The decoration of older homes, especially their walls, is a challenge. The finishes of these walls are bumpy and imperfect, which often leave the homeowners perplexed when thinking about their cosmetic improvements.
If you are in confusion, follow these design and décor ideas to enhance your old walls. They will either decorate or camouflage the old surface and improve their appearance significantly.
Use a Tapestry
Sometimes, it’s not possible to completely change the texture of old walls. You may don’t have the budget required for their enhancements. The easiest solution to overcome the problem is to use a tapestry.
A woven tapestry on the wall will cover the latter’s imperfections and rather draw the attention to its artistic and aesthetic value. It can be a nice alternative to framed art and an excellent way to add color and texture to a room. You can find old tapestries in the flea market or make use of a colorful Damascus rug!
Install Shelving
It’s a clever way because you will not only hide the imperfect wall finishes but also create new storage space for all those books, little curios, and collections that would otherwise create clutter somewhere else.
Some wooden shelves look really artistic, but you can opt for box shelves too that can be pretty dramatic depending on their shapes and style of arrangement. You can use them for storing pretty much anything – from small plants to family pictures or small collectibles.
Dramatic Details with Wainscoting
Flat panel wainscoting design can do wonder to elevate the appearance of walls as well as an entire room. This eye-catching architectural feature has a charm of its own. Besides, you can pair it up with any style – either to decorate a modern condo or to uplift a cottage style home. In fact, covering a majority of your walls with wainscoting adds warmth to the place and makes it more welcoming.
Budget-Friendly Stencils
Stencils are reusable, comparatively inexpensive, and give you the freedom of doing endless experiments with colors and patterns! Can you think of a more suitable option?
Apply a damask-inspired pattern on the old walls of your bedroom or bathroom. You have to implement them in a vertical fashion, and in a row. You can use bold colors to make a statement, but the combination of muted and neutral colors will be more eye soothing as well as add a touch of elegance. If the wall is neutral such as tan or cream, use white or gray as the stencil paint color to give a soft finish. Such a color palette will also conceal the rough lath and plaster on the walls.
Wallpaper may seem to be a less bothersome option, but their high price tags are really off-putting. Stencils offer the same beautiful appearance for pennies.
Use Old Sacks
Visit a nearby dairy or crop farm and ask them if they have old sacks that they are going to burn or dump. Salvage them, clean if there’s any dirt, and then apply them on the walls. Use wallpaper paste to secure them on the surface. A mixture of the images, logos, and texts printed on those bags will create a lovely backdrop in your room.
Decorative Mirrors
Mirrors can add visual depth to a room, so a small space appears to look bigger. However, decorative mirrors can also be a good way to draw the attention from the uneven surface of the old walls.
You don’t need to go for an oversize one in this case. Instead, a group of small mirrors in different sizes but similar frames will create a coordinating, beautiful look. Go for it and see how your guests become eloquent in their praise without even noticing the wall behind them.
You don’t need to be extravagant or use any exotic material for the makeover of your old walls. Apply these ideas, and the results will be beautiful walls that can complement any décor style.
