No moulding? No matter! RESENE

Interesting architectural features like moulding, cornices can add a lot of character to a home. They can be amplified by painting them in a colour that complements or contrasts with your wall, ceiling and floor colours or downplayed by painting everything in a single uniform hue.

If your home doesn’t have interesting architectural features and you can’t stomach the investment of the pricey materials and installation, you can create a similar effect through contrast simply by using paint.

In this room, wide borders that run across the tops and at the corners of each wall are painted in Resene Eighth Spanish White and stand out from the main colour blocks that cover the remainder of each wall in Resene Double Spanish White. These complex creamy whites, while classic, are trending for their ability to bring warmth to your home and their flexibility – blending beautifully with a whole range of accent colours and design styles.

To get the look, first paint the entire room in two coats of Resene SpaceCote Low Sheen tinted to the lighter of your two chosen hues. Allow the first to dry fully before applying the second and allow the second to dry fully before moving on.

Then, use a pencil, ruler and a level to lightly mark an equal distance down from the ceiling and out from the corners so that you will have lines to follow when you apply your masking.

Be sure to use high-quality ‘washi-style’ painter’s masking tape, available from Resene ColorShops, and press down the edges of your tape firmly to ensure you get a sharp, clean line once it’s removed. Then, paint the inside of your masked area in two coats of Resene SpaceCote Low Sheen tinted to your darker chosen hue.

Artwork is another great way to create character in a space, but it doesn’t always need to be on canvas or paper. If you, a family member or a friend are handy with a jig saw, try cutting out some interesting shapes from a sheet of 5mm thick plywood.

You could choose to paint your shapes in one or more solid colours; however, if you would like the texture of the wood’s natural grain to show through, you could choose to use a wood stain to colour them instead. We alternated Resene Colorwood Meranti and Resene Colorwood Dark Oak to stain our four shapes.

Paint
Walls in Resene Double Spanish White with borders in Resene Eighth Spanish White, floor in Resene Quarter Spanish White, timber shapes stained in Resene Colorwood Meranti and Resene Colorwood Dark Oak, cabinet in Resene Quarter Spanish White, plant pot in Resene Double Spanish White, deco table in Resene Clay Creek.

Accessories
Fuzzy chair from David Shore, golden knot from Freedom, wooden birds and turned wooden bowl from Good Form, plant pot stand from Cane Collective.

Project by Melle van Sambeek
Images by Bryce Carleton