With everyone and their mother getting stuck into DIY, the chances are you’re finding it tricky to get hold of some paint. And, even if you source some, you may not want to pay the delivery charges (some of which have escalated since lockdown) or go and collect it. So, I’m going to show you a few ideas that you’ll need only a small amount of paint for, but that are guaranteed to make a big impact.
If you’re desperate to start a project to keep yourself busy and change up your interior, then you don’t necessarily need a five-litre can of Farrow & Ball’s finest. It may be that you have some leftover paint from a past project, a tin that you changed your mind about or never got around to using, or even a few tester pots that you’re itching to use.
So, where to start. Firstly, let’s start with those projects where you have some emulsion but not enough for a whole room. You could try a pattern on one or two walls – stripes, spots, graphic shapes, they’ll all take up less paint and all you need is some good masking tape and lots of creativity.
Colour blocking can spread across a door or another wall. Wall in Powder Blue matt emulsion, from £14 for 2.5l, and Palm Springs, from £14.50 for 1.25l, all Crown
If you’ve got enough paint to do a wall, why not make that wall your ceiling? It’s a great way of highlighting any architectural features, like mouldings, and adding colour to your room. You can bring the colour to down onto your walls – maybe to your coving – or give it a sharp edge and end it at the ceiling edge. Choose darker colours to give the illusion of lower ceilings, and lighter colours to make ceilings appear higher.
Don’t have a headboard in the bedroom? Paint one instead using a different colour to your walls. It creates a ‘frame’ around your bed and adds visual interest. Why not add in a few new cushions in this colour and you’ve got yourself a very low-budget new look…
Then there’s the details, like door and window frames, doors themselves (and the insides of them), skirting, picture rails and coving, and even shelves and inside drawers. You can choose whether to paint them in the same colour as your walls, a paler or darker version of that colour, or a complete contrast to make your new painted details the star of the show.
Lastly, there’s the reallllyyyyy creative element, when you’ve got limited paint but just fancy doing something totally different and unique. Whether’s it’s a freehand painted mural, a different paint effect on your walls, a piece of furniture that you decide to revamp, or even painting your own artworks (or frames), the braver you are, the more impact it will have.
Happy painting!
