One of the reasons that paint is so great is because it can instantly change the look of anything. And you don't need to go crazy on your entire house to make a big visual impact.
Take your front door, for example. If you love vivid hues but don't want to turn your home's exterior into an eyesore, you can paint your front door. Plus, it's much easier to repaint a door than it is your home, so you can easily swap out colors depending on your mood.
While driving around in Kansas City a few days ago, I pulled over so that my partner-in-crime could snap the photo shown above. The home is located in one of the city's traditional, established neighborhoods, and I loved the contrast of the orange against the more classic exterior. I'd wager that the homeowners not only love color--they have great personalities, too.
When it comes to painting your home, the walls don't have to hog all of the attention. Painting a room's trim can easily make just as big of an impact, especially if you use a dark hue instead of the more prevalent pale shades.
You'll want to evaluate your current paint colors to decide if dark trim is right for you. It makes a crisp contrast when paired with a neutral wall, or can help balance certain bolder shades.
And when it comes to selecting a paint for your trim, feel free to experiment with a range of darker hues. Black will make the boldest statement, but we also like a deep charcoal, moss or chocolate to add unexpected depth to one of the room's smaller components. If you're in doubt, try a hue that's three shades darker than the wall color. You'll still get that immediate impact from using a darker shade instead of white or beige, but it won't be quite as dramatic as some of the aforementioned options.
We previously mentioned stencils as a great way to add an innovative appearance to your wood stairs. The DIY tools are also a fun, creative way to add embellishments to your walls and furniture.
Thanks to an increasing awareness of street art, stencils are becoming a more popular tool for creating a wide array of designs. Now you, too, can channel your inner Banksy and use your home as your canvas.
When you create a stencil, you'll want to decide a few things first to help identify what material you should use. The size and frequency of use are two of the major factors. If you're going to be repeating a design on a large surface, you'll want a more durable stencil that will stand up to the job.
Stairs kinda get a bad rap, don't they? So much foot traffic, so little love. But depending on the location of your stairs (and if you have them), a staircase can be a focal point of your home--so why not treat it like one?
If you have wood stairs (or want to pull up existing carpeting in favor of the original wood), you can give your stairs a vintage flair by stenciling old product logos on them so that the stairs look like slats from old wooden crates.
After prepping the stairs with a thorough sanding, apply your choice of wood stain to bring out the richness of the wood's tone. Don't get too crazy, though--the point is to make the wood look a bit antiqued rather than brand-spanking new.
