Apply These 6 Awesome Ideas to Brighten up Drab Walls

Looking to brighten up your rooms, but a new paint color doesn’t seem enough? The good news is that walls are one of the easiest home renovation projects to tackle.

Many of these ideas can be adjusted to fit any budget and personal style. Now, on to the 6 home decor ideas to liven up your walls.

1. Murals

Wall murals definitely can change a room’s atmosphere and show off your particular style.

Murals can be purchased as wallpaper or peel and stick, painted by a professional or all by yourself. They can cover the whole wall, a portion, or just a corner. In any case, a wall mural becomes the focal point of the room.

Some excellent wall mural ideas include:

• Nature: Bring the great outdoors inside by displaying a forest, jungle, mountains, and more.
• Landscapes: Make your room a beach theme, a rustic cabin, or a cityscape.
• Sports: Flaunt your favorite team, a stadium, an athlete, or a sport you play.
• Art: Display a large version of your favorite art pieces, such as VanGogh’s “Starry Night,” abstract designs, or even pop art.
• Architectural: Showing off your favorite landmark, city, or street scene.
• Whether you choose a sizeable eye-popping design or a subtle corner layout, a wall mural can be a great conversation starter.

2. Unique Photo Collages

Change things up and veer away from the typical photo gallery, the kind where all your photos are lined up perfectly.

Why not try these unique photo collage ideas such as:

• Mixed Media: Integrate your photos with framed inspirational quotes, an art piece, a wreath, and other mixed media with a matching theme.
• Arrange into Shapes: Instead of uniformed lined photo frames, arrange them into unique shapes such as a heart, moon, geometric shape, and more.
• Diversify Frames: Instead of having matching frames, have different photos in different shapes, sizes, and color frames.
• Hang them Differently: Forgo the frames and clip them onto a wire, on a garland, or even attached to light strands.
• Decoupage: Print off your favorite photos and decoupage them directly onto the wall’s surface for a unique display.

Showing off your family, your pets, and your treasure trove of memories should be displayed as brightly as your passion and love for them.

3. Painting Effects

If you’re looking for a more inconspicuous way to highlight your walls, adding a painting effect will do the job. Painting effects adds a subtle difference to a wall color that’s just enough to make your room unique.

A number of painting effects comprise of using:

• Damask: Layering clear glaze over flat paint, you can try stripes, swirls, or a repeating pattern.
• Wash: Go over your painted wall with the same color or a similar color that’s been thinned out to give a washed-out effect.
• Patterning: Apply a patterning effect, either with a sponge, rag, dry brush, or a special roller.
• Drips: This is a fun effect where the paint is dripped onto the wall with syringes to create a drip down effect.
• Plaster: Dye some plaster the same color as your wall and create textured strokes across your wall for a unique texture.

Choosing to do paint effects is a budget-friendly and user-friendly option for decorating your walls.

4. Lights

A different way to vamp up a bare wall is to add various forms of lighting. Make a light fixture a focal point of your room instead.

Lights can be anything from:

• Sconces: Add a pair of sconces around your favorite painting or photo.
• Neon Light: Add a unique look with a neon light available in any theme.
• String Lights: Arrange string lights in a variety of ways such as straight down over curtains, around a photo frame, shaped into a favorite word, and into garlands.
• Track Lighting: Arrange track lighting to focus on a photo, an art piece, or even onto a bare wall.
• Special Effects: Buy a special effect light or lamp shade that will cast a pattern onto the wall for a unique ambient light feature.

Lighting effects can be selected to be as unique as you are and can be bright or as quiet as your personality. 

5. Collections Showcase

Do you have a unique collection you collected over the years? Display them proudly for a dominant visual effect.

Collections to showcase can be: 

• In colorful baskets: Display a variety of colorful baskets, either empty or filled with plants, your favorite items, or more collections.
• Plates: Arrange a variety of collector plates in different sizes, arrangements, and even in different hanging brackets.
• In shadow boxes: Feature your smaller collectibles in a mixture of shadow boxes in different sizes and shapes.
• On shelves and crates: Deviate from the traditionally aligned shelving and mix things up by staggering or grouping shelving for a stunning display of your larger collection pieces.
• Point Blank: Forget the shelving and frames and apply your collection directly to the wall with tape, adhesive, or hidden hooks.

Show off your collections as expressively as you are.

6. The Ceiling

Lastly, instead of decorating your walls, why not make your ceiling the focal point of your room? A decorated ceiling will draw the eyes upwards and away from your plain walls.

A stylized ceiling can be decorated with:

• Borders: Adding wood trim borders in any design is a simple and attractive way to decorate any ceiling.
• Wood: Add wood planks, beams, or lattice for a rustic look.
• Paint Effects: Paint your ceiling a darker color with its own paint effects for a dramatic flair.
• Tiles: Ceiling tiles come in a variety of designs to complement your decor and are available in a variety of materials, such as metal or plastic.
• Fabric: Apply fabric, either directly on or in a stylized pattern, for a creative eye-popping flair to your home style.

Final Thoughts

As you’ve read, walls no longer need to be dull and simple any longer. Gone are the days of traditional wall decor and enter the new expressive creativity of “anything goes” to match your personality and lifestyle.