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Three Guidelines To Help You Decorate Your Walls
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If you find yourself staring at a blank wall, it's time to do something
about it. It's a decorating fact of life that walls are the largest expanse
in any room, and how they are covered and decorated is a real challenge to
every home owner. Should you paint a wall? Or paper it? Or cover your walls
with fabric? And what colors should you select for each wall?
"Choices are simplified if you begin analyzing the walls of each room in
terms of three basic decorating guidelines that we teach our home-study
students - function, mood, and harmony," says Tina Lee, Director of
Sheffield School of Interior Design
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Guideline One - First consider the function of a room, and make sure your
wall covering is appropriate. For example, in a rough-and-tumble den, you
don't want to use a delicate silk fabric on the wall. One the other hand,
in a romantic bedroom or boudoir, that silk might be just right. Other
functional considerations include dirt-resistance, soundproofing, and
durability.
Guideline Two -Mood: Since walls are the largest decorated area in any
room, your wall treatments will strongly influence the mood the room
projects. Brightness of the room can be established by the walls. If you
paint the walls in dark tones, the mood will be subdued even if the rest of
the room is light-colored. Also, the drama of a room is established by the
walls. If you paint walls a high-gloss red or use a paper with a bold
scenic pattern, you project a powerful dramatic mood. Beige or any neutral
is more subdued; paneled walls are more masculine; floral wallpaper more
feminine. These are elements of mood.
Guideline Three - Harmony: Wall treatments act as a background for all
other elements in the room. They should tie everything together. Should you
use a decorative design on the walls or stick to solid colors? One rule of
thumb: Usually, have only one major decorative pattern in a room. If you
use a dramatic design-pattern in the draperies, don't use a competing
pattern on the walls or elsewhere. But you can repeat the drapery pattern
on the walls.
By following these three Guidelines - function, mood, and harmony - you
will be able to choose the right treatment for every wall in your home. For
more tips on decorating your home, visit the Sheffield School of Interior
Design website
Reprinted with permission from the Sheffield
School of Interior Design "
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