Tag Archives | Walls

Industrial and Rustic Charm: Home Brick Wall Designs

I like seeing brick walls in a room. They add rustic charm, character, makes a space feel cozy, and becomes a decor feature in a space. But having an interior brick wall can be hit or miss, as it is better suited for some rooms vs others. Also having an entire wall in exposed brick can overwhelm the design and look of the room. So here are some design notes and advice when it comes to having an exposed brick wall in a room.

The Size of the Room

From the images in the mood board above you can see that almost all of the rooms that have exposed brick walls are not your average sized rooms. Exposed brick walls are better suited for rooms that are taller, double height or 1.5 in height, vs normal rooms. Having a brick wall is bit of a feature piece, and you need space to let it really shine.

A kitchen (1) or bathroom is a good space to have a brick wall, while double height bedrooms and living rooms will look good too.

Less is More – A Feature Piece in the Room

If you look at pictures that have brick walls in their natural color (red), you won’t find just plain solid brick walls. Having a wall just of red brick will be overbearing – and will dominate the look of the room. So you want to mix up the design of the wall.

One way to break up a brick wall is to have wainscoting, like the bottom black wainscoting in the bedroom in picture (2).

Use columns, or frame a portion of the brick wall texture. Mix up textures. Mix in plastered sections, or even fabric (3), to tone down the rustic nature of the brick wall.

Have some parts of the wall plastered and painted, leaving space for a little of the rustic exposed brick – just like in picture (4). You don’t want to over do it. Be selective, and place the brick wall in a feature area, such as a kitchen backsplash (5), the headboard wall of a bedroom, as a room divider (6), or as a background for shelving (7).

The Importance of Color

The color of the brick you use will really determine how the room looks and feels. Have a look at the kitchen in picture (8) – see how the wall blends with the decor and style of the room (from the floors to neutral colors of the table, cabinets, and chairs). Imagine how the space would look if it had your typical red brick – the color would dominate the space.

You can get bricks in all shades of red, from bright glossy reds, to more natural hues. You can also get concrete bricks too. You’re gong to want to use a color that blends well with the design of your room.

You can always paint over the bricks. Having the bricks painted over tones down the rustic nature of the design. White brick wall interiors are popular, as most walls are white – but you are left with a nice subtle brick texture just like in picture (9). Going with black creates a luxurious rustic style (10).

How to Build Your Own Interior Brick Wall

There are two main ways to create an interior brick wall design. If you have indoor brick walls, then you can strip back the plastering and expose the old bricks.

Another way is to use thin slices of brick to create a faux brick wall. You can get these thin slices as individual tiles pieces, that you attach DIY to the wall. Or you can get large panels that interlock to create panelling for the wall.

Other Design Notes and Ideas

If you do have a decorative brick wall in one of your rooms, highlight this decor feature by fitting down lights to the ceiling – pointing towards the bricks
Don’t forget you can play with patterns. Check out the herringbone fireplace design in picture (11)
By using exposed bricks as a design feature in a room, you are creating a rustic/industrial/natural design style. So the other decor pieces in the room should blend well together with this style.

Image Credits: 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11

Other rustic decor mood boards:

June 20, 2014 in Decor

Style Guide: Bathroom Wall Decor Ideas

When it comes to decorative ideas for the bathroom walls there are simple ideas like putting up a large painting, artwork, photographs or prints as seen in picture (1). Or if you are into the more vintage style, wall decor ideas include skeleton keys, subway art signs, bird cages, and letters (Vintage Wall Decor Ideas: From Bird Cages to Designing with Frames). But I believe that the best bathroom wall decor ideas are more structural, functional, and part of the bathroom itself. For example how you paint the walls adds to the decor of the room.

Wall Texture: When it comes to painting the walls you’ll have a ton of unique choices in creating textures. Using a dry brush can create a linen texture (2) while a sponge can be used for a more marble look (3). Check out my post here for more ideas and painting techniques. Another idea would be to the paint the wall a solid color, then hang up a framed piece of decorative wallpaper that really stands out.

Mirror Styling: The bathroom mirror itself can act as a wall decor piece. In most bathrooms this is a large wall fixture. You can easily restyle the look of the bathroom just by changing the frame of the mirror. Have a look here for pictures and ideas: Designer Bathroom Mirror Ideas: From Lighting to Framing. A designer touch would be to add back lighting behind the mirror. This will add a nice soft glow in the room, and elegantly frame the mirror.

Wainscoting: Then there is wainscoting or using beadboard. This is when a panel is fitted to the lower part, breaking up a flat wall – just like in pictures (4) and (5).

Storage: The things you need to store like extra towels and cotton swabs, can be arranged to be used as decorations. Keeping them in glass jars or wicker hampers creates a nice look. These can be put up on open shelves or wall storage and cabinets with glass doors. For pictures and ideas on this take a look at this post: Design Guide: Bathroom Shelving Ideas Mood Board.

Other Unique Ideas: A few other decorative wall ideas include your window treatment, plants, and even lighting. How you do up your windows will play a role in the style and design of the bathroom. Curtains are more traditional, while the barn style windows in picture (6) are more rustic. Bamboo blinds work well for a more tropical spa like feel. Having plants and flowers in the bathroom keeps the space feeling fresh. Most people will usually just use a vase and put them on the vanity. Picture (7) shows a more unique approach with plants hanging in wall planters in the bathroom. One last idea is to use mini chandelier lights just like in picture (8). The walls in that picture have an elegant pattern from the reflection of the chandelier’s glass. 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8

May 23, 2013 in Bathroom, Decor

Wallpaper Ideas for the Bedroom

Here are just a few design tips to consider when looking at bedroom wallpaper ideas and designs:

Design Choices: There are two different choices when it comes to choosing a wallpaper design. There are the simple styles (like the grass cloth wallpaper in picture (1)) and the more decorative styles (photos (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) & (7)). Simple designs, like a linen texture or plain colors with textures, are timeless and easier to decorate the rest of the room with. While more decorative designs, stencil and graphic type, are more dynamic and can be less timeless.

Placement: To keep the room from being overpowered by a decorative wallpaper, most master bedrooms will just have the wall where the headboard is up against wallpapered. While the rest of the walls will be painted in a solid color. You can even create your own custom wall mounted headboard with the wallpaper and a DIY border (8).

Decorative Elements: Borders can be used to break up a flat and large wall. These are strips of wallpaper that can be fitted around the middle of the wall or even near the top. How about wallpapering the ceiling as seen in pictures (9) & (10)?

For The Kids: For the kids bedroom, there is a whole range of themed wallpapers to go with: dinosaurs, Tinkerbell, cowboys, ponies, anything from Pixar. You can get the whole wall covered, or use borders to add just a splash of fantasy (11). Another idea is to stick up decals. You can even find glow in the dark wallpaper – or just use glow in the dark stickers and decals of stars, moon and planets. Check out our posts here for more bedroom decorating ideas for kids: Cool Bedroom Ideas for Kids, Cute Kids Bedroom Lighting Ideas.

DIY Ideas: You can find embossed wallpaper that has a 3D effect (12). This type of wallpaper can be painted over with any color you like (13), or it can be left white. It doesn’t have to just be used on the walls. It can be used to create a pattered headboard.

Using Paint: Wallpaper can be an expensive decorative element. An alternative is to use textured painting techniques – which can be quite simple to do. Brushing over wet paint with a dry brush can create a modern linen effect, while using a sponge can create a marble texture. Have a look at our post here for the different techniques and pictures: Textured Wall Painting Ideas: From Faux Wood to Linen Effects. 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11/12/13

How to Create a Romantic Bedroom: Pictures, Designs and Decor Ideas

March 8, 2013 in Bedroom

Textured Wall Painting Ideas: From Faux Wood to Linen Effects

There are so many different wall painting techniques that you’ll never have to settle for a one colored wall again. Using a combination of paint and glazes you can create a range of different textures, from linen to marble. The main tools used for these techniques are quite basic: paint roller, painters tape, painting combs, sponges, brushes, even steel wool – depending on the style and texture you want. Here are some ideas on how you can paint your walls and the basic tools you’ll need.

Fabric: Linen is a great texture to have painted on a wall, just like the walls in pictures (1) & (2). Ways to create this effect include dragging a dry brush over wet paint. You can even have multiple colors by having a base paint, say yellow, let it dry and then paint over it with red – while that is still wet drag a dry brush over it. This creates grooves that show the yellow paint underneath (3).

Frottage: This is a cool and creative looking texture (4) (5). What you need here is a lint free rag. Either paint the wall then sponge the wet paint with a rag, or dip the rag in paint and apply it to the wall (6) (this is called ragging).

Silk & Weaves: Steel wool can be used to create a silk effect (7) while brushes and combs create a weave texture (8).

Marble and Faux Stone Effects: There are a few ways to create a stone like texture. There is sponging (9), using a cloth (10), or using a paint brush. Colorwashing is another way – this is when you use a combination of diluted paint hues to create a stone like effect.

Faux Bois (Fake Wood): Yup, you can even create a wooden looking wall with paint (11) – just by using a painting comb and a wood grain brush.

Decorative Wall Painting Ideas: Other decorative wall painting techniques include creating stripes using painter’s tape (12) or a stripe comb – and stenciling (13).

Looking Up: All of these ideas don’t just have to stay on the walls. Check out the ceiling in picture (14).

For a great guide on how to do most of these faux painting techniques for your home, have a look at this step by step guide by Martha Stewart here.

Martha Stewart has a complete kit that can get you going with most of these painting techniques and ideas – which can be found here. Some of the individual tools, like the linen brush, can be found on Amazon here. But most of these paint designs won’t need much more than some simple household items (sponge, rag). 1/2/3/4/5/6/7 & 8/9/10/11/12/13/14