Three Creative Ways to Color a Boring Room

Painting shouldn’t get in the way of creativity: you can do a lot more than just paint a solid color on a wall. By adding texture to your design, you can give your space more character with less effort than you think.

Think sponge painting

If you want to create a two-tone effect in your room, try painting with a sponge to put some secondary color on the main layer. After your base coat is dry, use a damp, wrung-out sponge to lightly brush another color on top of it randomly (although you should start in one area and work vertically or horizontally from there so you don’t look haphazard). . This method works best with a simple base color like beige or gray and a top color that is a lot less boring.

Ideally you should use a large natural sea sponge which will give the best pattern; and if you mix your top color with equal parts of frosting, it will look better, according to This Old House . And if you really want a volumetric effect, add a third color when the second one dries.

Try drawing on crepe paper

Sponge painting gives the illusion of texture, but if you want real fun, consider painting with crepe paper. First, crumple enough tissue paper to cover the wall when the paper is flattened and set it aside. (For best results, tear it into sheets of a convenient size, but remember that you only need enough to cover the entire wall.)

Apply a base coat of paint and, while still wet, spread crumpled pieces of tissue paper over it, overlapping the edges by a half inch or so. You can move them around until you like the look, but act fast – it gets harder to adjust when the bottom coat of paint dries. Don’t worry about protruding paper in corners or window sills, etc.; You can trim and get rid of it when you’re done.

After you have covered the wall, apply the top coat of paint to the paper. Ideally, the bottom layer should still be slightly damp, and the two layers will press the paper tightly together. After the wall is dry, use a razor to cut off excess paper sticking out in corners, above baseboards, or anywhere else.

Make your own patterns with tape

You can make uneven intersecting lines with tape and then paint over the sections with different shades. When it dries, peel off the tape to reveal a random geometric pattern of matching colors.

A design doesn’t have to be intense to impress – you can see the photo above for a simple example courtesy of my mom and me. We made two lines around the top of my kid’s bedroom wall, then cut out stars from contact paper and glued them in the center. When the paint was dry, we removed the sticky parts and made a sharp border to add a little dimension that diluted the bold color.

Of course, be as creative as you want. You can use tape to draw a diagonal line from the bottom corner of one wall to the opposite top corner and paint each side a different color. (You will need to carefully hand paint a white line with one of the colors when you peel it off after it dries.) Or use tape to make vertical stripes all over the room (or even just one wall). . If you’re going to put your best effort into drawing, you might as well have some fun.