When it’s time to paint and choose colors, who thinks of interior doors? Not many people, that’s who. Up until my new bedroom project, the last time I even considered painting a door was when I painted my bedroom door black in high school to make a point about how deep and complex I was. I’m not saying you should run out and paint all your interior doors black – unless you really want to – but rather that your interior doors (and the insides of your exterior doors) don’t have to be whiiiiiite or creeeeaaaam or some color that falls in between white and cream and does not have any personality at all.

Painted interior doors aren’t for everyone, of course – consider them as your would an oil painting – it’s just something to think about. If you’ve considered it and it isn’t for you, okay. But if you’ve never even imagined what your home might look like with more colorful doors, it’s time to start dreaming! Here are some visuals to get you started:

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When decorating a house for the first time, the most common worry people have is whether or not their chosen colours will work together. Colour can affect the perceived shape and size of a room, and also the mood of those in it. Light colours make a room seem large and airy, whereas darker shades create a warm, intimate atmosphere. Whether you are painting, wallpapering or tiling a wall, below is a brief guide to how different colours work within the home.

Neutrals (black, white, grey and brown)

Neutral colours act as a base point for most decorators. Many people use all-neutral schemes, accentuated with flashes of colour to keep the room interesting. Black should be used sparingly to accent as it is too overpowering for full walls.

Red

Red is commonly used to stir up excitement in a room. It is thought to stimulate conversation and draw people together, with the living room thought to be the best place for a covering of red. It is too stimulating for the bedroom however, as red is seen to raise heart rate and speed-up respiration, neither of which are conducive to a good night’s sleep.

Blue

Whereas red raises blood pressure and speeds up respiration and heart rates, blue has the opposite effect. Its calming and relaxing qualities make it a perfect choice for bedrooms, although too much pastel blue can be too cold and unwelcoming. This can be combatted by pairing lighter shades with warmer-hued furnishings. Avoidance of darker blues is recommended, as they can make a space seem close and claustrophobic.

Purple

Often associated with sophistication and luxury in its darker hues, purple is greatly underused in many homes. Lighter shades such as lavender and lilac create a similar calming feel to blue, but without the cold connotations.

Green

Of all the colours available, green is believed to be the most restful. Unsurprisingly, it combines blues refreshing nature with the vibrancy of yellow, and is great for living rooms as it encourages both warmth and calm in equal measures.

Yellow

Due to its connotations with sunshine and summer, yellow is used in the home to lift rooms and promote happiness and cheeriness throughout. However, studies have shown it should not be the primary colour of the space. Babies are believed to cry more in predominantly yellow rooms, whilst feeling of frustration and anger can be stirred up in older people too by its overuse.

Orange

For similar reasons to yellow, orange is seen as an enthusiastic and energetic colour. It is probably too lively for use in relaxing zones, but exercise rooms or gyms could be boosted by the extra burst of energy

Why have I not tried painting a floor before now? Have any of you lovelies done it? How did it work out? Because we have, in our house, what is essentially an unfinished room. No walls, just beams. Sub-floor. Bare insulation. Windows that are older than my mom. And as much as it pains me to admit, we don’t have the means to finish it any time soon. Currently, it’s storage space, which is nothing to complain about. Unless, that is, your husband wants an office and you want a craft room and a little more family-oriented space. Point being, I can’t do anything about the room structurally, but I’ve been toying with the idea of sanding and painting the sub-floor and when I see these things… well, how could I not want to do it?

No trick, just stencils - heavy duty ones.

Think they did it freehand?

Yellow! *dies*

Am I totally crazy? Or could painting the sub-floor actually work? Why can’t I go out and buy a copy of this book and go to town?

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Today I’m loving the idea of painted silverware as easy DIY decor in the kitchen or dining room or wherever. Because sure, it’s a little hokey, but it certainly fits in with the themes of cooking, eating, and drinking. If you have blank walls in the food prep or food consumption zones of your home, you could do worse. Or not – what do you think of these?

Pretty pastels spoonage via suburban bohemia

Adore the color combo chosen by Crap I've Made

No time to DIY; find these at Ladies and Gentleman Studio

A fun flatware display from The Starter Home (with step-by-step instructions)

I should say first of all that this particular sunburst mirror was a cheap and relatively easy DIY project undertaken by Monica Ewing, Sunset Home senior designer. Okay, okay, so she’s got some home decorating cred that most of us don’t have, but the posted instructions seem pretty simple. And it obviously came out gorgeous, so there’s no reason we can’t try it.

Amazing what a little paint can do, no?

But this totally fun play on the traditional starburst mirror started out its life in plain white, and that wasn’t thrilling Ms. Ewing. A few coats of a trip of blues by Benjamin Moore, and this was the end result. Love it! Isn’t it cool what just a little paint (and a steady hand) can do?

Once upon a time, I helped a pair of friends paint an apartment in a cool industrial part of Brooklyn. This particular apartment had charming exposed brick in both bedrooms (along with less charming exposed pipes everywhere else) and I was absolutely stunned when said friends informed me that painting the walls white also meant painting the brick white. Quelle horreur! But looking back now, I think maybe I was in the wrong and they were in the right, because a painted brick wall in an interior space looks a lot fresher and more inviting than brick that looks like it belongs on the outside of a building. Don’t you think?

via UXUS Design

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Ceilings can be pretty boring. More often than not, they are your basic white, regardless of how colorful the rest of the space may be, and even bold decorators who have no qualms about painting with super bright or extra dark colors fear doing anything to the ceiling outside of putting a funky light fixture thereon. Painted ceilings are, in my experience, something one encounters only now and then, and usually only in pictures. As for decorated ceilings, those are even rarer outside of certain old churches and palaces. And it really is a shame.

Think you can’t rock a patterned ceiling because your house doesn’t feature large soaring ceilings plus lots and lots of space? Think again! Standard height ceilings in smaller rooms actually look better with a pattern than standard height ceilings in very large rooms. For example, how lovely is the room above, designed by David Cafiero and seen in Lonny? And while one’s first instinct – that patterned ceilings look best on high ceilings – a basic pattern like stripes or a dark border can look totally sweet on just about any ceiling when you use the right colors and coordinate with the right decor.

Not that there’s anything wrong with your basic white ceiling. In fact, if you’re planning on moving soon, I’d recommend waiting to experiment with patterned ceilings simply because renters or buyers may not want to tackle the job of painting over your experiment. While is still the most popular ceiling option, and doing the ceiling is the biggest pain in the butt when it comes to painting.

When I was searching for pictures of rooms painted with a single horizontal stripe for yesterday’s post, I came across this picture of a really standout staircase. Most of the time, when I think of standout staircases, my mind imagines strange staircases or staircases with storage built in. What I usually don’t think of is decorated staircases.

I love how the orange stripe really emphasizes the beautiful curve in the staircase and draws your eyes up and around, making you wonder just what’s going on upstairs. You’ll notice that the wall itself still has a standard angle in it – the stairs are curved, not the wall around it – but the stripe hides the discrepancy between the stairs and the wall. The stripe makes it look like one beautiful curve and I love how that works.