Your Walls Are an Open Canvas: How to Transform Any Room with Wall Finishes

When you think of your walls as a canvas, there are a multitude of ways to enhance the look and feel of any room. As with most projects, you need to consider some initial criteria:

• Budget: What level of investment do you want to make in enhancing your walls? Wall covering costs can run a wide gamut depending on material, labor, tools and requisite preinstallation preparations.
• Tools, expertise and time: Be honest with yourself. Do you own the necessary tools, have the skill level and, most importantly, the time to tackle a revamp of your walls? If you are tackling a material that you have never worked with before, such as wallpaper that requires a perfectly smooth substrate (virgin drywall) with no texture, along with precision cutting and hanging, you might have the tools, skill and time, but do you have the patience, especially if you learn your walls are not plumb? Reviewing a few online videos should give you some perspective as to what you will be undertaking in the event you choose to DIY your wall finish project. In the end, if you decide to hire a professional, do your due diligence to ensure the professionals you are considering have experience with installing the materials you have selected — ask for their references, view their website, etc.
• Goal: Do you have specific objectives for your project, such as improving the sound quantity of the room (sound abatement) or products that have low or no volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to minimize the off-gassing of toxic substances that are wreaking havoc on your indoor air quality? It’s easy to search for materials on the internet that are designed for sound abatement, as well as those that maintain health and wellness in your interior home environment.
• Style: Define your aesthetic style — traditional, transitional, rustic, eclectic, beachy, farmhouse, etc. Don’t know your style? You can find a multitude of design style quizzes online to help you pinpoint your style.