Dress Up With Fun Wall Patterns!
I've been spotting a new trend popping up on more and more home design, home improvement, and home fashion blogs: wall patterns. These bold paint effects are easy to do, they're far more reversible than wallpaper if you decide you don't like them, and they can dramatically change a room -- for the
Posted — UpdatedI am a little dangerous when it comes to polka dots. I'd put them on everything if I could. (I even have a polka dot cat!) So polka dot walls make total sense to me, whether you're decorating a bedroom or creating an accent wall in the office. Try teal on brown for something cool and modern, or hot pink on grey. Working in a kids' room? How about big chalkboard paint polka dots for a little extra fun?
If it fits together in a pattern without overlapping or gapping, it's a tessellation. Check out M.C. Escher's work for some pretty wild examples...and when you come back, think about how they'd look on your walls. You could try an ombre effect with a tessellation that slowly fades as it climbs towards the ceiling, or you could use alternating colors, or you could play around with any number of other paint effects.
Stencils provide a whole new world of wall patterns, as they allow you to create complex, detailed repeating patterns. Wall stencils are available from a number of interior design firms and you can also make your own -- maybe you're inspired by vintage wallpaper, something you see in nature, or a cool vintage advertisement that you want to enlarge and put on your wall. Be bold: the great thing about paint is that if you don't like it, you can just paint over it!
While you're at it, you might want to consider using low VOC paints. These paints don't offgas as much, so they won't smell as awful while you're working, and they poses fewer health risks to you and your family.