One small lick of paint, one giant leap for your home. We often talk about fabric walling and wallpapers to refresh a space, but sometimes the smallest details are the one that really pack a punch.

2020 has been the year of change. With so many of us still working from home, it is more important than ever to feel happy in the space you reside in day to day.

Throughout the year, we have been sharing tips and ideas to help you rethink your spaces, and this week, we wanted to focus on some painting home projects – so grab an old pair of dungarees and lots of painting sheets, as we have 8 small paint projects for you to try!

1. Paint your door frames

One of the easiest ways to add colour to your home is the door frame. A doorframe is the perfect canvas for applying a fun shock of colour or even just a soft complimenting hue to the rest of the room.

Doorframes are the borders between one room and the next, from a cosy drawing room to a bright kitchen, so why not have something that frames the room beyond and is a fun and colourful addition in itself.

2. Paint the inside of cupboards

An absolute fail safe trick is to paint the inside of cupboards. Even when filled with beautiful crockery and glassware, cupboards are often forgotten but when opened, they can be the perfect pockets of pleasure, like a beautiful lining on a jacket or a pair of bright funky socks.

This is the place to get creative with colour, (like a shock of blue or orange – maybe even combined?) or get crafty by hand painting an illustration.

If not the inside of cupboards, why not bookshelves? In this suite at Ham Yard Hotel we have painted the shelves in different colours – using one shade on the vertical drops, one on the horizontal and another on the inner shelving.

3. Paint your bathroom cabinet

The haven away after a long day, a bathroom should be tranquil. It’s easy to think that a bathroom is the hardest to decorate; the mass of white porcelain, pipes and tiles, but a touch of colour can make all the difference. If painting the walls might feel too much of a change, start small by painting your bathroom cabinet in a fun shock of colour or a soothing hue to relax you as you wash away the day. 

4. Paint your windows

Often the most neglected part of a room, windows are a fun detail to add a pop of colour. Our top tip for painting your windows is  to make sure you use masking tape! There is nothing worse than wonky window paint. Another fabulous trick is to paint the inner recess of your windows, to inject life into a room.

5. Paint your tables

However small or large, hand painting a little table is a very rewarding project. You can have a lot of design leeway here, maybe incorporating stencils or hand painted scenes. Our little stool is a wonderful example of this. It measures no more than 40cm, yet the folkloric design is so joyful it looks like it was plucked right out of a horse drawn gypsy caravan. 

6. Paint your lamps

When it comes to lampshades, we love using gathered silk shades. This might not always be feasible, so painting a lampshade or lamp base is a brilliant and cost effective way to jazz up a light feature.

Wooden or metal urn lamps are a fantastic base for creativity, again using stencils or a freehand painted pattern. Here we have two lamp bases painted by hand by our very own design team’s Willow Kemp for Porta Romana’s auction to raise funds for an education centre in South Africa. 

We recently commissioned Bloomsbury inspired artist, Amy Balfour to create these stunning hand painted lamps with complementing shades. Her use of pattern and colour is so reminiscent of the Omega style, and its romantic swathe of pastel hues.

7. Paint architectural features

We always celebrate otherwise overlooked features in a building, like these structural pillar supports that people often spend a lot of time and money trying to cover up. We say get them out! By painting them a strong block colour, they become integral to the room.

This space is found outside three wonderful meeting rooms at The Whitby Hotel. The bright orange pillars add strength to the already impressive room. 

8. Paint your fireplaces

Charleston Farmhouse in East Sussex is an ever flowing fountain of inspiration for us. The Omega Workshop was founded by Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant among other brilliant artists. We spend many hours in the Design Studio poring over their work, marvelling at the smallest brush stroke details and their use of earthy yet powerful colours.

The famous fireplaces in this house are renowned for their uniqueness. If you have a plain mantle like this at home, it would be a fabulous painting project – send us photos, we would love to see your creativity at home!

Don’t let creative details die down, keep them alive by embarking on the smallest projects that can create such a wonderful impact. Send us your project outcomes using #DesignThreads for a chance to be featured on our Instagram!