If walls could talk, they would tell us to step out of our comfort zone and do something different.
- Blue ombre
American homeware brand, West Elm, has picked up on the massive global revival of deep blue and ombre, a technique that’s in vogue. It reflects two key trends of the season that are making their presence felt in the fashion and beauty worlds. West Elm now ship to South Africa so have a squizz at westelm.com
Get the look
"Create a blue ombre wall using Plascon Cashmere, from Whimsical White (B5-B2-3) at the top through Eye of the Storm (B7-C1- 1) to Blueberry Ripple (B7-D1-1). The ombre effect doesn’t have to be vertical, it can also move horizontally depending on where you want the strongest colour to be. To create a bottom-up or top-down ombre use Plascon Cashmere White on the top easing into Plascon Cashmere What an Inspiration (B1- A1-4) and then Neon Blue (B1-A1-2). Blend the colours at the point at which they meet to create a smooth and seamless merge, otherwise you will have bands of colours that don’t look as if they fade or deepen into one another," Anne Roselt, Colour Manager, Plascon Spaces. Plascon.co.za, plascondesigncentre.co.za
- For art’s sake
Imagine how delighted we were to discover that the work of one of sa’s leading abstract artist’s, Walter Battiss, has been given new life outside of gallery spaces. The Walter Battiss Company has a range of wallpapers and other inspiring products in the form of ceramics and certified prints featuring Battiss’ work, all of which are available to order from the site walterbattiss.co.za. the wallpaper pictured here is at the offices of design firm Brand Tree (brandtree.co.za) in Stellenbosch who were commissioned to design the wallpaper.
- Natural selection
Organic wall treatments, especially timber, have always been a popular choice with homeowners wanting to create warm and inviting interiors.
As eco-sensitivity becomes a growing concern we think a great idea is to source old wooden planks to clad a wall. It may be more time consuming in sourcing the reclaimed wood, but it will certainly cause less damage to your budget not to mention your conscious.
- DIY does it
If you’d prefer to liven up your walls yourself, taking them from drab to fab, here are some ideas, inspiration and tools of the trade. This interesting textured wall can be found at new Jozi hotspot, Jo’Anna Melt Bar in Melville. Owners Ari Shapiro and Lori Baar clearly have a great eye for detail and when fixing up the venue took the pressed ceiling panels of the original space, painted them blue in a vintage style, and plastered them onto the wall.
Not only are these specialised patterned paint rollers by UK company, The Painted House, very handy when wanting to pattern your walls yourself, the design of the motif is absolutely gorgeous. Available to purchase through their website, painted-house.co.uk, and yes, they ship to SA.
Chalk paint has been popping up in every home worth its weight in decorative trends, whether as wall paint or to create a lime-washed matte look for furniture. What’s interesting is that UK colour and decorative specialist, Annie Sloan, first created the now patented Chalk Paint 20 years ago, but launched only now in SA at selected paint outlets as part of her global roll-out of the product. Anniesloane.co.za
In line with eco-sensitivity, a new range of products now available locally is Cocomosaic, whose ethos is to use discarded natural materials, either from the husks of coconut shells or Mahogany Tree bark. cocomosaic.co.za
Images: Lar Leslie, David Ross