be original; think about what interests you. You want to enjoy your surroundings every moment of every day.

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