No moulding? No matter!

Interesting architectural features like moulding, cornices can add a lot of character to a home.

They can be amplified by painting them in a colour that complements or contrasts with your wall, ceiling and floor colours or downplayed by painting everything in a single uniform hue.

If your home doesn’t have interesting architectural features and you can’t stomach the investment of the pricey materials and installation, you can create a similar effect through contrast simply by using paint. In this room, wide borders that run across the tops and at the corners of each wall are painted in Resene Eighth Spanish White and stand out from the main colour blocks that cover the remainder of each wall in Resene Double Spanish White. These complex creamy whites, while classic, are trending for their ability to bring warmth to your home and their flexibility – blending beautifully with a whole range of accent colours and design styles. However, this same idea would look great in other classic colour pairings such as Resene Half Duck Egg Blue with Resene Inside Back, Resene Half Secrets with Resene Bud or Resene Quarter Truffle with Resene Double Truffle.

To get the look, first paint the entire room in two coats of Resene SpaceCote Low Sheen tinted to the lighter of your two chosen hues, allowing the first to dry fully before applying the second and allowing the second to dry fully before moving on. Then, use a pencil, ruler and a level to lightly mark an equal distance down from the ceiling and out from the corners so that you will have lines to follow when you apply your masking. Be sure to use high quality ‘washi-style’ painter’s masking tape, available from Resene ColorShops, and press down the edges of your tape firmly to ensure you get a sharp, clean line once it’s removed. Then, paint the inside of your masked area in two coats of Resene SpaceCote Low Sheen tinted to your darker chosen hue. Allow the second coat to dry to the touch before removing your tape.

Artwork is another great way to create character in a space, but it doesn’t always need to be on canvas or paper. If you, a family member or a friend are handy with a jig saw, try cutting out some interesting shapes from a sheet of 5mm thick plywood. We chose to cut a couple of circles and semi-circles to balance out the formal, straight lines of the painted wall feature and the vertical cabinet. You could choose to paint your shapes in one or more solid colours; however, if you would like the texture of the wood’s natural grain to show through, you could choose to use a wood stain to colour them instead. We alternated Resene Colorwood Meranti and Resene Colorwood Dark Oak to stain our four shapes. While the two hues aren’t overly different, using two stain colours instead of one adds a touch of variety and richness to the look. Whether you choose to paint or stain them, be sure to sand them smooth and wipe your shapes down with a clean damp rag before you start applying your wood stain or paint. And for additional protection with minimal sheen, use Resene Aquaclear satin as a topcoat or choose Resene Aquaclear gloss if you’d prefer a shinier finish.

To bring a touch of the red from these stains out into the room, paint one or two small accessories and a key piece of furniture such as a side table in Resene Pioneer Red. Balance this with other accent items painted in Resene Clay Creek which, as a complementary hue, works as the perfect counterpoint to the three ruddy reds.

Styling by Melle van Sambeek. Photography by Bryce Carleton. 2021