Home Decorating For Dummies
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Choosing the materials to use on your walls involves practical, aesthetic, and budget considerations. Make a clear distinction between what you want and what you need, especially if you don’t necessarily need everything you want. For example, if your house is home to small children and pets, you need something more practical than a white rug.

For unity, plan adjoining rooms that are openly visible to each other as though they were one space. Treat them both positively (with the same backgrounds) or as negatives and positives (using a dark background and light furnishings in one and a light background and dark furnishings in the other). Use contrasting colors in adjoining spaces only if you want to create a sense of activity and movement.

Walls determine a room’s mood. You can choose from many different materials to cover your walls. Some popular choices include paint in plain or faux finishes, wall covering, and paneling.

If you’re having trouble choosing between these popular materials, remember that combining the materials is possible to provide the best solution and help you achieve your goals

With any style, period, or mood, keep in mind that texture plain or patterned and in any material not only adds tactile interest, it affects space in the following ways:

  • The lighter, smoother, and silkier the texture of all surfaces, the airier the space.

  • The rougher, coarser, and furrier the background textures, the smaller (and perhaps cozier) the room.

Texture is particularly important to neutral-color schemes, popular in Contemporary spaces and in conservative living rooms. If neutrals are your cup of tea, add excitement by adding rich texture.

Paint

Paint is an inexpensive source of color and a powerful mood maker. Use it as a versatile decorating tool to reshape a room. Other colorful materials — wall coverings, ceramic tile, and fabrics — may do the same job as paint, but at a higher cost for materials and labor. Painting a room has these advantages:

  • Painting is cheap.

  • Painting is easy.

  • Painting is fast.

  • Painting is impermanent.

Paint allows anyone to be daring with color. Why not make your rooms pop and come to life? You can even take this advice in open floor plans — just take extra care in selecting colors that look great together!

Wallcoverings

Wallcoverings are minor miracles of color and pattern. Don’t overlook textured textiles, skins (suede and other leathers), and other wallcoverings for neutral living room walls. Textured wallcoverings, such as suede, brocade, velvet, linen, burlap, and metallic, add richness and depth. Take a look at the following tips for decorating your living room with wallcoverings:

  • Marry Traditional colors and patterns (such as stripes) with Traditional furniture.

  • Try a small amount of handscreened wallcovering as an accent, if your budget doesn’t allow for an entire room done in this expensive material:

    • Consider adding the wallcovering as a border just above a wainscot (paneling below a chair rail molding).

    • Create small panels of paper and border them with decorative wood moldings.

    • Cover just one short wall.

  • Use textured wallcoverings with Contemporary furnishings. The more distinctively textured, the more dramatic the contrast, and thus the more powerful your decorating statement.

Paneling

Today’s wood paneling is a far cry from the older luan paneling that made itself at home all across the country. Paneling adds richness to walls. And, while initial costs make paneling more expensive than paint or wallcoverings, in the long run, it proves a savvy solution for repairing damaged walls. You can nail paneling directly to the studs, saving time and labor. If you haven’t seen new paneling, take a look.

About This Article

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About the book authors:

Katharine Kaye McMillan, former senior editor of a New York City-based national magazine, is a writer whose work appears regularly in magazines and newspapers. She is a contributing writer to internationally circulated Florida Design Magazine. She is the co-author of several books on decorating and design, including Sun Country Style, which is the basis for licensed signature collections of furniture and accessories by three leading American manufacturers and importers. A graduate of the University of Texas in Austin, she holds a masters degree in psychology and is a doctoral student in psychology at Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida.

Patricia Hart McMillan is a nationally known interior designer, whose interior design work for private clients, designer showcases, and corporations has appeared in publications worldwide, including the New York Times and USA Today. Known as a trend spotter and for clearly articulated views on design, she is quoted frequently and extensively in both trade and consumer publications. She a ppears on TV and talk radio. A prolific writer, she is coauthor and author of seven books on interior design and decoration, with Sun Country Style signature collections of furniture based on two books. She has taught decorating courses at several colleges and conducted numerous seminars across the U.S. She is decorating editor for Christian Woman Magazine and reports on design trends for The Sun-Sentinel, a Tribune newspaper based in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. She has been editor-in-chief of two publications and was head of a New York City-based public relations firm representing some of the most prestigious names in home furnishing and building products. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, with a minor in art history (with an emphasis in architecture), from the State University of New York (New Paltz). She was awarded a certificate from The New York School of Interior Design.

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