When it comes to your home, why limit your painting tricks to all colors? Paint is a powerful design tool with the power to create architectural elements that can transform any room. “People, since the ancient Romans, have been using paint to simulate architectural details that don’t actually exist,” says Philip Thomas, founder of the New York-based interior design firm. Paint can trick the eye into giving a new sense of space, dimension, and even texture. Thomas created the illusion of base panels and ceiling molding by painting a few inches below the existing molding in a contrasting color to emphasize the look of the architectural element.
William McIntosh, of William McIntosh Design in New York, adds that painting is the fastest, easiest, and least expensive way to change any area of your home. “Paint treatments help increase the volume and focus in a room,” he says.
To transform a room without smashing walls, we’ve rounded up the best tips on how to fake desirable architectural details with painting tricks.
Paint ceilings for extra height
Metallic or high-gloss paint on the ceiling creates the illusion of greater height. “Your room will instantly feel larger and more airy,” says Thomas. “Try it in the living room, bedrooms, or any room that feels cramped.” Go even further with the look using bold colors, like Yves Klein’s sky blue tones.
create depth
Paint the frame and recessed area for built-in cabinets, says McIntosh. “You want to contrast white or light-colored walls with something dark which creates warmth and richness,” he says. “Deeper color emphasizes niches and makes them recede, making the room appear larger.”
Turn on the existing architecture
Decorate architectural details already in your home, such as arches and moldings. Styled with stoneware, says Los Angeles-based designer Jeff Andrews, who used paint to accentuate the arched openings of the home’s double-height entrance. Mixing paint gloss, he adds, as in high-gloss and matte, draws attention to existing detail.
mixing colors
Pairing paint colors can add synergy, especially if you repeat a pattern. In a client’s dining room, Thomas created faux columns by interweaving pink, green, and blue. The paint trick created column-like accents that tricked the eye to expand the room.
Focus on the stove
“A bold fireplace makes a bold statement,” says San Francisco-based designer Emily Monroe. Paint the entire fireplace charcoal black because the bold color paints the room and draws the eye upward. Keeping the walls white lends more fluidity to the effect, enhancing the ceiling height. Prefer a softer color for your fireplace? Achieve the same effect by painting the walls a checkered color. “The key is the high contrast between the fireplace and adjacent walls to create definition,” she adds.
Use tone over tone
If you’re dreaming of a wood-panelled kitchen, living room, or library, but don’t have the budget, striped walls will do the trick, says Mary Douglas Drysdale, a designer in Washington, D.C., implement shades of the same paint color to create she says variations in striped tones. Pairing cyan with dark blue adds a 3D effect with “linear quality.”
Try the trick to draw Fu Boa
A painting technique known as faux bois mimics the look of wood. The wood-grain effect lifts up walls, furniture, and floors with just a few simple tools, like a wood-grain vibrator and brush. “The traditional faux colors are maple, oak, and mahogany, but don’t limit yourself,” Drysdale says, noting that the non-woody colors look more modern.
Originally featured in Architectural Digest
