there is totally everything wrong with white walls XD i can't stand white walls anymore.. i even paint the ceilings with pastel colour.. everything but white
Hey Nick! Thanks for adding more pictures to your videos lately, and keeping them on screen long enough to do a deeper look, as you speak. It really helps in taking in the examples illustrating your point. Cheers!
Great suggestions Nick. When considering shelving units to fill a wall, please remember that good quality sideboards and hutches are often cheap as borscht when sourced secondhand or at estate sales. This is especially true for dated pieces. One of my neighbours sourced a massive unit to fill an awkward niche in her unit and painted it an amazing red to excellent effect. When moving somewhere else, there's no great sorrow in letting go of such a piece and re-thrifting it if it doesn't fit the new digs. When I sold my house and downsized to a condo very little of the art from my home was suited to the long bare walls of the condo's great room. Though I paid a bit more for them I found a couple of very large pieces. One was a giclée from a local artist that was about 1/3 the price of the original oil painting. Before I downsized and moved 100 km inland, I lived no more than 15 minutes from a beach. I rationalized that an expensive giclée of crashing surf the size of a picture window was a lot less expensive than a unit with a waterfront view. Never regretted that purchase.
I have a cabinet in my home that I thrifted for $20. It's narrow and tall and to look at it, you'd never guess it was once a gun cabinet. I think someone made it themselves, so it has some quirky hardware and details that I love. I stripped the gun racks out of the inside and had wood cut to make normal shelves. It actually has wallpaper inside covering the glass doors--it's wallpaper that looks like grasscloth. I painted the cabinet dark green, distressed the edges, and waxed the whole thing to make it look old. It really does look nice.
Any wallpaper can become temporary if you use double-sided scrapbooking tape. It is meant to hold paper and can be easily removed. I purchased Van Gogh's Almond Blossom wallpaper in blue and will be hanging it in my living room with the double-sided tape.
I kind of hate white walls out of spite - growing up, my mother never let me paint my bedroom walls a dark or bright color, because she thought it would be stressful or I'd get tired of it quickly. When I was a teenager, I rebelled and demanded a bright, barbie-pink wall, which I had for years. Now my home has zero white walls, and my dark green bedroom is the coziest thing ever😅
I hate white walls too. In the three houses I’ve lived, I painted my bedroom a pale green. I saw the color at the paint store and decided it was perfect for me. Even better was the color name - Dreamcatcher. I took that as a sign right then and there.
My whole family feels this because Military housing and rentals just have such boring white walls that once we had a home of our own I was desperate for unicorn wall paper and pink walls
I definitely did get tired of my bright red wall I begged my mom to let me paint but I had fun with it for awhile lol then I just painted it white again no walls were hurt in the proccess
Here in scandinavia we rarely paint our walls. It is almost always wallpaper. its a tradition since forever and it looks so good. Easy to change and set another mood if wanted. Thank you for sharing!
Deviating from white walls is a bit of a pain when you live in a renter area (Switzerland), in a renting apartment. And also I don't mind white, maybe one or two accent walls in a color are nice. My experience is that a color can be quite a commitment and I don't want to be repainting my walls every two years just to chase after or get rid of a trend (or get rid of a poorly chosen red in my bedroom that made me feel constantly nervous after a while, and made my bedroom look like a red light district room when lit and seen from outside.) So my solutions have been: - big PHAT framed poster art (Switzerland has a huge history of graphic design, production design, lettering, and cool vintage stuff from previous exhibitions or tourist advertisements - I'm sure there's stuff like that in every region). I am talking min 3ft x 4 ft sizes. Make it a statement. - Hang selected items of clothes that look cool or have an interesting cut/print/pattern (and maybe you've grown out of them *cough*) on a nice wooden clotheshanger, onto a wall. Even draping a silk shawl or funky tie over that clotheshanger looks great. It's a nice statement in the bedroom, and it's a cool thing to do with clothing items that you don't wear too often anyways. And easy to switch out when you get bored of it. - Postcards/photographs, paperclips, and little nails. Put the paperclips on to the postcard where you want it to hang, hang it on the nail/wall, ta-dah. You can collect artsy postcards from museums/exhibitions, develop your own photos that are somewhat artsy and colorful, arrange them linear in a tight space (like between two doors), or as a loose (!) collage on more wall space. - Work with strategically placed lights and spots. Direct a lot of the light at the art or just the blank wall (indirect lighting). - Get colorful high quality drapes. By that I mean, cotton/linen and/or well woven, and semi-opaque to full-opaque. - Work with colorful statement lamps. Think bright orange-red plastic space-agey, or anything else colorful. Architect desk lamps that you can direct wherever you want, placed in unexpected spots (e.g. in the corner of the bedroom, pointing to the ceiling) - Give your bold accent colors/items enough empty space around it to work their magic. Mind you, these are very Swiss-design-centric tips.
I picked up a poster at the post office in Switzerland back in the ‘80’s of 12 different Swiss stamps. It says “Zackig durch das ganze jahr!” It’s colorful and fun and reminds me of a great trip.
"Deviating" is the word you want here. In my bedroom with white walls, I have also hung some very cool clothes I don't wear much, like a black button shirt with flames. Also a Bruce Lee flag, a supersoaker, different kinds of hats, blue-green-red string lights in broken lines, Batman art, magazine covers. A vintage scarf over the window to shade the sun. Glow in the dark stars, with blacklight of course.
@@ribbrascal Thank you, I've now corrected it. As a non-native English speaker, both words have somewhat similar meanings in a way and I tend to just use one of the two when in a rush. :) Honestly, not a big fan of glow-in-the dark-stars and blacklight in an adult space. Personally it reminds me too much of a child bedroom's decor, since that how I encountered it. Maybe using smart bulbs (e.g. Philips hue in the whole color spectrum) in strategic places without going nuts (the underside of your bed does NOT have to glow in a green hue) can give you a similar effect.
I have three large white (snow season colour) walls in the stairwell. I’ve imagined them with Hamptons mouldings - imagined them with a dramatic mural or tall tree forest wallpaper - imagined them in a rich dark blue like the colour behind you Nick - imagining takes a lot of energy 😳consequently they’re still white 🙄but I love your suggestions adding to my imaginings ☺️
I like not having an open concept home mainly because I can collect more art because I have more wall space to hang it on 😂. I really want to do wall molding. I’m seeing a lot of people diy-ing it and it looks good. I think the next phase of gallery walls should be grouping larger pieces and bringing them closer together rather than a bunch of small pieces spread out over a larger wall. It is difficult for most people to afford a larger piece of art, so gallery walls are a solution for that.
My issue as well! The more open, the fewer places to hang art. The last time we moved (6.5 yrs ago) I was very conscious of that. We were lucky to find a house w the perfect balance -- somewhat open but plenty of walls for art.
HHmmmmmm white wall dilemma - in the last decade the solution was to paint it some shade of battle ship grey to match your battleship grey floors and battleship grey furniture, and then top it off with great big huge wrapped canvas picture of the seaside, with no frame. Perfect look of the ever popular pandemic depression decor. Folks anything is better than grey and white to encourage you to get out of bed in the morning. And if you can't possibly get out of bed paint it black.
My gf absolutely detests grey as an interior colour, our home isn't colourful but she loves earthy greens and blues and all these colors go well with our SW portico
Not anything.. The house I bought has a bedroom painted pale ocean teal and it sucks so much.. depending on the time of day its green like dirty pool water or a weird aqua toilet water color. White would have been better. I need to paint it so bad.
Re mouldings: My last apartment was tiny (18 m2), in a 1920s building, and while it was generally a dump, it DID have picture rails, which are terrific in a small apartment. Picture rails are mouldings that extend across walls, near the ceiling-firmly hammered into every stud-with a lip on the edge you can hang hooks on, from which to hang pictures. The thing is, you can hang anything else from them, too, so you can more easily use the vertical space. As they're attached to all the studs, they'll bear a lot of weight [1]. I hung my bike from them, a coat rack near the front door, curtains, a spice rack, and some plants [2]. (Also, some pictures and mirrors.) _____ [1] The 20 or so coats of paint they received over the years probably also contributed to their strength. [2] I also used them to support my blanket fort. I kept the fort up over my bed for more than a year, changing the elements-vintage tablecloths for spring, blue saris for winter, plain white sheets for summer. I don't have one right now, but the experience convinced me that bed forts are a woefully underutilized design feature.
I never have had picture rails, but hanging a bed fort from them is enticing. If Texans had bed forts, fewer might have frozen to death. I have been using semipassive solar to provide 12 hours of free heat for my house all winter, but in emergency, a bed fort sounds a treat.
@@RebeccaTreeseed It's even better than that. My bed, and consequently my bed fort, were right up against the window with my air conditioner. So during summer nights, the AC only cooled the space within the bed fort instead of the entire apartment. I think the seasonal increase on my electric bill was about half what it would have been otherwise.
@@marlabrunker738 Thank you for extra information. Historically, enclosing beds was common, and folks slept together in them. Of course they could build extra bed platforms, but didn't. I have been using passive solar for 12 hours of free heat daily. I would love a window unit too. I found an old wooden picture rail I like. It occurs to me that my smallest bedroom is barely larger than the bed, I think a picture rail would sure turn it into an I Dream of Jeannie boudoir. It is only 8x8, 8x10 if I remove the closet. Moving everything out of there, ugh. Does have a window. This is an awesome idea.
The one thing I found a bit intimidating about dark wall, is that any imperfections and chipping would become extremely evident, especially if it's painted over a light colour. It has not even been a month since I painted a wall in deep green, there is already a few white spots from something bumping on it, once even my toe nail caused a chip. Just the thought of drilling hole to put shelves on that wall is making me tremble.
What finish have you chosen? Have you gone for matte or something like a satin? The more matte, the easier it is to ding. I will say though that my navy hallway has a couple of dings where a bench sits. It doesn't bother me that much but I also keep a tester pot of hale navy to touch up every few months or so. It dries to look the same and no one can see.
My fear with dark walls is a bug will live incognito in my home. I want dark walls or intricate wallpaper but I worry if there's a spider or some other bug, I'm less likely to find it bc it can camouflage.
things on my white walls 1- periodic table with isotope 2- Iron carbon solution series chart 3- ACLS chart 4-X86 operand matrix 5- frequency allocation chart 0-25ghz 6- Maps , lots of maps 7- fire evacuation plan 8- edged weapons 9- Tapestries 10- paper decorations for that coconut grove effect
I have framed photos of sunsets that I've taken at different times and I love the look and it's cool because it's personal since I took the photos myself.
Re: rental friendly peel-and-stick, they also make plain white that can be painted! If you're not allowed to paint your walls, buy white peel-and-stick, lay it flat on some cardboard and paint it, then (once it's dry) peel the backing and hang. And re: art pieces, you can also have a gorgeous piece of fabric, like a vintage scarf, matted and framed.
Only my kitchen walls are white. My library is navy but the rest of downstairs is done in the palest possible blue so people are never quite sure if the walls are blue or if they are white which just adds a little interest, especially as the light changes through the day. It is an option for people that aren't sure they want to go with color. Another option for dealing with large walls is to hang textiles like a vintage rug.
Great timing for this video! I have a giant white wall in my dining room and just decided on doing a modern slat wall, paint it black/dark gray and I'm having a friend paint me a funky art piece. Now I just need to figure out the empty wall in my narrow hallway 😅 Love your suggestions Nick!
After I saw the video where you showed the house you were designing for yourself, I saw how sophisticated your taste is and now I take you much more seriously. You are very kind and generous when you make a video. Thanks.
Though I don't have any problems painting colors on my walls, one thing that is an issue where I live (SW Florida) is almost all the walls are very textured. The only walls that aren't are bathroom and kitchen, and that is done so that you could put up wallpaper. It would be hard to put wallpaper on top of the texture, and I'm not sure that even the molding would look as good, though something like ship lap would cover it. I also have vaulted ceilings in most rooms so large expanses of walls to cover. Most walls have a furniture piece or a landscape painting that I've found at thrift stores.
I saw someone who had covered a wall in those serviceable-but-meh paintings of flowers that you always find in thrift shops, and when they were put together it looked like a garden! (This was in a summer house/cabin, it might have been a bit much to have all year round unless you have a large home.)
Loved this video! We just bought a house and need to redecorate EVERYTHING and these tips were so helpful to spark some creativity. Would love to see more videos talking about window treatment options... that's my next challenge to tackle.
Nick, your videos are a wonderful combination of sound advice and your personality... I view them for education and entertainment! Greetings from the Okanagan
As a child I was tramatized by white walls. In the 60's the entire downstairs was white walls. But, what recovered me was the lavender walls my upstairs bedroom had! So I will never have white walls as an adult!
OMG Nick! That was the fastest talking video I’ve ever seen and heard! I may replay it with the sound off to make sure I caught the decorating ideas. I feel very tired now, like I ran a marathon 🏃♀️ which I would never do!
I need more wall space too. Every room in my 1903 house has three large windows and openings. Also doors all over the place.Architecture Depot has nice polyethylene moldings.
Hi Nick, I also subscribe to Mark Tobin's RU-vid channel and wanted to say how much I enjoyed your broadcast on Wednesday with him. As for this video I just wanted to say how much I love your channel, you crack me up every time I watch you and are always giving me great ideas on how to decorate my home. We will be renovating our home starting September and your's and Mark's videos have helped me greatly.
I wouldn’t say I’m a maximalist, but I hate an empty wall. In my youth, when money was tight I had framed posters of art that I enjoyed. I didn’t try to pretend that I had a framed Van Gogh, for example. The frame was big enough to show the name of the gallery. It’s a poster. Even now, in my older age where I can afford more, I have a framed poster of an advertisement for a French vet in my bathroom that I love. It’s from Target. 😆
*Sitting here with my blank white walls* (just moved in)... perfect timing, despite me being an artist and having lots of ideas. Still, it's hard to decide!!!
Oh I know totally. If you go with things that are easily changed out like paint or peel and stick wallpaper, it makes the decision making easier. Mouldings are a commitment.
Same here. I bought a home a lot of blank white walls. I’m overwhelmed and so afraid to commit to anything yet. I’ve checked out so many art places online, and nothing really has caught my eye. Ugh.. stressing out here
I don't like plain white but I do like off- whites. Neutrals are my favorite. I don't get sick of them. Change your decor as accessories instead. I agree with art that is too small for the wall, it's all about composition.
I think wall mouldings look great! They definitely not my style - they do not speak to me personally, but they are a really interesting way to give some structure to a space. If you’re on the fence, and wall mouldings excite you, I say go for it! I don’t know many people who have them in their homes, so it’s a really cool way to stand out.
Thank you for this video ❤️ I'll be moving in a new build flat in 3 months (if all goes well🤞). I didn't factor painting in the budget. The stereo, sofa and kitchen were the priority.
Nick this was super helpful! I'm renting an awesome older house with a long awkward-ish wall. I think a fun peel-and-stick wallpaper might be just the thing for my Mid-century vibe!
Well, we're building at the moment... My parents keep buying art and have no more wall space to put it. So that's where we're at. The art is there, walls still need to go up :)
I just found your channel and have been watching your episodes. So glad I found you. Love your style and taste! Thank you for sharing your gift with us. ❤️
Yes I want more walls! Oh my God. I've been buying from Wayfair since 2011 or so. Oh heavens to Betsy I think I have 52 pieces from them. Yes you can do that when you're having a good time over the years.
It's interesting, because I find the idea of doing white walls much more intimidating than colour! Maybe because I'm aware that it's so easy for it to look dumpy? I don't know, but unless I had perfect walls (aka no imperfections) and lots of natural light, I don't think I'd have the nerve to do white walls.
Controversial opinion - I really don’t like mirrors and paintings on the floor (or on on a cabinet) leaning against the wall! It just looks like you’ve not got round to hanging them yet! Pictures sitting on dedicated picture shelves look ok because it looks like an intentional design choice but otherwise it’s a big no from me. I think we’re going to look back at those and think how dated it looks too. Not to mention the safety risk from a large unattached mirror that could fall on you or a child. Otherwise, thanks again for a great video Nick!
Hi Nick. Would you like a video idea? Considering how many people now work from home, I just thought you could always do a video on how to turn one room into 2 rooms (Example: living room and office space).
Dear Nick, Please tell us what we can do with that space above our upper kitchen cabinets! Something that doesnt involve dust traps like fake plants or tchotskies that you cant appreciate from ground level, please.
I don’t have a single white wall in my house. But I think with any color wall, art of local artists, from your travels, and your own photography are all wonderful ways to personalize your house.
Hi Nick. I looked at K’s website. Doing this caused me to feel… confused. …Otherwise, I’ll be decoring with black because of the style of my apartment. Black doors and white-with-black-accent floors. I may do half the hall walls black with some renter-friendly bead board wallpaper too. Can’t wait. Cheers!
Ok Nick, but this is PERFECT timing!! 🫶🥹 I have stark white walls for my room and I’m going for a calm’n classy vibe with my redo. I don’t necessarily want beige but I want a creamy color. I really like white veil from Home Depot Behr. What do you and the RU-vid fam think of this color?! ☺️ (Killed me with “is Joanna Gaines holding a gun to Nick’s head” LOL)
@Sarah Elo Hello there! I think it's a great neutral color with a touch of warmth and probably will go well with any color furniture and decor. Just remember, you do you, and what makes you happy! Good luck 😊
So our living/dining room in our apartment is the biggest room in our place, it's even zoned to be sectioned off into another room if we really wanted to, but we aren't. All our windows in our apartment are on one side and they are all balcony doors that face south with no building ubstructing the light. Anyways, it took months for me to convince my husband to let me paint just the two far walls on opposite ends blue, the living side a dark midnight blue and the dining side a dusky medium blue. I mean it took me ages to convince him, he was more than happy about the all white walls, but it felt too sterile for me. And I had fallen in love with the gallery wall Abbey Cox had done in her old place in Reno and I wanted to do a dark blue gallery wall on the tv wall kinda similar to hers but not so victorian-ish. It's still not really done, but I put paint samples up to convince him. I was like if there was any room that could handle these colors it would be this room.
This is more of a boho-specific thing but I like putting tapestries up on my walls, they do a good job to cover a large empty area and look beautiful too. Most of mine are stylized trees, sort of my own forest. :D Anywhere else tends to be artwork or other crafty things I'm displaying. I rent and I'm not sure we're even allowed to paint, if I could I totally would.
One more option: plants. You can either put a huge palm or other monster plan in front of it, or put some shelves with plants on them, or lean some trellises and put some climbing plants on it.
So useful for me thank you!! Tangential to the “white wall dilemma”. How would you recommend I deal with my long narrow boring hallway dilemma? The hallway that my bedrooms are off is straight, narrow, boring and make my house look small and cheap- any suggestions?
Nick included a couple of photos of hallways in the peel and stick wallpaper segment of the video. Wallpaper is a good option, as are wall stencils. If you have a basic ceiling light in your hallway, you could swap it out for a really bold and interesting light fixture. If your hallway ends in a blank wall, you can make that a focal point with an accent paint color, large mirror, or piece of art. Also, a dark ceiling color with lighter walls will add some visual interest and make the hallway seem wider.
In addition to finding some interesting light fixtures as Sarah Renz suggests, I would forget the walls other than integrating them with an interesting shade of paint congruent with whatever colour scheme you've got going. Then I'd change the focus and look for a lovely runner rug that would make walking the hallway a joy. Walls? The hallway has walls? Who will notice?
Well there are dozens and dozens of “white” paints and many of them are depressing, eg. Landlord White and Contractor White. Depending where you live, the light may dictate whether white makes sense. I moved to LA and the light is great, so I eventually / recently did Ultra Pure White and sorry detractors, it looks fabulous: fresh, crisp, clean, and modern while showing off my dark walnut antique furniture. And my art looks really fabulous.
Ok Nick. One of my cats just watched a video on an old cat that finally excepted into owner and logged in. She doesn't seem as interested in your video but I am! I guess Joy just has no taste. But she picked me and I love all six of my baby so I will shut up now and enjoy what you have to say. You go Wayfair and you go Kiva up with Wayfair fantastic.
Here on RU-vid I have seen videos on people's apartments and they show you this white boring space I space I skip over these videos I am more for the depth layered colorful apartment schemes
Hi Nick, thanks for your videos! Would you share your thoughts on getting rid of the classic sofa-living-room setup and replace for floor chairs Japanese style? Thanks!
If advertisers would just stop the white on white with rattan accents, the world would be a happier place. Color reflects who we are, who occupies that bedroom, who loves this home.
After i have had pintrest for a year. I found out that 99% of my inspiration photos have white walls. So i am going to stick with it. I do love colors ON walls to. Just not in my home. 😂 But i do like a light taupe color.
This is well needed because I'm decorating my den now and was stuck on how to bring all my items together without making a mess. My living room has a very bold peel and stick paper on it so I didn't want the den to fight with that but at the same time it's a place for me to go a lil wild. Enough so that I brought an orange sofa smh. It's beautiful but I don't want the room to look childish so I'm in the air about color. It's a small room, only 7×10 with a large window so light flows in really bright. I'm thinking of making it into a wine room so smh suggestions?
Can you please address textured walls? I have never lived in a home without them! (Maybe it’s a southwest thing?!) But it seems like it would look weird to do moulding on a textured wall, and the peel and stick wallpapers say not to put them on textured surfaces. Help a renter out!!!
Interesting, again. My house is all painted white (older wallpaper was horrendous!) (and not my choice!). I've big paintings, and the problem is that they are 2 or 3 each room, they don't fill the walls and I can't mix original paintings and not originals. It's a nightmare. Here and there I've big book shelves (closed) but not everywhere and I will not buy new furniture. I'm lost! What can I do?
I will add to Nick's comment on not putting up art that's too small: Don't hang art too high!!!! I see so many people who hang their art so high that you've got 2 thirds of the wall under the bottom of the frame - that just leaves you with a blank white wall with a random piece of art floating above it. It look like a$$.
