Shabby Chic Home Decorating
Paint on your Walls

PAINT: THE ABSOLUTE CHEAPEST WAY TO ADD STYLE TO ANY ROOM! Decorating the walls of your room involves first choosing a color. The shabby chic style of home decorating typically uses neutrals or soft shades of any color. But remember, there are no rules! If you have a darker shade in mind, use it! Simply go lighter on the other elements that build the room (i.e. accessories, art,

In general, choose a color with a semi-gloss sheen. This can be added to any color you have mixed at the store. Semi-gloss surfaces wipe clean and are easiest to apply.

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Consider choosing two shades of one color, one a bit darker than the other. This pair will be on the same free color swatch at the store. Paint two facing walls the darker color and the other two facing walls the lighter color. This effect adds a touch of interest without stealing the show from your other accessories.

Or divide all four walls horizontally creating a top half and a bottom half. Use easy to install white chair rail to separate the two colors. If it's the actual wall colors that you want to stand out(not the accessories), paint the chair rail a funky color like orange, lime green or black! My bathroom is done in an electric mediterranean blue and the trim around the doors and the door panels are an antiqued distressed black. Again, let your imagination soar! What color combos do you admire together? Just do it! Another example, choose two shades of brown divided by chair rail done in robin's egg blue. And even more shabby chic, distress the chair rail with coarse sandpaper after it is completely dry.

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Like stripes? Paint walls all one color. Once it is completely dry, use painter's tape to tape off certain sections, vertically, ceiling to floor. Choose another complementary color to do between the taped areas to reveal the coolest stripes! They can be fat or skinny or a combination of both. Typically, vertical up and down stripes look better than horizontal ones. This can be done with any style of decorating- modern, retro, traditional, conservative, anything! It's just the colors that vary and define the decorating style.

TEXTURE

There are fabulous finishes(or glazes)on the market that create phenomenal texture to your walls. Faux finishing involves choosing a base color, any shade, and sponging or rubbing another thin slow to dry layer (sometimes referred to as glaze) of another shade on top. This technique is a little messy (wear gloves!) but surprisingly simple to do, it just looks hard! From experience I can tell you to bypass the how-to tips. You learn more from experimenting and you have hours before it actually dries so you can not mess it up. You have the control to go very light and airy or very dark and rich. Faux finishing generally gives the wall(s)the look of leather, which adds instant richness and depth to the walls.

Skip-trowel, or raised plaster, is another alternative to create depth and texture to your walls. Although a bit messy, it is easy to do and pretty much goof proof. No shape has to be exactly the same, just similar. Use a metal wallpaper spatula for best results and create like shapes on the entire wall with the plaster. After the plaster dries, paint the wall color as normal. It will be a little bumpy so watch for drips! This technique has an actual texture to it that you can feel with your hands. Have fun with this!

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