Decorate Your Walls With Gum!

Now that I have your attention…the famous gum wall at Pike’s Market in Seattle is indeed colorful, but maybe not how you want to dress yours. However, there are many colorful alternatives to paint in order to add color, and especially texture to your walls. Wallpaper, fabric or tile probably first come to mind. Yes, these are good choices, but let’s go a step beyond and consider options made from natural materials.

First, there is stone, which can be presented in a myriad of ways, including, but not limited to a smooth texture,

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or pieced into a beautiful mosaic,

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or even rough.

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What about glass? No matter its application, glass adds a nice reflective value.

This wall partition adds subtle translucent color,

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while this glass wall makes an artistic statement.

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Personally my dream house will one day have interior columns made out of giant glass prisms to scatter colorful light. How's that for the ultimate?

And ah, metal! Metal can be salvage yard cheap or Tiffany expensive. Think how many different looks one could achieve with the use of metal from a rusty metal wall to a contemporary shining silvery showcase. Scottish designer, Niki Fulton’s enlightening post expounds on the dynamic effects of metallic surfaces.

Here are two contrasting looks, from the industrial,

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to the refined elegance of gold leaf.

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I was taken by this metal exterior on a new distillery on the Fremont canal in Seattle. It could just as easily be used in an interior.

photo by Elizabeth Brown

We can't leave out wood and wood paneling, either solid or veneer. As a color consultant,I often specify a veneer to cover some existing unsightly wood as in a mantel, a beam or ledge when painting is not an option. Again, any look can be achieved, sleek...