RENOVATIONS: What a little paint can do

The trend reports are in and we're in store for some pretty bold colour choices. Think bright cranberry and vibrant lime shades. According to Para Paints' trend brochure, choosing hues for your home is "flaunting your personality."

Every wall in my own home is white, so does that mean I'm as bland as a cocktail party conversation about the weather?

"I don't think that it's necessarily about being bland," says Para Paint's Assistant Brand Manager Johanna McLellan. "It's about taking risks," and for the record, Para's 2009 trend forecast includes a warm ivory called "First Base."

To say a little bit of colour never hurt any room might be an overstatement (lest we forget the peach and dusty rose painted powder rooms of the '80s) but tailored to each space's size and function, McLellan guarantees you'll love your wall's new coat.

THE FEATURE WALL

Picking one wall in a room to cover in colour is a quick and easy first step into paint, but it can also help change the dimensions of your space. If your living room has been blessed with bowling alley proportions, get out your rollers.

"By painting three of the walls a light colour and painting your feature a darker colour, you shorten the length of your room," says McLellan.

THE SMALL SPACE

Being bold in a powder room is another great gateway paint project but it can also make neutral sinks, toilets and tubs stand out. If you would rather not focus on your fixtures, McLellan suggests going warm instead of dark.

"When you find a colour that you'd like to use, think about what you can use to accent it. If you have cream, white or grey fixtures then you can use the neutral fixture and your deep colour choice as you colour combination."

THE OPEN CONCEPT HOME

Loft and open concept spaces mean we're living without the doorways and mouldings that used to mark where one colour ends and another begins. If you want to layer colours in a space where you'll see all the walls at once, try keeping it in the family by using colours from the same strip or palette.

"One open space could have three colours that are all different, but because of their relationship the flow works quite well," says McLellan.

McLellan reminds us that a neutral can count as a gutsy paint pick too.

And as the paint people like to say, you can always paint over it.

(prepared by Andrew Sardone/Vancouver Sun)