Soon you will be living together and you’re anxious to make your newlywed home not only look beautiful, but showcase your personalities. But what colours to paint and how to wed your baroque clock to his art deco cabinet? Stop worrying—there’s a reno revolutionary working to make it all easy and her name is Debbie Travis.
During the 10 years the media-dubbed Queen of Paint has reigned waving her royal brush—first with TV show Debbie Travis’ Painted House and most recently through Debbie Travis’ Facelift on HGTV (with matching book)—everyone asked the same two big questions: What style do I make my home? and What colours should I paint the walls?
Style has gotten incredibly complicated,” Travis affirms. “It used to be you made choices like urban or country or traditional. Now things are extremely eclectic. People will create a modern kitchen but hang antique chandeliers for lighting.”
Choosing colours is no easier. “It is bone-chillingly terrifying,” Travis laughs. “There are about 10,000 shades out there—that’s difficult, even for me! And unfortunately, people have more horror stories than successes.”
She has distilled her years of knowledge and practical experience into a simple new home decorating mantra that makes so much sense: choose a mood then choose colour.
“It’s a way of reinventing style for today’s muddled market,” Travis notes. She says once you decide the mood, it narrows your options from the incredible array available today.
Within this design concept Travis has established four basic moods: calm, cheerful, dramatic and nostalgic. The entire colour palette is then sorted by shade to enhance one of these emotional categories.
“If you choose the mood of the space, then choose the colours, you don’t have to worry about mixing styles,” Travis advises. It reorganizes the way you approach your living areas.
“Most designers do it,” Travis says, “they just haven’t articulated it or divided it up that way.” She gives examples of colour tones in each mood category: taupe, cream, mushroom for nostalgic; sky blue, sage green, oatmeal for calm; lemon yellow, lime green, bubblegum pink for cheerful; cobalt blue, tobacco brown, crimson red for dramatic.
Visualize the rooms in your home and the mood you want for each one: a calm living room, nostalgic dining room, cheerful kitchen, cheerful bathroom and dramatic bedroom (you are newlyweds after all!).
Then play with colour and put it together. Yellow’s your passion? For a dramatic dining room, choose a citrus-y lemon. Paint a nostalgic living room golden ochre. Use sunshine yellow in your cheerful kitchen. Calm your bedroom with butter tones.
Accessorize with your mood in mind. Antiques and bronze accents create nostalgia. Sisal carpeting and organic-shaped vases invoke calm. Pink curtains with polka dots speak cheerful. Chocolate-brown walls with white furniture shout drama.
To use the same colour throughout your house, Travis suggests changing the mood for each room. Use taupe in your living room to create calm, then use taupe with red chairs to make your dining room dramatic, add pink to the taupe for a cheerful kitchen, and your living room becomes nostalgic with gold and antiques complementing the taupe.
“We’re calling it revolutionary,” Travis admits. “No longer think style—think mood.” To get in the mood, create wish lists. “Magazines are your best source. Tear pages out and pin them up.”
Within her revolution she has extra pointers for newlyweds. “Create a time frame and a budget for two years,” she proposes. What do you need to do right away and what can wait? “I’d say the bedroom is number one if you’re newlyweds,” Travis jokes. If you’re planning on children but not for several years, the baby’s room obviously isn’t urgent.
Travis says equal numbers of men and women approach her with decorating quandaries, so men are now realizing giving your home a facelift can be fun. “Take your time. Turn it into a hobby, not a task,” Travis advises. “Bring in your friends. Revel in your creativity.” If you have the luxury, what Travis suggests is doing a small practice room first, maybe a bathroom, office or garage.
When plotting your timing, don’t try to do everything in one weekend. “The first weekend should be prep. Shop, move furniture, plaster cracks,” Travis advocates. “Paint the second weekend. Use the third weekend to add texture to walls or decorate.”
Budget-wise, the amount depends on your bank account, but Travis believes less money does not equal a less interesting space.
“Everything is possible on a budget,” Travis insists. “It’s $25 to put a coat of paint on, the same as a dinner out.” If you’re still hesitant to commit, her new eponymous paint line offers Practice Pots ($5 for 50 ml at Canadian Tire), with a built-in, ready-to-use nail-polish-style brush, that cover an area 1.2 metres square.
Travis says today’s market isn’t as frightened of decorating as previous generations. “Couples used to get a bedroom or dining room set as a wedding gift,” she recalls. “The next time they put energy into revamping their home was when the last kid left home and they finally started ripping up the shag carpet.”
Couples shouldn’t be afraid to shake up their decor every five years or so. “Even if you get an expensive armoire, decorate around it, then change your duvet cover and curtains every five years,” Travis urges.
Such simple changes can evoke a new mood. With Travis’ innovative “Choose your mood then choose your colour” motto, your newlywed nest will constantly showcase you and your groom’s spirits beautifully.
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