Real Estate & Home | Interiors

So often we worry more about what goes into a room than what’s surrounding it. Think of the walls in your home as giant canvases just waiting for you to pour on the creativity.

“As a designer, I love to do wall treatments in my clients’ homes,” says Evelyn Chin, interior designer and owner of EC Design Interiors (ecdesigngroup.net). “They bring an unexpected personality into a room.”

Chin’s recent favorite was a faux finish she did in a client’s kitchen. “There was one wall that was about eight feet tall and 13 feet wide. I wanted to create something to complement the warm tones we had chosen for the space,” she explains. “We decided to give it a wood-like texture using plaster, paint and a metal comb. The entire process took days to complete, but in the end everyone just loved how it turned out.”

Another trick Chin uses is coming up with creative ways to display family photos on the walls. On a recent job, Chin asked her client to make black-and-white copies of favorite photos of her children. Then, Chin used colored pencils to add color to certain spots in the photos such as a hat or bracelet. “It was just enough to turn a familiar photograph into something more artistic,” she says.

The photos were then matted using the same hot pink silk that was used for the window shades in the room. After they were framed and hung on the wall, Chin worked with a contractor to frame the photos using pieces of molding, painted the same color as the wall. “The photos just popped off the wall like little gems,” she said.

To give her clients even more options, Chin has recently started designing artwork she calls Art Design. Along with her partner, Sedi Park, the two create custom pieces of art based on the look and feel of a client’s space. Often the pieces are created using mixed materials such as wood, mirror, metal, decals and cork.

“I like to think of Art Design as pieces of furniture that have been upholstered in the perfect fabric to fit your space,” she says. “The designs are well-planned and perfectly complement my client’s spaces.”

For those looking for something less time-consuming, Chin suggests painting an accent wall in a striking color or covering it in gorgeous wallpaper. “Just remember that wallpaper needs to be framed,” she says. “Ideally, you should add crown molding at the top and baseboard to the bottom. It will look like a piece of artwork.”

Sometimes however, dressing up a blank wall can be as simple has hanging up a new light fixture. “For the longest time, I had this big, empty space above my sofa that I didn’t know what to do with,” recalls Chin. “I bought an inexpensive candle fixture from Crate and Barrel and it filled that empty space perfectly. Plus, when I light the candles, I love how they glow.”