Challenge or opportunity?

One of the (very few) things that made me fall in love with our once-delapidated-still-a-work-in-progress house was all the unusual angled ceilings and walls.To me, they add character that newly built homes sometimes lack. While unique, these angles and slopes can present either design challenges or design opportunites, depending how you look at them.

As the drywall is going up in the bedroom we're working on, I'm already fast-forwarding to all the possibilities that exist for our attic bedroom with all its angled walls.

Thanks to Pinterest (follow me HERE), ideas are being saved as I come across them, and I thought it'd be fun to share them with you, along with a few tips in the event that you have rooms like this in your home, too.


Option 1:
Highlight it! Make those angled walls stand out by using contrast. By treating just the end wall with wallpaper, grasscloth, an accent color or even woodboards, attention is drawn to the outline made from the angled side walls.  This is also an easy way to instantly create a focal point in the room.



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Option 2:
Tone it down! If the angles in a room are awkward, or if there are a few too many for your taste, try using just one treatment on all the walls. Choose a color or paper you love and use it on the side and end walls, and maybe even the ceiling. This can soften the lines of the room and blend in the angles a little.



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Option 3:
Change it up! Play with different materials on various surfaces. Make sure your choices are intentional or it can end up looking chaotic. Done right, this tactic makes for a unique space! Sometimes just switching things around and papering the ceilings instead of the walls makes a big statement.



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And, since we're talking about walls, ceilings and such, can we chat about bulkheads? It's sometimes hard to know where to start and stop with paint. 

When it comes to annoying and pesky bulkheads, I usually recommend painting them the same color as the wall they run along side of. If painted the ceiling color, the wall below ends up looking squat, and the bulkhead becomes an eyesore. Using the wall color helps blend things and gives the illusion of height.



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And one more thing. Avoid doing this to a room: 

The eye is immediately drawn to the white stripe on the ceiling instead of the nicer features in the room. It's distracting and would look much better if the ceiling was painted with the wall color.

The lesson here? When painting angled walls, if you're left with just a small patch of ceiling, keep painting! Don't leave it white!

Now, I'm all ears: who out there has angled walls? What have you tried? Any tips?