Paint Your Walls Post One - Colors & Complexity

Wall paint is one of the easiest ways to make a big impact in your nursery. Whether it is just one wall or a complicated paint pattern, paint adds color and interest to any room. If you are thinking about painting the nursery there are a few things to consider.

• Boy or Girl? When I worked at a baby store, people often came in looking for bedding after they had painted their room. That never made sense to me. What if you fall in love with a set and it doesn't match what you already painted? I know it is hard to wait to work on the nursery until you find out the sex, but you just might have to. You can always have 2 options already planned out, on for a girl and one for a boy. Then, when you find out which one it is, you don't have to go shopping or start making decisions.
• Neutral - If you are waiting till the baby is born to find out the sex, or if you just want a nuetral theme, you can start considering paint colors right away. Shades of brown, tan, green and yellow make great nuetral choices.
• Baby vs. Big Kid - Don't want to paint the room again in 23 years? Chances are you are going to upgrade to big kid furniture at 3 or 4 and your little one may want to help choose the decor. Just keep that in mind before you paint baby bunnies all over the room.
  
• Simple vs. Complex - Never painted before? Not too crafty? Its probably best to do something simple. Solids and stripes can still add interest. Below are some of my favorite ideas for simple paint techniques:
  

1. Accent Wall - If the nursery is already painted a nice neutral shade other than white, you may not need to paint the entire thing. An accent wall is an easy an inexpensive way to add interest. This is a great choice if you are not a master painter. Below is an accent wall from my guest room:

For the tan shade, we used left over paint from another area of the house. We only had to buy a gallon of the chocolate brown shade so it was a super cheap makeover with big results. Accents walls look great on the wall the crib is going to be placed.

2. Half Height - With or without a chair rail, painting the room this way adds a lot of punch. Traditionally the darker color should be painted on the bottom and a lighter color on top. This helps make the wall look taller. A good starting place is to choose a bottom color you like and then go up 2 or 3 bars on the paint strip sample to choose the top color. Or, you can choose 2 totally different colors.

Design Dazzle Featured this room painted Benjamin Moore Calypso Orange from Domino Mag:


For a more traditional look, add a simple chair rail to divide the 2 colors. Molding comes in different widths and designs and is in inexpensive way to add interest. I recently had one installed in my breakfast area, and I hired a handy man to install it for just $40.

3. Simple Vertical Stripes - Fairly easy to paint with the help of some painters tape, vertical stripes can by done in many different ways. I love the look of tone on tone stripes, with equal widths of 2 different shades of the same color. Or, you can add stripes at the bottom half ot the wall like this Jack and the Beanstalk design by Heather Sanders from Pink Giraffe Design.

Vertical stripes can also be added to an accent wall like this modern design:

4. Horizontal Stripes - A little more difficult than vertical stripes because they really have to be level. But, if you can get them right, vertical stripes really add interest to the room. Below is a sample from Pottery Barn Kids. The name letters add another dimension and are a really neat effect.


If all this sounds a little too complicated, it is perfectly ok to hire a painter (or enlist your dad!) With the economy the way it is, you can get some really good rates right now. Just make sure to get 2 quotes. When we had a large paint project in our home we got 2 quotes, one for $1800 and one for $750! BIG DIFFERENCE!

All this sounds like a piece of cake? Check back later this week for some ideas on adding wall art and murals to your walls!