1. Using a shiny vs. a flat finish – Walls in general should be coated with a flat washable paint finish from brands like Benjamin Moore, Sherwin Williams or General Paints. Flat finishes are quite popular and look very contemporary, so much so that modern homes and art galleries like to use them a lot. Whenever a painter asks you what type of flat finish you want, you can go for a completely flat completely non-reflective sheen (which some paint companies also refer to as a matte finish). Or you can go with a slightly higher sheen called eggshell, so called because they resemble the low-sheen surface of an egg. Flat finishes are good for low traffic areas like ceilings, while matte is good for low to medium traffic areas like bedrooms. Shinier and slightly more reflective finishes – like eggshell – tend to be more durable, which is why I tend to specify eggshell finishes for most of my design projects. Eggshell is good for slightly higher traffic areas like dining rooms, living rooms and kitchens. Satin, which is an even shinier finish than eggshell, are best for areas that have higher traffic or are more prone to scuffing like closets, which come in contact with human skin several times a day. The highest level of sheen – called semi-gloss – is reserved for baseboards, crown mouldings, window & door casings which are surfaces that are subject to the most wear and tear. Lacquer, which is similar to a high-shine car paint is a very special finish that I reserve for people that want a mirror-like effect in their living rooms or entrance hallways, similar to what you’ll see on the doors and console table pictured below. It’s a look that’s suited for people who want a more polished and glamorous art-deco feel for their home.
2. Using light vs. dark colours – Light colours make walls recede further which is why they’re popular in small sized apartments. That said, larger homes with big picture windows still do use light colours to make them seem even more spacious. So if light colours are key to creating the illusion of size, then why do some small space owners like to use bold or dark colours in their apartment? Some homeowners like to use bold colours as it provides a nice and interesting visual counterpoint to a white ceiling, trim and light-coloured floors like what this owner requested that us to do on her bedroom walls (pictured below). While some people don’t mind having a light or neutral coloured apartment, others crave colour in their lives, proudly wearing it on their clothes, their hair, and on their walls. So you might say that there are 2 camps: the colour camp and the neutral camp. I’m kind of in the middle which is that I like to have a mostly neutral coloured space in a very light shade of grey or beige, but I do like to have one brightly coloured wall in each room using wallpaper or paint. And I’m not averse to using a strong colour like red or orange, but these can be tiring to look at, which is why I would generally use more calming colours like blue, green or even brown in a solid paint or wallpaper just to keep things interesting.
3. Pattern vs. plain – Are you into intricate and colourful patterns? Or do you prefer to keep things plain and simple? Let’s talk about cost & convenience. Flat paint is easier to apply and much cheaper. If you were to use a stiped painted pattern, a painted stencil or some kind of rustic type of painted finish everywhere in their home, it would definitely be more expensive and trendier, meaning it could go out of style in as little as 3 to 5 years. For some people that don’t mind repainting all their walls every few years, that’s not a huge dealbreaker. However, if cost is an issue, the easiest and least expensive approach is to simply use accent walls using solid colors on 1 or 2 surfaces in each room to make things interesting visually. However, having some kind of pattern can be really fun like what my team and I did for this homeowner when we added a patterned Majolica-style – instead of a plain – backsplash tile in the kitchen to reflect her Hispanic background. It’s a little pricier than plain (and classic) white subway tile. And as of this writing, murals are in again. If exterior walls of commercial buildings can look really interesting when painted over with some artist’s version of beauty, then why not put something dramatic in your own space and commission your own personalized mural about your own family or history? Or if you’re fascinated by patterned wallpaper but don’t want to the headaches of installing (and eventually removing) this material, then you can experiment with using stencil patterns which are fairly easy to apply and paint over. Like solid accent colours, you can apply stencil patterns on just one wall of every room to create some kind of focal point. No need to put pattern everywhere (although you could if you wanted to). That’s the whole point of accent walls which is not to prevent visual overload by going overboard with too much pattern. This would explain why there’s only 1 or 2 of them in each room.
4. Paint vs wallpaper – I like to use wallpaper whenever possible in my projects, except that it’s more expensive – and also much harder to install and remove – than paint. And it often requires an expert to install, especially if you have arched doorways and ceilings that go up to 12 feet or higher. Professional wallpaper installers have the equipment to climb up these walls and they know how to make things completely straight and aligned so I recommend using them rather than doing it yourself. If you’re putting on wallpaper yourself for the first time, you may do less-than stellar job. I tried painting a wall myself once and although it came out okay, it wasn’t that great. Other than that, wallpaper is a trend that comes and goes. Right now it’s having a huge moment again. Give it a few years and you won’t see it as much once the wallpaper trend goes away. And you can’t really just remove wallpaper as easily by yourself as you can end up damaging the walls in the process. Even if a pro takes it off, the walls could still be damaged if the material is not peeled away carefully. And then once all the wallpaper is gone you still have to mud, sand, and prime the drywall properly so that it can be repainted. If budget isn’t an issue then definitely go for wallpaper, but take not that it’s not as simple a material to work with unlike paint which can be applied to walls very easily, quickly and cost effectively. If you are considering some kind of pattern for your walls, I recommend you look at stencils as this is still made of paint. If you do have a budget, you can do something like what my team and I did for this penthouse owner where we used a black and white colour scheme in the client’s living room, with the white paint serving as the overall neutral base and the black metallic wallpaper used as an accent to complement the white walls, white furniture, and also the white and grey quartz fireplace.
5. Cool vs warm colours – Cool colours tend to make the walls feel further away and make you think about the clouds, snow, and ice which are similarly cold materials. Colours in the cool spectrum include seafoam green, baby blue, beige, and lilac and are meant to make you feel calm and relaxed. These cool hues go perfectly in living rooms where you can stretch out and take a few minutes to close your eyes and catch your breath, especially at the end of a long and tiring work day. Cool colours also work well in bedrooms where they can help you go to sleep more easily. Warm colours, which include red, orange, yellow and brown, tend to make walls feel closer and remind you about things like heat and sunlight. Warm colours also tend to be more stimulating than cool colours which makes them perfect for dining rooms, family rooms and solariums where conversation and creative activities happen. White and black are considered neutral colours and are considered neither warm nor cool. Kitchens and bathrooms tend to use white a lot while black is used as an accent – or as a means to hide dirt – which is why they’re used a lot on dining chairs, bar stools, sofas, tables and countertops. Depending on where your city is located you may want to use cool colours if you are lucky enough to enjoy warm weather. And you can use warm colours if you live in colder climes. This is just a standard approach though, and not meant to be strictly applied, as I do have clients who like to use cool colours and neutrals (such as white) whatever the weather. And some clients are really in love with colour no matter that the heat is already intense outside for most of the year. So it is really a matter of preference. Check out how the warm grey and yellow hues in the picture below seem to be closer while the cooler (or neutral) white seems to be further away which makes it perfect as a wall or ceiling colour in a much smaller space to make it feel bigger.
