There is no better way to give your interior an instant facelift than by freshening up the walls. The obvious quick fix is to slap on a fresh coat of paint, but when you are going to the trouble of clearing the room and putting down the dust sheets, why not go that extra mile and make sure that you are making the most out of your efforts?
Interior design has progressed considerably from the foolproof days of magnolia paint and woodchip, and there are now many stylish and affordable alternative solutions to sprucing up your walls. Wallpaper is very on trend these days, as are funky tiles, exposed brick and even wall sticker art. Here we will take a look at what’s hot in the world of walls and how you can effectively and affordably transform your home.
A Good Old Lick of Paint
With a rainbow of colours to choose from, paint is arguably the easiest way to transform your room. Unlike tiles or wallpaper, where you need to search through many different samples to find a colour or print that you like, with paint, you can pick any colour from the spectrum and the paint can be created there and then. So much so, that Dulux actually offer the service of matching the colour from a photograph, object or even scrap of fabric of your choice.
Paint it Green
Aside from the almost limitless range of colours available, paint manufacturers have also become much more eco savvy, and interiors companies, such as Mini Moderns have started stocking ranges of Environmentally Friendly Paints. The Mini Moderns range is cutting edge cool. Far from compromising on style to meet eco values, it is up there with the best of current interior design.
The ten most common painting mistakes, and how to avoid them
When painting a room, it is easy to do a ‘bodge job’ and just paint over the cracks, it is equally easy, however, to get it right and create a look that lasts, simply by putting a bit more time and thought into the job.
1. Not using a good brush or the right type of brush for the type of paint.
Using the right brush for the type of paint that you are applying will not only make your job easier, but it will also achieve a more professional finish. For example, only use synthetic polyester and nylon blended brushes for latex based paint, as the bristles will be affected by the components of oil based paint and consequently fall out.
2. Not allowing enough time before applying the second coat.
This will result in visible brush strokes and it can even pull off the first layer of paint. As a general rule, leave 24 hours before applying the second coat of paint, or follow the instructions on the paint pot.
3. Removing masking tape when the paint is dry.
If you wait until the paint is dry to pull off the masking/painters tape, there is a high chance that you the paint off with the tape and create a jagged edge.
4. Not buying enough paint to sufficiently cover two coats.
Aside from being highly annoying having to run to the shop halfway through the job, with paint that is mixed to order, there is always the risk that the colours will not exactly match if they are bought at different times. As a guide, one gallon of paint will cover around 400 square feet.
5. Dipping the paint brush too far into the can.
Not only will this waste paint, but it can also result in the brush being over loaded, causing dribbles. By doing this, there’s also much more of a chance of you getting it all over your hands.
6. Failing to prepare the surface prior to painting.
It is essential to ensure that you have a clean, dry surface to paint onto. Wash down walls with a mild detergent and dry with a microfiber cloth to ensure that walls are dust, dirt and hair free. If you are applying latex paint over oil based paint, you will need to lightly sand the surface to ensure that the paint adheres properly.
7. Over-applying paint.
A surprising number of people do this in an attempt to complete the job in one coat, but unfortunately, it will just result in blobby, dribbling paintwork.
8. Not using a primer.
Primer isn’t always necessary for all paint jobs, however, it is essential (and will make the job considerably easier) when going from dark to light paint or painting over a different type of paint.
9. Trying to paint over damp surfaces.
This is a common problem in kitchens and bathrooms, so ensure that you dry the surface thoroughly with a microfiber cloth first.
10. Failing to prime fresh plaster.
Painting over recently plastered areas of walls will simply result in the paint soaking straight into the plastered area and causing a dark splodge.
Five top tips to make painting easier:
1. If you haven’t completed the painting job by the end of the day, wrap the bristles of your brush in cling film or tin foil and secure with an elastic band to keep them wet and flexible, ready to use again the next day.
2. A good way to ensure that the paint is evenly distributed is to apply in a ‘W’ formation.
3. Put an elastic band over your paint tin so that the band stretches across the centre of the open lid. This allows you to wipe off any excess paint onto the band, which will then drip straight back into the pot, preventing waste, not to mention annoying dribbles down the side of the tin.
4. It is worth taking the time to protect carpet edges and glass window panes with masking tape prior to painting. It will most certainly be quicker than the time it would take to clean up the mess at the other end.
5. Use good quality paint. Although it is tempting to use budget brands, you will often find that the paint is thin and watery and will therefore require extra coats.
Instead, look out for offers on the top brands, DIY shops periodically run buy one get one free promotions.
What are the hot paint trends and colours for 2015?
Dulux are championing the Mediterranean inspired Copper Blush as their colour of the year. The deep orange is perfect for combining with warm pinks, peaches, sands and neutrals. If you are considering revamping your room even further with bi-folding doors, Origin’s Tuscany Collection compliments the colour scheme with warm, rustic hues.
Ombre paint finishes are also very much on trend. This is a technique that involves two colours merging together from dark to light across the space of the wall. There are two ways to achieve an Ombre effect, either by physically blending the paint so that the effect is gradual, or by using ascending stripes of colour that vary in shade (not dissimilar to a paint colour swatch). This can be particularly striking on larger spaces of wall and can be achieved either horizontally of vertically.
The Power of Wallpaper
Wallpaper can have an amazing effect on a room and can instantly create a feature in the most unexciting space. It is also a great way of making the most of less than perfect walls, as textured or highly patterned wallpaper can be good for hiding any imperfections.
Whilst wallpaper isn’t a lifelong commitment, it is a more permanent form of decorating than simply painting, because it will need completely stripping before it can be replaced. With this in mind, it is well worth taking your time choosing the perfect paper and considering whether to tackle the job yourself or to enlist professional help. The following guide will help narrow down your decisions.
How do I choose the perfect wallpaper for my room?
When choosing wallpaper, there are several questions that you may want to ask yourself:
How much of the room are you planning on wallpapering? A single feature wall can carry off a bold print, whereas it may be overkill on all four walls.
How big is the room? Small rooms may become claustrophobic if they are covered in a dominating print, whereas large spaces may broken up with a couple of striking feature walls.
How much furniture will you have in the room? A heavily furnished room will appear more cluttered with bold printed walls, whereas a minimally furnished room will benefit from the extra detail.
Are you planning on doing it yourself? If it is your first attempt at decorating, you may want to choose a design that doesn’t rely on matching a busy print. You may also want to begin with a small area such as a chimney breast or alcoves. Avoid starting in the bathrooms or kitchen as there are lots of fiddly areas to work around.
Will the print stand the test of time? If you choose a vivid, contemporary print, consider whether it will date quickly. Also, think about whether it is likely to get on your nerves after a while, or if it will co-ordinate with your furnishings. Get a test sample, pin it to your wall and live with it for a while. Don’t buy a print unless you are 100% sure you like it, as removing wallpaper can be a big job.
How practical does the wallpaper need to be? If you have small children or pets, you may want to consider a wallpaper that is harder wearing and wipe cleanable. Also, consider the amount of traffic that the room will get, for example, stairways and kitchens will need more durable wallpaper than a guest bedroom or study.
What wallpaper trends are on trend for 2015?
After going out of style through the minimal nineties, wallpaper is well and truly back and packing a striking punch in many homes. From ironic nods to swirly ‘70’s inspired prints to bold images featuring birds and animals, it is now a case of anything goes. Whether you opt for bold, floral, striped or metallic, there is a vast range of designs available both on the high street and at more bespoke interior suppliers, to suit any budget.
Mark and Keith from Mini Moderns comment on one of their more popular wallpaper designs:
“For us, nautical prints are always a best seller – this was also a strong look on the catwalk this season - with rope inspired prints by Christopher Kane and boating stripes from Emporio Armani. Our Whitby, Gulls and Dungeness prints will all lend a beach-side feel to any home, whilst keeping things crisp and contemporary.”
Choosing a distinct theme within your wallpaper print can open up all manner of design options for the overall design of your room. For example, a nautical feel can be continued within soft furnishings and accessories. Go one step further and let the outside in with coordinating bi fold doors, Origin’s Beach Hut Colour Palette Collection is perfect for adding a seaside feel to any room.
How to give wallpaper a creative twist
Aside from the actual pattern and texture, the best way to be on trend with your wallpaper is to be creative with how you use it. Wallpapering a room no longer means covering all four walls from floor to ceiling, you can select certain areas to feature your chosen print, which allows you to use bolder prints without risking overkill.
Alternative ways to use wallpaper include:
· Focusing on a single feature wall. Chimney breasts or alcoves can look particularly effective.
· Theming a wall. For example, you could wallpaper the wall that houses bi-folding doors with a nature inspired print to maximize the feeling of uniting the inside and outside.
· Using wallpaper to create a striking horizontal border around your room.
· Wallpapering just the lower half of your room, up to the sofa line.
· Wallpapering a certain area to frame a particular piece of furniture.
· Papering the back of shelving units or the inside of cabinets to allow hints of pattern to peep through behind books or ornaments.
· Mixing and matching contrasting prints, such as stripes and florals.
· A contained section of wallpaper can also be used to define an area of the room that has a different purpose, such as a home office.
Top tips for DIY wallpaper hanging
Like every aspect of DIY, wallpapering requires the right tools and a lot of patience. Before you start, you will need to invest in the following equipment:
· Pasting table.
· Bucket of water.
· Wet sponge and dry towel.
· Long tray.
· Sharp utility knife.
· Seam roller/ smoother.
· Scissors.
· Spirit level.
· Tape measure.
· Plumb-line.
· Ladder.
· An extra pair of hands.
Once you have all of your equipment and have chosen your paper, the following dos and don’ts will help avoid common wallpapering problems:
Do buy all of your rolls of wallpaper at the same time to ensure it is from the same batch. Different print runs may result in variants in colour or pattern.
Don’t choose wallpaper that it is on sale unless you absolutely love it. If it has been discontinued and you find that you haven’t enough to finish your room, you’re stuck!
Do listen to help and advice when choosing wallpaper. Many expert DIY-ers post their comments online about their wallpapering experience, so if a particular brand gets lots of bad reviews, avoid it, even if you adore the print.
Don’t turn down help. Attempting to hang expensive wallpaper singlehandedly can be a recipe for disaster, especially if it’s your first time. Enlisting an experienced friend or paying a professional is likely to save money in the long term.
Do use a spirit level and plumb-line as a guide to ensure that you hang the paper perfectly straight.
Don’t rely on the walls and ceilings being either straight or at perfect right angles; it is highly unlikely that they will be.
Do make sure that you soak the paper thoroughly before hanging.
Don’t rush, the paper will need to soak for about 15-20 seconds in a tray of tepid water to remove any air bubbles.
Do try to match seams and patterns as accurately as possible.
Don’t cut the paper to size before hanging, trim it to size once in situ and you have matched up the pattern.
Do use a wallpaper smoother to remove any bubbles. Use long vertical strokes and work your way towards the edge of the sheet.
Don’t manoeuvre the wallpaper around too much, it may result in the pattern stretching or the paper ripping.
A New Twist on Tiles
Another way to make an impressive impact on your walls is through tiling. Aside from being highly practical in areas that come in to contact with water, such as kitchens, utility rooms and bathrooms, tiles can also create a dramatic effect when used in living areas. Advancements in tile design has meant that they are now available in all manner of shapes and sizes and, unlike paint or wallpaper, tiles also have the added design benefit of being three dimensional, hence bringing additional detail through texture.
Get out of the bathroom
Far from being confined to shower cubicles and splash-backs, wall tiles are now being used as a design feature in their own right, all around the home. Increasingly, living areas are featuring tiles as a focal point, and similarly to wallpaper, they are being used innovatively in areas such as between shelves, on staircases and to create striking feature walls.
Another way to create a dramatic effect with tiles is to continue a tiled floor up onto the walls. When combined with modern clean lined furniture, this can be an incredibly effective way of achieving a sleek, minimalist effect in living areas. This look works particularly well with natural effect tiles that can easily be coordinated with different soft furnishings and textures.
A tile for all tastes
No matter what your design style, there will be a tile to suit your taste. Whether that is sleek and polished, natural and organic, vintage, rustic or simply practical. The tiles that are on trend for 2015 lean towards the more natural feel, using stone and wood as inspiration and maximizing different textures as a design feature.
Unlike floor tiles, which need to be smooth and free from lumps and bumps that can potentially be tripped over, wall tiles can take on any texture, embracing the ongoing trend for organic design.
Richard Askham, director at Stokes Tiles, commented on the rising popularity of natural tiles:
“There is a growing trend for ‘split face mosaic tiles’, which are a natural stone mosaics made up of varying sized pieces of stone, which create a striking three dimensional feature, especially when used as feature walls in living areas.”
Longer thinner tiles, reminiscent of timber boards are also very popular, with
variants in pattern and texture adding to their bespoke nature. Some tiles have artificial sap wood ridges worked into the design to further enhance the design.
Top tips for choosing the right tiles for the job
When buying your tiles, the following tips will help:
· Start by taking accurate measurements of the area that needs tiling. Use a guide to help calculate how many tiles you will need to cover the area.
· Consider the use of the room, and whether your tiles need to be waterproof or not.
· When it comes to choosing the shape and size of tiles, the main consideration will be the size of the space that needs covering. Large tiles can look very effective in larger spaces, whereas smaller nooks and crannies can be brought to life with tiny mosaics.
· Aside from the visible impact, it is also worth considering the time it will take to physically tile the area, for example covering a huge wall with mosaics is likely to take a serious amount of man-hours!
· If the area that you are planning on tiling has lots of fiddly corners, it may be wise to choose smaller tiles that may not need as much cutting.
How to tackle a DIY tiling project
Taking on a DIY tiling project can be quite a challenge if you have never attempted tiling before, however, the end result can be particularly rewarding and well worth the effort.
Before you begin, you will need to gather the following equipment:
· 3 long batons of soft wood.
· Pencil.
· Spirit level.
· Tile adhesive.
· Serrated plastic spreader.
· Plastic tile spacers.
· Grout sponge and cloth.
· Grout.
· Tile cutting jig.
· Grout float.
· Goggles.
Once you have all of your equipment in place, the following step-by-step guide will help you create a perfectly tiled wall:
1. Make your gauge sticks by accurately measuring your tiles and marking their position on the batons of wood. These will serve as an invaluable guide when it comes to positioning your tiles.
2. Temporarily screw your gauge sticks onto the wall to create horizontal and vertical guides of the area that you intend to tile. This will ensure that your tiles are straight and evenly positioned.
3. Use your tile spreader to spread an even layer of adhesive onto your wall and then create horizontal lines through it using the serrated edge. Place your first tile firmly in position and then place the second tile beside it, using a plastic separator to form a grout line. Continue until you have positioned all of the full tiles in place and all tiles are flush.
4. Wipe of any areas where excess tile adhesive has squeezed out.
5. You will most likely find that there are areas where the tiles will need cutting down to size. This will involve measuring the size of the required space and marking it out on the tile, remember to allow room for the grout line.
6. Then you will need to carefully cut the tile with the tile jig, protective goggles are essential at this point.
7. Once your tile is cut to size, apply adhesive onto the back of the tile and fix it into place. Keep going until you have covered the entire space.
8. Allow 24 hours for the adhesive to harden.
9. You can then begin to grout the tiles. Mix the grouting as per the instructions. Then, spread the grout over the tiles in all directions, using a grout float. Make sure all the gaps between the tiles are filled and wipe off any excess grout with a damp sponge before it begins to dry.
10. Leave for a couple of hours to dry and then give your newly tiled wall a polish with a clean cloth.
Alternative Wall Treatments
When it comes to revamping your room, there are many design options that can be incredibly effective, using materials that you would perhaps not consider. The following materials and techniques can also create an amazing visual impact on walls:
· Murals and stickers.
· Wood cladding.
· Exposed brick.
Stickers
A great way of embracing contemporary designs without making a permanent commitment to a particular feature is to use stickers. Well placed stickers can be impactful, stylish and fun and ultimately don’t take design too seriously.
“The great thing about wall stickers is that they are creative enablers for everyone, you can be spontaneous without the consequences and that is exciting. You can totally transform the look and feel of a room by injecting vibrant colours, adding a wow factor to a feature wall or having fun with specific themes in children’s bedrooms, providing a feeling of satisfaction and empowerment because you can do it all yourself very easily and if you grow tired of them or want to change to a new or seasonal theme it is easy to do without the expense and upheaval of re-decorating.” Adele – Founder of ‘Nutmeg’ bespoke stickers.
Murals
If you have a large room, with a large square wall, a great way to create an impact and utilise the space is to hang a mural. Murals can usually be ordered to fit specific sizes, and are particularly striking when they feature a dramatic landscape or iconic print.
Wood Cladding
In keeping with the trend for organic, natural interiors, wood paneling has made a big come back in recent years. No longer associated with the dark, varnished cladding of the seventies, paneling now utilises different types of wood with different levels of polish and finish, and is fast returning as a ‘must have’ feature in modern homes.
“A return to panelling but with more interesting and less traditional timbers being used - cladding walls with wood is nothing knew but it’s been off the radar on the residential interiors world for some time. It’s already hit the commercial world of restaurants and bars and now it’s going to return to the private homes” – Lee Thornley, Founder of Bert & May
Exposed Brick
In contrast to the sleek, detailed finish achieved through many wall finishes, the less is more vibe is very much embraced with the trend for exposed brickwork. Reminiscent of New York loft apartments, this textured, urban finish achieved through leaving redbrick walls exposed in interior settings, creates a stark contrast against slick, modern furnishings.
Time to Put on the Overalls
Revamping your walls, no matter what method you choose, will undoubtedly have a striking effect on the overall look of your room, and ultimately freshen it up. Don’t be afraid to experiment with new colours, especially if you have relatively neutral soft furnishings and fittings, as accent colours can easily be picked out through inexpensive cushions, throws and accessories.
You can also coordinate your bi-fold doors to your new color palette with Origin’s Bespoke Colour Range. The diverse range features over 150 RAL colours, so you can be sure to find a colour to suit your new improved décor.
So, what are you waiting for? There’s a whole world of colour and design out there, just waiting to bring your living rooms back to life!
For more information on Origin's bespoke bi-folding doors, contact your local installer today.