Walls, Murals & Decorating Ideas

Focal Wall

• Choosing a focal wall for a room embraces one of the key elements of decorating---giving the eye someplace to focus on when a person first enters a room. Ideally, the room's visitor will take in all the room's decor, but the focal wall helps break the task down into manageable chunks. Interior decorators often use a feature that's already in the room such as a fireplace or bookcase as the focal point. Adding a coat of paint in a vibrant color offers one simple method for emphasizing the focal wall. To do this, decorators will paint the wall a color such as forest green while the walls surrounding it may be painted with a contrasting color or with a neutral such as off-white.

Faux Painting Techniques

• Home decorators have embraced faux painting techniques because of their ability to re-create the look of substances like leather, venetian plaster, marble and other textures. These wall painting techniques typically involve at least two colors of paint and often combine them with other substances like plaster or glaze to create the effect. The techniques were inspired in part by the walls in homes done in Tuscan or French country decorating styles, although they can be used with any style of decorating.

Wall Murals

• Putting a wall mural on the wall isn't limited to just having one painted. Instead a slew of possibilities exist that include having a family photo enlarged to cover an entire wall. Although creating and putting up a wall mural might be time consuming and present challenges that some at-home-decorators can't do without assistance the results speak for themselves; these types of images on the wall personalize the space to the people living in it. Besides the photo option, wall murals can be painted directly onto the wall and employ additional techniques such as the three-dimensional technique of trompe-l'œil (fool-the-eye) or be combined with wall plastering to create an old-world look.

Fabric

• Hanging fabric on the wall gives the same overall coverage that wallpaper does, but with a softer look that's also easier to remove if necessary. Decorators such as Hildi Santo-Tomas of "Trading Spaces" use gently pleated fabrics with a light print to create soft, romantic looks in a room. Fabric looks can be paired with other decorative elements such as sconces and pictures to draw attention to a certain area in the decor.