Paint and color, as Dulux creative director Marian Schillingford reminds us, is more than just a rainbow: “When we say paint, we don’t mean saturated jelly bean shades—we mean color and paint in all its glory, from off-the-shelf organic-white and subtle petal shades to Deepest blues, greens, golds and reds at night. Marianne notes that decorating our homes with paint is getting more and more creative during lockdown—a trend that continues to evolve. “
‘Using ceiling paint tricks, forgetting room corners as crosses between colors, choosing mid-wall divisions as well as painting kitchen units and furniture in shades that bring us joy – all have revolutionized the way we look and live in our homes.
Interior designer Kate Guinness agrees, saying, ‘I think we’ll see continued enthusiasm for paint and engraving this year. We continue to introduce detailing paint into our homes to incorporate additional points of interest.
We’ve curated our favorite paint ideas and tricks, showing you how to bring color into a variety of interior design settings to help you create a whole new scheme in your home.
Paint Tricks – For Every Room & Surface
We’ve teamed up with a group of color and design experts to bring you the most exciting paint trends for the coming year. These paint tricks will inspire a whole new look to your home. brushes ready…
1. Double it up to make the room look bigger
(Image credit: Paint and Paper Library)
If you’re looking to experiment with bedroom paint, the choice of color is just as important as the final effect. Between Irene Gunther (Opens in a new tab) My current favorite is blush shades, to create an incredibly relaxing atmosphere. Erin heads up her own design practice and for bedrooms, she recommends these warm, relaxing colors that aren’t distracting or stimulating.
In the master bedroom of a Notting Hill home, we used a library of paint and paper’s Rouge II on the bottom wall, the same color with 50 percent white mixed in to create a lighter shade for the top. This painting technique not only adds interest but also blurs the edges of the room, making the ceiling appear higher and the room appear larger.
2. Turn a headboard into a piece of art
(Image credit: Farrow & Ball)
Resourcefulness, a little imagination and a budget interior designer and studio Sascal (Opens in a new tab) Founder Sarah Stimp to create this unique and stunning headboard.
“We saved a lot of money by making the headboard fabric ourselves,” she explains. We sourced canvas fabrics from eBay and then used sample pots of green paint to create the pattern. We started with Vert De Terre by Farrow & Ball as a base color and built it with lighter and darker green tones of Farrow & Ball.
The overall result is very textured – brush strokes create a sense of movement that adds depth and makes the headboard idea look more like a piece of art. A piece of antique linen adds softness to the metal frame.
3. Giving the fireplace a faux marble finish
(Image credit: Astrid Templar)
The living room is the perfect place to try out painting tricks and techniques, as these living room paint ideas suggest. Working with a paint expert can be a wise move. Interior designer Brandon Schubert (Opens in a new tab) She invited Lara Fiorentino of The Paint Effect to give the fireplace a faux marble finish.
“Lara has done an amazing job of making the fireplace look like it’s made of red marble,” he says. Just be sure to take the time required to get a really nice, smooth finish.
4. Introduce a tactile touch to your walls
(Image source: Damien Russell)
Skillfully textured walls are smart choices when deciding on the best entryway painting ideas. Color pigment can be combined with different materials to create washes applied with brush or sponge with different techniques. The project shown here was designed by designers Chan & Eayrs (Opens in a new tab).
There are many ways to use paint creatively. If you want to go further, explore specialized paint effects to give your wall depth beyond what regular paint can achieve.
5. Use paint to create areas inside the room
(Photo credit: Paul Reside)
In addition to color, contrasting paint finishes for a painted kitchen can be used to define a space, says Andy Grenal, head of design at the Paint and Paper Library. (Opens in a new tab). For this backsplash area, Satinwood Architect Paint and Paper Library creates stunning contrast with a matte finish in the same shade. Two-tone walls can transform a space, and bring depth to a wall. It’s also easy to do and a cost effective way to add character to an otherwise simple scheme.
6. Trick the eye with a drawn border
(Photo credit: Louise Rowe)
To prove that detailed design doesn’t have to be expensive, designer Louise Roe says, “I wanted to be a bit bolder with my bedroom color ideas. I found a rich, warm chestnut, Ladybug by Earthbourne, for the doors and Amy Balfour painted one of her beautiful borders on the paneling, which looks a lot like the expensive bone inlay.
7. Use paint to create a 3D effect
(Image credit: James MacDonald)
“When you think about paint tricks,” says Elnaz Namaki, Creative Director, Elnaz Namaki Studio, ‘The Fifth Wall’ is a great way to add layers and a three-dimensional aspect to a space’s design. (Opens in a new tab).
For this small room, interior designer Elnaz Namaki chose a custom all-stucco coating solution, working with a plaster finisher craftsman. This is overlayed in the corners with a custom paisley stencil around the lights.
8. Use paint to visually expand walls
(Photo credit: Paul Massey)
Smart ceiling ideas are a great way to add another layer of interest and make a space more comfortable. It’s often an afterthought but we make sure to consider their potential,” says interior designer Nicola Harding. “Using ceiling paint tricks and ideas helped extend the walls in this dining room.”
Nicola begins by thinking about how she wants the room to feel, at the end, and she also takes into account the amount of natural light—which here comes from floor-to-ceiling glass doors. With that in mind, I selected a simple emulsion—Farrow & Ball’s Stone Blue—to visually expand this small dining room.
9. Use paint to hide flaws
(Photo credit: Paul Massey)
The beauty of clever paint tricks is that when done well, they can hide many sins.
In older homes, it can pay to investigate the original ‘bones’ of the house although it is important to consider the condition of the ceilings that may be present if you expose them. Using white paint helps hide imperfections as well as create a softer effect that matches the room below.
“Decorative paint finishes are growing in popularity,” says interior designer Kate Guinness. “We continue to offer paint details in place of solid moldings, for example, or to incorporate additional points of interest and hide architectural flaws.”
10. Trick the eye
(Image credit: Frank and Faber)
Introducing a faded finish at eye level is a well-known trick to improve roominess and prevent wall units from overworking, especially above heavy work areas like a stove or sink.
‘We generally recommend choosing darker shades on the bottom and lighter tones on top, especially if natural light isn’t great or ceilings are low,’ says Sarah Ellison, founder and creative director at Frank & Faber. (Opens in a new tab). “In a really dark kitchen, we often forgo wall units altogether, storage needs permitting, or paint them in the same light shade as the walls so that they virtually disappear.”
Are paint tricks and techniques outdated?
If you’re thinking of stencils for ’70s ornate walls and ceilings, then yes. But today’s paint tricks are more sophisticated and contemporary.
Interior designer Brandon Schubert says there are many ways to use paint tricks beautifully. You can choose an unusual finish such as glossy paint for the walls. This can work well with dark colors where you want to keep the light bouncing around the room, but it also works with muted colors. Just be sure to take the time required to get a really nice, smooth finish.
If you want to go even further, explore specialized paint effects to give your wall depth beyond what regular paint can achieve. I think it’s best done by a professional interior designer, but if you’re adventurous, try it yourself.
Paint Tricks for the Modern Era is all about reviving interiors in a tailored way. “We’re embracing a new freedom of expression that has a heart of vibrant colour,” says Marianne Schillingford, Dulux’s Creative Director.
How do you draw special effects on the wall?
Kit Kemp is highly regarded for her use of color, and she is featured in many of the Firmdale hotels she designs. If you’re not sure where to start with color in the home, Kit has plenty of ideas and recommends a door frame as one of the easiest places to start.
“It’s the perfect canvas for applying a fun shock of color or even just a soft complementing color to the rest of the room,” she explains. “Door frames are the boundary between one room and another, from the cozy drawing room to the bright kitchen, so why not have something surrounding the room behind that is a fun and colorful addition in its own right?”