Bright Bazaar by Will Taylor
In Palette addict

The Making of Valspar Paint’s 3D House Wall

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valspar-paint-3d-art-wall-london-1Ever since I announced my role as Valspar Paint’s brand and colour ambassador, I’ve been itching to share the next part of our work together – a huge 3D house wall in central London. Valspar commissioned me to design the interior and colour schemes for each room in a fictional family home, that would then be used to create a life-like 3D artwork on the side of a huge building in London. So late last autumn I set about working on moodboards for each space in the house, and it was such a fun project.valspar-paint-3d-art-wall-london-2My aim was to try and inspire creative ideas to ‘colour outside the lines’ with paint: I was keen to show how paint can be used to make stylish colour statements outside of the standard feature wall. I teased the wall on Bright.Bazaar’s Instagram last week, but today I wanted to share my moodboards and design tips from the different rooms and schemes. First, take a peek at the transformation of the wall from blank and boring, to bright and beautiful!valspar-paint-3d-art-wall-london-3This was my moodboard for the master bedroom, where I was keen to show how colour and paint can create a stylish tonal scheme. A tonal scheme is perfect for a bedroom because by combining shades of one colour in a room you make the space visually ‘easy’ on the eye. This means there aren’t contrasting colours fighting to be the focal point, so the space feels calm and serene. I also used this space to demonstrate how painting up 2/3rds of your walls can help to make a bedroom feel more intimate. This approach encourages the eye to be be drawn down towards the bed, making the space feel cosier. For the wall I ended up swapping out the lighter pinks for a more indulgent purple base palette, which also works well as purple is an introvertive colour that encourages deep contemplation and meditation.valspar-paint-3d-art-wall-london-4The bathroom scheme was inspired by the pastel houses of Notting Hill in London, so I embraced the ever popular zest for mint in the home. A minty, blue-green hue is ideal because it marries the natural harmony of green with the tranquillity of blue. This creates a serene vibe that’s perfect for a relaxing bathroom. I added visual interest with art prints and graphic, patterned towels.valspar-paint-3d-art-wall-london-5Stripes come a very close second on my ‘decorating elements I love’ list, so I knew I was keen to include them one of the room schemes from the start. I decided to introduce them as painted horizontal stripes in the office in order to elongate the small space. I then introduced the ombre chest of drawers to echo the stripes and warm golden sunsets. When decorating with painted stripes, you can utilise the pattern to maximise the visual appearance of space. If you have low ceilings, vertical stripes will make the space seem loftier, while horizontal stripes will elongate a narrow room. As stripes are a strong, graphic pattern choice, I kept the rest of the space relatively pared-back to allow the painted stripes to shine and not conflict with other elements of the room.valspar-paint-3d-art-wall-london-6In modern open-plan spaces colour can be used as a decorating tool to visually zone the space. Yellow is opposite blue on the colour wheel, so it creates a fresh and energising complimentary colour scheme that’s ideal for a family kitchen/living space. In fact, yellow and blue is my all time favourite colour combination because it offers the perfect balance of energy and calm. This duo of hues also reminds me of sunshine and blue skies, sand and sea and so on – all great things! Don’t feel restricted to place furniture only against walls – make the most of all the real estate on offer. You can stop items appearing to ‘float’ in the middle of the room by using other decorating elements to anchor them. For example, a trip of pendants above a dining table will anchor the table and create a welcoming eating area within the space. Also, when using two colours to zone an open-plan space you can layer the second hue into the main living area as an accent colour – which is typically 10% of the total scheme – into the room to create a cohesive final look.valspar-paint-3d-art-wall-london-8It was fascinating to watch the two artists working with the paint to bring my moodboards to life – I was blown away by how true to life they made each scheme look. I went up on the lift a few times and it was HIGH up there – yikes!valspar-paint-3d-art-wall-london-9It was a very surreal moment when I saw a painted version of myself on the wall wearing the outfit from the Valspar TV advert. I figured, if there was ever a selfie opportunity, this was it! I’d love to know what you think of the 3D wall? Have you seen it in person? It’s funny seeing the reactions of passers by and those riding the bus as it pulls around the corner!valspar-paint-3d-art-wall-london-10

// Photography by Valspar (used with permission)

Author

Will Taylor

Will lives in NYC and is an interior design author and content creator. He's been blogging about his love of design, style and travel since 2009. His #MakeYouSmileStyle approach to decorating and dressing has inspired over one million Instagram uploads to the hashtag from followers across the world.

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32 Comments

  2. Susan Reply

    You are such an inspiration, Will! Thanks for sharing your tips, I love the one about painting up two thirds of the wall.

  4. Emma Jayne Reply

    Love the wall mural! I particularly like how the artist has painted the broken bricks, revealing the interiors. So clever!!

    I bet it looks amazing when you’re up close 🙂

    Emma Jayne x

  6. Alison Daykin Reply

    I spotted you on the Valspar ads and I love you mood boards!
    I’m not a fan of turquoise in the bathroom, it’s a lovely colour and I had a bathroom in the same colour, but it can make the skin look rather sallow, I know!

  16. Monica Reply

    The change is unreal. You’re talented. And visionary. Congratulations for the work! It will become a tourist attraction. You don’t see such works every day and on every building.

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Hey, I'm Will

Welcome to Bright.Bazaar, my make-you-smile style corner of the internet. I’ve been sharing my love of beautiful design, feel-good homes, everyday style, inspiring travel and, pretty much everything in between, since 2009. As well as working as a content creator, I write interior design books and edit a bi-weekly e-newsletter called Smile Mail. I live in New York City with my heartmate and can often be found listening to Madonna’s Confessions album and dreaming up my next home renovation project.