The Best Home Painting Ideas to Brighten Your House
There’s one surefire way to spruce up your home, brighten up any room, and add value that’s relatively easy and affordable: a fresh coat of paint. These home painting ideas will help to transform your home.
A fresh coat of paint–in the right shade, of course–can brighten up the darkest of rooms and bring life to a previously boring and dull space. The trick is knowing what shade to use in order to ensure the most beneficial effect.
Consider the following popular home painting ideas when planning your next painting project.
8 Home Painting Ideas for a Brighter Home
Painting your home can truly transform your space into a lighter, brighter area. In order to achieve this, consider these 9 home painting ideas:
- Use white
- Paint your ceilings
- Use bold colors with soft accents
- Paint trim and moulding white
- Consider satin
- Keep in mind natural lighting
- Use multiple colors in one room
- Consider color schemes
Below, we discuss each of these popular home painting ideas in detail.
1. Don’t Underestimate White
Though it’s not the most exciting shade to add or paint over, never underestimate the power of a crisp, white coat of paint with a satin finish. You’ll likely need multiple coats, especially if you’re painting over a dark color. But the bright and clean look this brings to a room is incomparable with any other shade.
It also allows you to take advantage of various decorating options. Anything goes with white! You’ll also be able to employ decor variations based on seasons, meaning you’re not committed to one color scheme permanently.
2. …And Don’t Forget Your Ceilings
Many rooms already have white ceilings, but it’s worth reiterating that no matter what color your walls are, painting your ceilings white will make the room seem bigger and less cramped.
White on walls and ceilings will also reflect any natural light that comes into the room, adding to its vibrancy.
Clearly, white is an excellent color when you’re wanting to brighten things up a bit. Going off this, one of the newest home painting ideas is to paint your ceiling a bright or warm color, such as yellow or green, while keeping the walls white.
3. Bold Colors with Softer Accents
But you shouldn’t feel limited to just using white if you’re wanting to brighten up your home in terms of paint colors. In fact, you can actually get by with using several different shades of dark colors when paired properly with accenting furniture and decor items.
Designers often recommend cool colors when wanting to keep a space bright and looking bigger than it really is. Dark or slate blues are a great choice.
You can balance this out with lighter furniture; dark blue walls with a beige or almost-white couch and loveseat employ dark wall coloring but it isn’t overpowering, thanks to light colored furniture balancing out the palette.
Other possible cool colors would include dark greens, subtle purples, and blues.
Of course, if your ceiling paint is prone to cracking, it’s important to fix those underlying issues first.
4. Paint Trim and Moulding White
Even if you have a dark wall color, adding a crisp, white, satin paint coat to your trim and crown moulding can really brighten up a room and add a beautiful accent to any space. This can both soften the dark color on the wall and also draw attention to the moulding, which will reduce the power of the dark color.
Satin paint can also reflect natural light beautifully.
If you’re using a light shade or white, consider painting the moulding the same color as the walls themselves. This will create continuity across the wall space.
5. Consider a Satin Finish
There are many, many different styles and types of paint to choose from. Consider satin rather than finishes like matte or other more dull, less shiny types. Satin will look shiny when dried, and will, as stated previously, reflect natural light much better than other types of paint.
6. Consider Natural Lighting When Choosing a Color
The amount of natural light that a room gets should definitely play a major role when considering what shade to go with. If a room gets plenty of natural light, you’ll likely be okay choosing a dark color.
However, if natural light is minimal, a darker color will make a dark room seem even darker. So opt for a lighter color if you don’t have the benefit of large picture windows or at least some significant window space.
7. Multiple Colors in One Room
One of the most popular, and new, home painting ideas is to paint one wall one color, and another opposite wall a different color.
This can create contrast and a really unique look but must be done well in order to avoid just plain awkward situations in addition to reducing the apparent size of a room. This works well when one color is dark and the other is much lighter–like a dark blue and a pale or slate blue–and usually works best with cool colors. Use this method sparingly, as if it’s used in every room of the house it will lose its effect.
8. Make a Small Space Look Larger
Considering paint schemes that balance out a room can brighten up a space and also make small spaces appear larger. This is especially helpful if you’re trying to open up a small bedroom, office, or living room space that requires a lot of furniture to be functional.
More Home Painting Ideas and Tips
- For a wall color to work well with your furniture, consider the patterns you have on a couch or chair and pull shades from that pattern. You can go with either bold shades or beiges and whites to bring the whole room together.
- Designers recommend always using light colors for the ceiling, whether that is pure white or an eggshell or champagne. The darkest colors should be relegated to the floor, if anywhere, with a happy medium found on the walls.
- Bathrooms look especially great in monochrome; the latest trend is to employ many varying shades of the same color, especially in small spaces. You can do this with gray/black/white, or even a warm color like blue or green.
Conclusion
These home painting ideas are the easiest and perhaps most affordable way to spruce up your home and brighten up any room.
From emphasizing the power of a white coat of paint to keeping cool colors working together with light accents to using a satin finish, there are a number of painting trends out there to help you make the best decision for your home, and ensure you will have a beautiful, brightened living space when you’re finished.