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Discover your inner artist with a Bauhaus inspired wall mural for your lounge.

Bauhaus design is renowned for its unique aesthetic that inventively combines fine arts with arts and crafts, as well as its enduring influence on modern and contemporary art. When it first hit the design scene its aim was to bring back art into contact with everyday life. As a result, Bauhaus designs feature little ornamentation and instead focus on balanced forms, abstract shapes and bold blocks of colours.

The Bauhaus face quickly became synonymous with this style, historically being more graphic and symmetrical. This modern approach introduces curves to the iconic design and makes an understated statement in a gently coloured room. Luckily, because Bauhaus style favours abstract design, you don’t need to worry about getting the face exactly to proportion. Remember to practice on paper first and once you are happy with the lines and form, carefully trace it onto your wall with some white chalk. Use a Resene testpot brush to carefully paint over your chalk marks in your chosen Resene colour. If you’re unhappy with your first attempt, simply paint over it in your wall’s main colour, wait for it to fully dry, then try again.

In this room, a muted colour scheme allows the face to be the feature. The walls are painted in Resene Americano and Resene Quarter Surrender with the face painted in Resene Grey Chateau. Flooring in Resene Colorwood Mid Greywash contributes a grounding, darker element to the space. Because of how light the walls are in this look, you also have the option to take your floors even darker – try staining them in Resene Colorwood Dark Ebony, Resene Colorwood Deep Ebony or Resene Colorwood Pitch Black to really amplify the room’s lighter elements.

Bauhaus design principles focus on minimalism and form following function, meaning spaces that follow these guidelines are filled with simple but elegant geometric shapes designed to be functional but never boring. These are applied in this room where the plinth, painted in Resene Santas Grey, and the hourglass shaped side table provide symmetrical and geometrical points of interest. The beauty of adding a simple mural into this kind of minimalist space is that it gives the room a creative edge, lifting the space to something beyond its finite parts.

Because this style of design favours little ornamentation and balanced forms, a low-lying couch in a neutral, darker hue is the perfect choice. The vase holding the sculptural flax flowers brings in the Bauhaus principle that heroes true materials, with its organic paint design of Resene Americano with splatters in Resene Grey Chateau, reminiscent of concrete and clay.

Hues painted onto smaller accessories round out the colour scheme perfectly with the lamp base in Resene Santas Grey, short vase in Resene Sea Fog and jug vase in Resene Lola.

Introduce warmer hues with a bunch of dried blooms in wheaten tones and pull more of this colour through with cushions and throws in colours similar to ochre Resene Apache and cream Resene Astra. Add natural textures like a woven rug or rattan basket if you want an earthier palette. Gentle colours work particularly well in this look, so bring in an assortment of soft furnishings in neutrals like beige Resene Half Joss, Resene Napa and Resene Rice Cake for added comfort.

If you’ve opted for dark flooring, you can also add pops of black or slate blue similar in colour to Resene Nero or Resene Dark Night as a finishing touch. The versatility of a style that’s centred on balance and fewer things means you can achieve a striking composition with minimal effort.

Project by Kate Alexander. Images by Bryce Carleton. 2021