Home décor starts with walls

“The walls,the ceilings and the floors are the empty spaces you must attack first,and then bring in the furniture. But most people do the reverse. Quite often,you enter a home and you like the furniture but you feel there’s something amiss,as nothing has been done about the walls,the floors,or the ceilings. If the canvas isn’t good,the painting won’t be good either,” she says.

While doing up your walls,the first thing you must factor in is the size of your rooms. Milind Pai,a Mumbai-based architect and interior designer,says in a city like Mumbai,where flat sizes are small,there’s not much one can do about walls.

“If the walls of small flats are coloured or have heavy textures,they’ll have the effect of making the room look smaller and darker. In such flats,a wall should have a simple,basic paint and a neutral shade like white,beige or cream,to make the room look brighter and let the focus be on the furniture,” he says.

Even for large homes,a neutral shades work best,as “it doesn’t restrict your choice of furniture,or other accessories,” says Gupta. There is,however,one wall among the four walls of a room that one can pamper – the “feature wall” or “strategic wall”,in interior design parlance. “Its location is strategic,such as behind the couch,or the bed,or the one behind the length part of the dining table. This is the wall you can treat with wooden panels,wallpapers,screen,inlay motifs,paintings,shelves,etc,” says Gupta.

The treatment of the feature or strategic wall depends on the utility and occupancy of a room. In the children’s room,you can paint it a lime-green or a buttercup-yellow,or a fluorescent shade. In the adults’ bedroom,paint it a “soothing and cool” shade of brown or grey,“which helps you relax”. Avoid bright colours in the study room,suggests Pai,“as they could be distracting”.

The strategic wall could also be covered with a wallpaper,the choice of which,again,differs from room to room — cartoons for toddlers’ room,or pink flowers for a teenage girl’s room,recommends Pai. The wallpaper of the living room,he suggests,should be in accordance with the overall theme of the space. “If you have classical/ethnic furniture,go for rich,ornate wallpapers with silver and gold colourings,” he suggests.

The thumb rule for deciding on the paint or the wallpaper,says Gupta,is that it should “match the colour of the furniture and the floor”. “It should never be Rome and Tokyo. Go for a tone-on-tone,layered look,” she says. For example,if your bedroom has cream flooring,and dark wood furniture,a silver wallpaper would look good,she says. But don’t contrasts work at all? “They do. For instance,if you have white furniture,white walls and wooden flooring,a red wallpaper would look fabulous. But contrasts are a risky proposition,” she says.

Wall accessories,too,differ across rooms. According to Pai,the living room should be decorated with accessories that reflects your choice of art. “If you have a modern home,a living room wall decorated with glass and steel artworks,or a fabric mounted on a wooden base,or a stainless steel artpiece works well,” he suggests.

Avoid family photographs in the living room. They need a more private and casual space,like the TV lounge,for instance. You can also have shelves on the walls,which you can stack with artefacts in the living room,books in the study room and toys in the children’s room,advises Gupta.

In decorating your walls though,warn designers,don’t forget the main function of a wall — “balancing”. The wall balances out other items in the room. If you want your room to look big,you can put a mirror,which reflects and makes your room look double its actual size. If you have heavy furniture,avoid cluttering your wall too much. But if you have plain,simple furniture,you can have a wallpaper or a big painting on your wall. The wall is the background. Make it pretty,but don’t let it overwhelm the foreground,” says Pai.

It’s time we didn’t talk to walls,rather the walls talked to us with their colours and artwork. But don’t let them chat us down.