Ideas for Painting Interior Rooms

White may be traditional, but it's also blah.

Painting a neutral, pale color on the walls is the traditional way to go in interior decoration, but it's also pretty humdrum. Breathe some life into the interior of your home by livening up walls with a few fun and creative paint ideas and techniques.

Experiment with Color

Try stripes on the walls. Living Room image by Ritu Jethani from Fotolia.com

Try color combinations on walls and trim: taupe with blue, gray with peach, white with gold. Or paint each wall a different shade of the same color, going from lavender to dark purple, or from beige to brown. Or try bold, strong colors. Green walls make you calm. Yellow walls make you happy. Red walls are exciting. Don't be afraid of strong colors; they can be balanced with more muted tones in other room accents such as curtains and bedspreads.

Paint a Mural

Paint a mural on your wall. female artist image by Leticia Wilson from Fotolia.com

Murals transform your interior walls from boring to extraordinary. Extend this realistic, life-size painting around the room or put it on only an accent wall. Find a do-it-yourself mural kit or a local artist to paint it for you. You can paint an underwater seascape, a beach scene featuring seagulls and sandcastles, a city skyline, mountains, a lake, or whatever you like. Your only limit is your imagination.

Try a Faux Finish

Recreate the look of stucco or plaster. blue stucco image by jimcox40 from Fotolia.com

Faux finishing is a technique used to make a finished surface resemble another material. Mimic the look of polished marble, the graininess of wood, or the texture of plaster or stucco. You can find the paints needed to create these effects in any home improvement store. Besides creating an interesting finish for your walls, faux finishing is also great for hiding flaws, ideal if you have any damage to your walls.