Painting the house is no more a routine that just brings colour to a building. With new trends, it adds drama, visual effect and dimension to the rooms.
The Habitat takes a quick ride through various colours, styles and shades of paint that are in trend in the market.
Painting has evolved drastically with concepts taken out of themes such as textiles, Nature, cartoons and traditional motifs and these bring life to a room.
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Coupled with special effects such as drizzle, crinkle, colour wash, and weaving, house owners get a break from the dull monotone of the regular, invariant paints. They can be achieved using simple tools such as rollers, sponge, brush, comb, spatula, and crinkle paper.
According to painting company consultants here, many of these effects involve a dual colour or a double layer concept. Sometimes the colour of the top coat is dependent on the base coat, making colour interactions a quintessential factor.
For a top coat to appear intense, one can surround it with a dull background. Generally, the background colours are toned down to highlight the accents. Use of dual colours can bring apprehensions over the cost factor. However, these effects are usually chosen only for one wall in a room and this accentuates the overall decor.
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Even preparation of painting surfaces have evolved over years. “Earlier, smoothening walls in traditional Chettinad houses would mean rubbing eggs over walls. Plaster of paris became the next most common patty used.
Contemporary houses make use of cement-based and acrylic wall smoothening for smooth and non-absorbent wall surfaces.” says architect Shayamala Balasubramaniyam.
While the choice before customers is vast now, it is important to take time to plan in advance. Colour choice depends on various factors like room dimension, height of the ceiling, sunlight or other light sources and the rest of the elements present in the room (furniture, carpets, curtains, etc.).
Using warm colours can make a room appear cosy while cool colours make them appear breezy and open, lighter colours make the ceiling appear taller. In addition, the purpose of the room and people who use the room matter.
Master bedrooms should have a touch of sophistication and the colour should have a calm appeal to the senses while the colour preference for living and dining rooms are generally those that signify power and love.
Children’s rooms can have colourful themes such as a train, circus tricks, deep sea fantasy world, Jurassic park and forest landscapes that add a sense of travel and adventure.
For a touch of tradition in puja/ music/ yoga rooms, companies offer a wide variety of stencil designs such as raga (musical notes), lamps, zari, mudra or one can opt for mural paintings or vernacular art works done with vegetable dyes that radiate an auspicious aura. Glitter lovers have an array of metallic colours to choose from.
An effective way to camouflage dirt and crack in walls will be to go for texture paints. It can also create decorative effects such as swirls or bubbles.
People looking for an extra something after the painting can always make use of false ceiling or art, landscape or window wallpapers to attain a sense of perfection.