There are lots of things a person can do with paint. There are so many illusions, for example, that can be created on walls and floors and ceilings with a few coats of paint. Paint can give the appearance of depth and texture where there is none. Paint can make a wall feel more complex than it is. And paint can hide features you don’t like, from wood paneling to old floors to ugly brick.

I love paint! Almost all of my room designs have started with an inspirational paint chip because I love to play around with colors. And play around I do! The best part about using paint (as opposed to wallpaper or wainscoting) is that it’s easy to slap on a few coats of paint when you need a change. There are so many different colors and ways to use it. Spray it on, stencil it on, sponge it on… stripe it on? One thing I am not sold on is the whole one horizontal stripe of color in the middle of a wall.

To me, it feels artificial and heavy, like it’s in danger of sliding off the wall. Or I expect there to be an arrow on the end of the stripe if I follow it long enough. I like a lot of things, but I don’ think I’m a fan of the thick single wall stripe. How about you? Love it or hate it?

First came chalkboard paint, then came whiteboard (dry erase) paint. And I think both are super cool! We already put up an amazing magnetic chalkboard in my daughter’s room – and I’m almost all set to do the surface of our kitchen table in chalkboard. Next stop, whiteboard in the office!

But it never even occurred to me to use dry erase paint on surfaces! You can get a whiteboard table from Powells, for example. Or you do what someone did in the space pictured above and cover your boring kitchen counter tops with whiteboard paint. While I don’t know how the finish would, ahem, stick around, I can say for sure that it would be fun while it lasted!

The short answer: Just do it.

The Beard was initially skeptical when I suggested that we paint our kitchen purple, and a fairly intense purple, at that. But he’s gotten used to it, and when he happened to see some photos of how our kitchen used to look, he couldn’t believe how much the purple improved the space. Literally, I get nothing but compliments – though sometimes these are paired with comments like “I really didn’t think it would be as great as it is.” Uh, thanks?

And hey, if you told me you were thinking of painting your kitchen cabinets a pretty wild shade of pink, I might balk just a little bit. But if this kitchen from Sweden.se is any indication, painting a kitchen pink can be totally delicious. While there are some projects that don’t lend themselves to a quick do-over, why not go bright and bold when it comes to paint? You can always repaint the following weekend!

Ah, chalkboard paint. I love you so – in fact, I’d go so far to suggest you’re one of the most awesome inventions ever. I mean, come on. Chalkboard paint! Make anything into a chalkboard, and it comes in different colors, too. But, my gosh, are you fickle when you’re not applied to a perfectly smooth surface.

That’s right, my dear readers. If you love the thought of a DIY chalkboard do be prepared to brush on about a bazillion coats and sand thoroughly between each one. If it’s something like a chalkboard table you’re after, that’s one thing because most tables start out relatively smooth. But a chalkboard in the kitchen or in a kid’s room on a normal wall? That’s what we did, and what we thought would be a simple couple-of-coats job turned into a two-day, all day project for The Beard while the baby and I were in Florida.

Oh, things turned out all right – the baby’s room now has an almost floor-to-ceiling framed chalkboard (magnetic, even) that she’s going to love when she’s older. But ask my husband and he’ll tell you that it was a real pain in the rear.

So how do you get a DIY chalkboard like a pro? Easy: Chalkboard decals. There’s no painting, no sanding. You don’t have to worry about taping off an area, and getting cool shapes like fruits, elephants, and such becomes a whole lot easier when you’re dealing with a peel and stick panel. If I was doing the whole project over again, that’s what I’d go for, since the decals aren’t that much more expensive than a can of the paint. The only bonus to painting? A lot of leftover paint, so now I can find smooth things to chalkboardize!

Above: Word bubble decals from Scribble

One of my favorite bits from the movie Funny Face is the Think Pink! routine. And seriously, I’m a huge sucker for pink, more so now since having a girl baby. Not, mind that I set out to pinkify her life – but everyone else in existence apparently did. Now that I’m finally working on her room, I’ve chosen a deep pink, black, and white scheme, mainly because it’s solid, girly palette without being immature, and as a combo, it never has been terribly unpopular in my lifetime so it won’t look ridiculously out of date five or ten years from now. Pink can be babyish, of course, but it doesn’t have to be.

Here are seven sweet examples of how one might use pink inside and outside of one’s home, with not a single nursery in sight:

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Painted floors are a dime a dozen (okay, not really – not at all, in fact) but purple painted floors are relatively rare. So much so that when I wanted to find a pretty picture of a purple painted floor my options were worse than limited.

So instead may I present a real purple painted floor. One that is not making its grand debut in a magazine, but rather one that started out as a kind of crummy wood floor topped by wall-to-wall carpeting. You can read a short tale of this purple painted floor’s evolution. If you’re considering embarking upon a floor-centric DIY project, it may just inspire you to take some risks!

That’s right, I’m talking about whitewash. Who would think that slaked lime and chalk could make such a lovely paint for walls, ceilings, floors, exteriors, and furniture? And while whitewash can look delicate, it’s actually quite durable due to the fact that it cures through a reaction with carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to form calcium carbonate in the form of calcite – a reaction known as carbonatation. And if that’s not enough to sell you on whitewash, it’s also mildly anti-bacterial and anti-microbial! (Er, though authentic, traditional whitewash will rub off on clothing, so I recommend using a more modern version of the stuff.) Isn’t it pretty?

(Images via: 1,3,4,5,6)

When it comes to plain ceilings (i.e., not tin, decorative plaster, or good-looking wood), you have a limited number of options. You can paint them ivory or cream or eggshell, or whatever incarnation of white looks best with your chosen paint color scheme. You can add embellishments like vinyl wall stickers, though that sort of thing can look a bit juvenile and typically works best in kids’ rooms. Or you can go against the grain and paint your ceilings a color other than white.

People are generally afraid to do this. They’re used to painting walls, so when they think of adding color to a room, their thoughts turn to vertical surfaces. It’s also more difficult to coordinate furnishings with accessories with floor colors with wall colors with ceiling colors, omg, but really, it’s not impossible. It’s even easier when you start with a nice neutral for your walls. One option involves painting all your walls the same color, then varying the color of your ceilings by room. Or you can go all-out and have coordinating wall and ceiling colors that differ entirely from room to room.

The best way to approaching painting ceilings is to look for inspiration (some of which I have thoughtfully provided below) then play with color combos using Paint or Photoshop or The Gimp until you find something that works. You can even paint a small test area on one wall and an adjoining bit of ceiling just like you should do with the wall only so you see how the colors influence each other and the room in different sorts of light. To begin, check these out. And if you’ve painted your ceilings a color other than white, tell us about it!

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