Terrific Ideas for Decorating with Budget-Friendly Stripes on Your Walls

Do you think striped walls are boring? Think again. You can use stripes to bring all the colors of a room together or anchor a theme. From large to small, stripes can be a welcome touch to a room's design. Let me show you what you can do with budget-friendly, painted stripes on your walls.

• The Perfect Border

If you like the idea of a border on your walls, but you don't want to install the wallpaper type, grab some painter's tape and create a border that matches the colors of your room perfectly. Pick three or more colors from your color palette and tape off different sized stripes to paint a continuous border around the room. It's a budget-friendly way to tie all the colors in the room together and you can easily paint right over it whenever you want a change.

• Make an Accent Wall

I love accent walls. Create one that incorporates wide stripes in coordinating colors on the wall directly facing you when you enter the room. It's the perfect backdrop for a fireplace, headboard or other large piece of furniture in your room.

• Create a Display Space

You can create a visual display space on your walls by painting a very wide stripe around the room - starting right at table top height. Trim the wide stripe on bottom and top with two thin stripes in a darker color to give it more definition. Then arrange items within the painted field on your wall to bring greater emphasis to your favorite pieces. Add random accessories to the room in the same color as the wide stripe and it will blend in perfectly.

• Pumping Up the Color

Pump up the volume of a theme by taking the colors of the furnishings in your room and creating a floor-to-ceiling installation of multi-sized stripes on your wall. Not only will it bring a big splash of color to the space, but it will also create a place to hang color-coordinated items to create a large art mural in the space.

• In Place of Wallpaper

Small spaces, like a bathroom, are often the perfect place for wallpaper. But, it's the smaller spaces that are the hardest place to install paper on the walls. Create your own wallpaper with paint and stripes for an easy solution to the problem. Give the stripes added texture and make them more interesting by alternating flat, satin or glossy paints in your painted pattern. Let the light in the room bounce off the different finishes with a soft glow to make the stripes a welcome accent on the walls.

Check out pictures and inspiration for this article in the Stripes ideabook on Houzz. You'll see great examples of how you can use painted stripes as a budget-friendly way to bring color and interest to your next decorating project.

Enjoy more home decor ideas from Terry Mulligan:

10 Tips to Take Your Next Decorating Project Over the Top
Fabulous Choices for Decorating with Throw Pillows
Budget-Friendly Dollar Store Finds Anyone Can Decorate With