Lockdown has left many of us, quite literally, staring at the walls. And as we’re adjusting to spending more time than ever inside, many of us are noticing just how blank and boring those walls are.
It seems like we’re not the only ones who have thought about giving our walls a refresh. Paint brands have seen a surge in sales since the beginning of the pandemic, with trade still going strong. Many of us are turning to home decor to help us combat boredom and even help improve wellbeing, and personally, we’re very much here for such a distraction.
While it’s all very well and good painting our walls, here at IDEAL we had a thought: we’ve seen the pandemic close so many museum and galleries, and while some have reopened, others are remaining shut for the foreseeable future. It’s time to bring the art and the intrigue indoors and into our homes. Whether you want to add wall stickers for a funny home aesthetic, build your own neon sign that make a statement, or collections of paintings to channel the elegance of an art gallery, here are 7 ways to add interest to your walls.
WALL MURALS
A blank wall is a blank canvas, as the interior design adage opines, rich with opportunity and unlimited possibilities. You are the artist of your home, and since no one is likely to be seeing it in the coming months, you can allow yourself to get creative.
Hear us out; we’ve all got a lot of pent up tension and feelings we need to work through right now, so why not unleash your inner artist via a wall mural? Evoking emotion and creating a mood…there’s a certain confidence in giving it a go, don’t you think?
Before you completely lose it and bring out your inner Jackson Pollock, do consider the style of the rest of your gaff. It’s still sensible to retain a certain sense of synergy.
WALL STICKERS
We’ve all heard of self adhesive wallpaper, but we bet you didn’t know that you can get wall art stickers too.
If you want to create a mural but you’re not blessed with great painting skills (art may be subjective but when you have to look at it every day, perhaps not….) then wall stickers could be the way forward. These easy to apply – and thankfully, easy to remove – stickers enable you to render a similar appearance to a mural or artistic wall, but with far more precision and far less hassle.
You could channel the work of graffiti by Banksy, sling up some inspirational quotes, stick a map on the wall to help you plan your next travel adventure, or even introduce wall stickers for a funny home aesthetic. We could all do worse than having our favourite joke on the wall right now; a laugh in troubled times is most welcome, after all.
GEOMETRIC, ABSTRACT WALLS
Taking inspiration from abstract expressionist artwork, this year we’re embracing the abstract wall trend. While geometric wallpaper has been around for a while now, this trend takes things a step further – painting bold geometric shapes and playful big blocks of colour onto the wall itself.
Painting geometric patterns in blocks of colour on your walls adds colour, texture, and vibrancy to a room, and has the canny ability to look both modern and transport you back to an era which interior designers love to label ‘vintage’.
SAY IT WITH STENCILS
Back in those heady, COVID free days of the 1990s, stencilling was a big trend. We want to bring it back. You can create a refreshing, rejuvenating and vibrant space with stencils, and the mixture of handmade aesthetic and precision they allow is totally unique.
You can choose to order the stencils online or it’s even possible to make your own, and the beauty of the process is that it can focus on a small part of the wall (perhaps a feature wall to add visual intrigue?) or encompass a more expansive project, evocative of the ornate, tiled walls of North Africa and the Middle East. Oh, the possibilities!
Take note that learning how to clean stencils is just as important as learning how to apply them on your wall, just in case they don’t turn out quite how you imagined.
A GALLERY WALL
We spoke about bringing the art gallery into your home and the simplest way to do this is with a gallery wall. Simply put, this is a collection of pictures or paintings, often hung in a fairly random, curated yet chaotic style. That said, this thing doesn’t have to be overly abstract or artistic; you can also create a gallery wall using family photographs for a more sentimental touch. How lovely.
NEON WALL ART
Neon lighting has been a huge trend this year and we love it. Once confined to late night bars and movie theatres, this trend adds a vibrant element of interest to any home. It can be charming, fun, quirky and most importantly, can add an element of fun to any room – and that’s something we all need right now.
CHALK WALL
When you were a kid, you’d get scolded for scribbling on the wall, but with a chalkboard wall you (and your children) can draw as much as you want, guilt and reprimand free! Chalkboard paint is a fun way to transform your room with hardly any effort and is ideal if you’ve got creative kids in the family, perfect for nurturing that artistic side, don’t you think?
Even if they’re not the most artistic, kids will love playing games of noughts and crosses or hangman on the chalkboard wall. Hey, you could even trick them into doing some math exercises if they get a thrill from drawing on the walls!