Sometimes choosing a neutral wall color and adding in color/personality to a room through fabric and accessories seems like the safe choice. And many times the idea of keeping the wall color neutral is seen as an easier option – when you want to change the look of the room you don’t have to repaint, just change your accessories.
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| Better Homes and Gardens |
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| Better Homes & Gardens |
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| Better Homes & Gardens |
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| House Beautiful – design by Amanda Nisbet |
Though, I can’t help but wonder – is a neutral wall color really a safer choice? Is it really easier to change the accessories rather than repainting the room? In many of the rooms above a design change may call for reupholstery. For those of us who lack reupholstery skills that can, depending on the cost of fabric and labor, be just as expensive as a brand new piece of furniture. Whereas a gallon of paint and an afternoon of work, can yield major room change results with very little expense – unless you decide to hire a painter.
If you’ve been following this blog for any length of time I think you already know what side of the fence I typically fall on – I’m a bold wall color girl – not all of the time but most of the time.
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| living room |
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| striped hallway |
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| master bedroom |
Even my neutrals aren’t really neutral.
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| breakfast room – in Macadamia by Martha Stewart |
I typically go for colorful walls and neutral furniture with easy to change accents (like pillows that I don’t typically invest too much money in). I tend to buy furniture with a “long haul” mentality so I stick to leather and other neutral upholstery fabrics. Many of the pieces we have – we’ve had for quite some time and they have worked in the design of many of our homes.
Our leather couch, for instance, is from Restoration Hardware.
We bought it on sale and have had it for years. It’s easy to care for, looks as good today as the day we bought it, and will probably live in our home for many, many more years to come. Even when the day comes that I tire of the red walls, the leather couch will stay. The same is true for our master bedroom furniture (pictured above) which we have had for many years and through 3 of our homes.
I marry the furniture – but just date the wall color. 😉 I have found for myself that this not only works for my design budget, but it also gives me the most design freedom.
While white and grey walls are having their day in the sun, bold colorful walls are making more of an appearance in the design world lately. And I for one am loving every delicious color.
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| Ballard Designs |
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| House Beautiful – design by Ann Wolf |
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| Better Homes and Gardens |
If neutral walls are really your thing – than rock them, own them and love them! But if you’ve chosen a neutral color out of fear or because you think it’s a safer choice, I challenge you to rethink your choice, let go of the fear – and paint a color on your walls! Don’t be afraid to go for a bold wall color in your home. After all, it’s just paint – it’s easy to change!
What are your thoughts on selecting wall colors?
Here’s a rundown of my house colors, and you can take a full house tour here.
you do bold wall color so well! i love your home! i marry my walls and date my furniture though, but i attribute that to my business! i used to be the opposite and our first house had bold wall colors!