Reinventing the Basics: Purdy Wallcoverings

Changing wallcoverings or paint can always be a quick and easy way to do a little redecorating to reinvent the basic white wall. We stumbled across this blog, Purdy Wallcovering, and had to share a few concepts that would be simple to pull off and very cost efficient to create. Enjoy!

Our favorite is this great statement panel running down one corner of a room:

Simple stripes are so basic, yet so elegant:

A vivid coat of bold paint brings a bathroom to life:

Touches of natural elements bring a softened statement to decor:

Tonal patterns warm up modern spaces:

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Paint question

Laura wrote us an email with the following:

"I was inspired by this entry to ask you a question. There is a lot of discussion about the perfect white paint, but I have yet to come across a discussion about the perfect off white/cream/beige paint. I know people use it because I see it every so often in Domino. One of the things that I love about Domino so much, is that they talk about paint colors. White is discussed a lot. But, I've noticed that if there is a picture of a space with an off white/cream colored wall, the paint is hardly ever mentioned. If the perfect white is so often hotly debated, why not the perfect off white?

I am really looking for the perfect color for a room in my house that I am working on. Just to prepare you for the picture, we had a terrible water pipe leak and as a result we had to tear down most of the left wall and some of the ceiling. You can see in the picture the new dry wall. Also, our windows are very special. They were made from old telephone pole wood. Every window in the house is some variation of this window. I don't plan on painting the wood or the baseboards. I've already painted one bedroom a robin's egg blue that looks beautiful. I plan on painting the master a light gray (right now it is a horrible yellow). But this room I wanted to do in a cream color. Hopefully, this will be a child's room someday and I want a nice neutral background that will be able to take on blue or pink accent colors. As you can see in the picture the color that the previous owner's of the house used is a beige, but it has a lot of yellow in it, which I don't particularly like.

Here is the room. I apologize in advance for the chaos, but I am still working on the drywall:"


What a beautiful window - and a whole house of them?!?! I am very jealous. I explained to Laura that I had absolutely no experience with off-white, while I always stick to pure white or light grey when I'm looking for a neutral paint colour. My suggestion for a non-off-white would be a light grey as I think it would be really pretty with blue or pink. But I thought I'd throw this out to you guys if anyone has any paint colour suggestions for Laura. What's your favourite off-white or beige? Read More..

To paint or not to paint?

Lee-Anne from Toronto wrote us looking for help: "I love your website and thought you might be able to help me with my design dilemma. We recently bought a home that was built in the 40’s that’s a bit of a fixer upper. It has wooden baseboards throughout and lots of wood trim. I am still hanging onto my old furniture but I am sooooo ready to redo this room!! I want to modernise it and add colour and texture!! My dilemma is that in almost all of the design pictures that I see, the baseboards are painted white. My sister has told me in no uncertain terms that I am NOT to paint the wood trim in the house. I am looking for inspiration where people have kept the baseboards a natural colour." Below are some photos Lee-Anne included of her home.





At first I immediately thought "PAINT!!" but if I had such beautiful baseboards and trim, I would be terrified to paint it. So after looking at the photos, I would listen to your sister. But I would get out the paint can for a few things. I would paint out the fireplace (and lose that huge mirror above), the risers on the stairs and maybe the balusters (a photo below shows this). That's it. But keep your walls light and if you were going to get rugs, I'd keep those light too. Or you could go with a warm bright wall colour (see the yellow wall below). So the following are photos of spaces with unpainted trim (except the last one but imagine it's a dark wood).

Better Homes and Gardens	Better Homes and Gardens
Caroline Beaupère	Alexandra Rowley
Todd Oldham	Fox-Nahem
Canadian House & Home	The Selby

James Tse

Cookie Mag

Newsday

House to Home

Jonathan Adler

And to make your decision even harder Lee-Anne, here are some photos of spaces with painted trim, you know, to keep your options open. :)

Gridley + Graves

Thomas Jayne

Design*Sponge

Inspace Locations

Guido Barbagelata

Elle Decor

Nicholas Haslam

Studio Ilse

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Gorgeous green?...

I'm not sure why but I have a real thing for rich greens at the moment!?? I've never been a great lover, infact I was more of a great hater! I remember when David and I first got together that his hallway was painted the exact same green as in the kitchen pic above and I loathed it with a vengance, it wasn't long before I painted over the whole lot with white....it took about 5 coats of good paint to cover it!! Anyway I keep eyeing up the wall where the hob is in our kitchen thinking it would look great with the new white handle-less look of the units when they are done. Will I...won't I??....you will just have to wait and see but knowing me I will wait until David is away for the night and just do it!!!

Pics via Flickr , Primed for Design and Flickr

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Maison Objet: Custom Window Coverings at Linea

We are a sucker for anything custom, handmade and unique for the home. Really, it's something that makes us very happy, so when we found Linea making handmade, custom blinds that were more like artwork it made our day. They really offered something for every trend preference and taste level. The young, funky dragon, the menswear inspired stripe, the very feminine lacy pattern and the casual leafy pattern all answered very different styles. Our personal favorite? The leafy pattern that escapes the blinds and climbs the walls! We love the concept that blinds, artwork and wall design can all become one flowing idea...

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Sensory Experiences on the Walls and Under Your Feet

Walls and floors are, by definition, flat surfaces with a purpose. We paint them, carpet them, polish them and even glamorize them with art, rugs or technology. But, what if you experienced them with more of your senses?

Ceramic artist Karin Widnas' home in a artist village south west from Helsinki, Finland includes this wall of ceramic tiles designed by the artist herself, separating the living room and dining room with her own personal style.

These dramatic and glamorous walls with framed effects create a stunning backdrop for Pinch Design's newest furniture pieces.

The illusion of texture... Dramatic black walls with a touch of pin striping create a feeling of textiles, menswear and drama in this room by Perscentrum Wonen.

Do you feel like taking a barefoot walk through a mossy garden? This rug from Nguyen La Chanh gives you the feeling of soft moss underfoot with this sensory experience for the bath.

Where the walls and the floors meet, usually there is a clear definition of where one ends and the other begins. Not so with the Travel magazine Vague Bond's travel bookshop in Sweden. Here the pattern from the floor jumps to the walls, becoming dimensional to create the bookshelves to hold the product.

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Feeling Sensory Deprived

We live in a world of cold, flat surfaces. Computer keyboards, granite countertops, stainless steel and hard plastics greet our hands and fingertips all day long - we are sensory deprived. Adding an element of tactile, touchable elements to products is a growing trend satisfying the consumers need to utilize more of their senses.

This very cute, slightly shaggy desk chair from our coverage of Casa Foa in Buenos Aires is not only fun, it's a sensory experience on wheels perfect for the younger generation.

The addition of tactile elements as the supporting element to color, product or materials at the retail level allows the consumer to have a sensory experience with a brand. Plascon Paint's Living Concepts in Australia does a great job with their showroom - each color display features a tray of natural materials that give sensory support to the colors offered by Plascon.

What's in your drawers? L' Atelier A Francais gives you the illusion and dimension of overcrowded drawers, but the idea of cabinet doors with an intriguing texture or unique shape is something that could shake up kitchen design.

The Adidas store in Paris is willing to show you how they make shoes and they invite you to touch and feel the materials that will make up the products you will buy in their store.

To compliment the shaggy chair, we have the shaggy light fixture. While we're at the Maison et Objet show in Paris later this month we will have to make sure to catch Chiara Lampugnani's Atmosphere series of shaggy lighting. The lamps are made of optical fibres and LEDs on bases of ceramic and metal and are sure to be a sensory experience in both sight and touch.

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