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Site Contents
Interior Design Basics:
- Homepage
- Interior Design Basics
- The Basics of Color
- Wall Treatments
- Fabrics
- Furniture
- Window Treatments
- Flooring Treatments
- Securing Your Home
- Green Home Basics
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- Easy Home Decorating
- DIY Handyman Guide
- Drywall Installation
- Kitchen Design
- Bathroom Design
- Home Theater Design
- Furniture Selection
- Feng Shui Better Living
- Guide to Home Security
- Big $ Fixing Up Houses
- Build New Home Save $
- Landscaping Plans
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Interior Design Wall Treatments
Like everything else in interior design you need to address what you are going to do with your wall treatments by thinking about:
- Function
- Mood
- Harmony.
The basic functions of your wall treatments are to look good. But there are other functions you need to look at as well. Dirt resistance is one. In high traffic areas and in wet areas you will want to look at wall coverings that are easy to clean, resist dirt and are waterproof for wet areas, for example tiling, vinyl or washable paint.
In high traffic areas in particular you want wall coverings that hide dirt, that is, colors or designs that will minimize the visibility of fingerprints and scuffmarks. You may also have to consider wall coverings such as wood paneling, cork or fabric in areas that require additional soundproofing.
Since the walls are the largest decorated area in any room, your wall treatment will strongly influence the mood the room projects. The brightness, drama and gender of the room can be established by the walls.
If you want a subdued mood to the room use darker tones on the wall, if you want dramatic moods use high gloss paint on the walls and if you want a feminine mood to the room use small floral patterns.
Wall treatments act as a background for all other elements in the room so they are vital to the harmony of your design. They tie everything together. One of your first decisions will be whether to use a decorative design on the walls or to use solid colors.
Your decision concerning the walls must be harmonized with the other large decorative masses in the room such as furniture coverings, flooring and window treatments. If you go with decorative patterns, use only one decorative pattern in the room. You can repeat the pattern you use on the walls in other elements such as draperies and furniture coverings but don't use competing patterns in the room.
Also try to harmonize the overall wall treatment with any artworks you include on your walls. Solid colors on your walls are often best with artworks used as accents.
You can divide the major wall treatments available into five types:
- Natural Wall Treatment Materials
- Painted Wall Treatments
- Wallpapers
- Fabric Covered Wall Treatments
- Mirrored Wall Treatments
Natural Wall Treatment Materials
When you choose natural materials for your walls your objective is most likely to achieve an "earthy" mood. You may wish to consider such materials as stone, brick, tile or wood.
Natural materials are great because they are very soothing. We may like to live in modern architecture but we also like to surround ourselves with natural materials to balance the cold glass and steel of which the house is made.
So there are three good reasons for using natural materials on a wall.
- To provide an authentic feeling of an old cottage or farmhouse, or
- To express a casual, earthy, warm mood. Plus,
- Natural materials such as tile are best for wet areas to exclude water penetration getting into the walls and floors and creating damage.
Painted Wall Treatments
This is usually the most inexpensive type of wall treatment. The most common walls used today are made of plaster or sheetrock. These both need to be sealed and paint is the most common way of doing this. You don't need to become an expert on the chemistry of paint, that is your painters’ job.
If you decide to use paint as your wall treatment then refer back to the chapter on color to help you with matters of mood and harmony.
Functionally, it is vitally important to use paint that is easy to clean. Satin paint is usually the best for walls and ceilings. It is glossy enough to reflect light adequately but flat enough to give the impression of relaxing softness and to hide minor imperfections in the wall surface.
Gloss paint is usually used around door frames and for windows and window frames. This is because this type of paint is the most durable and easiest to clean.
Wallpapers
Wallpapers come in a rainbow of colors and an endless variety of designs ranging from solid colors through to multi paneled full wall murals.
You have a choice of inexpensive mass produced wallpapers or costly custom made materials. Many mass produced wallpapers aren't paper at all. They are made of plastic or plastic coated paper. These new materials are far more durable and much easier to clean.
Fabric Covered Wall Treatments
Instead of using wallpaper you may wish to cover your walls with fabric. Fabric walls give you a choice of not only color and design but also of texture. They can produce an extremely rich look to a room.
Fabric can be stretched into panels (over a wooden frame attached to the wall) like in the great royal rooms of Europe, shirred (which basically looks like curtains around the room permanently shut) or pleated (which basically look like wood panels but made of fabric). You need the help of a competent upholsterer to use fabrics for wall treatments. Don't try to do it yourself.
Harmony wise you can achieve a very harmonious look by using the same fabric for the walls, window treatments and furniture coverings.
Mirrored Wall Treatments
Mirrored walls are the best way to make a small room look bigger or a narrow room look wider in your interior designs. They multiply space. You can also use a mirrored wall to increase the amount of light in a dark room.
The best mirrors are made of polished plate glass usually 1/4 inch thick. These should be your standard. Don't use distorted mirrors.
This is another job you should not do yourself as most walls are not perfectly flat and they need to be if you are going to glue a mirror to them. Keep in mind also that once a mirror is glued to a wall the only way to remove it is to smash it. Glaziers have all sorts of tricks of the trade for installing mirrors so use their expertise.
Also be careful not to cut yourself when handling mirrors or any glass. Wear gloves and steel capped boots, large mirrors are heavy and have sharp edges. If you place or drop one on your foot, there goes your toes and you probably just sliced through your hand as well. How do you call an ambulance if your hand doesn't work and your toes have just fallen off?
On that fun thought, let's talk more about fabrics in the next chapter. Fabrics are much safer.
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Interior Design Basics:
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