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WALLS

the revival of wall decoration

Chapters

INTRO DUCTION A brief history of walls p. 06

01 CONTEMPO RARY CLASSICS Stylish homes with traditional details p. 16

02 MODERN MINIMAL Breathing life into sparsley decorated spaces p. 50

03 PATTERN & COLOUR Incorporating wallpaper and colour in your home p. 84

04 3D VISION Textured walls and contemporary bas-reliefs p. 114

05 NOW & THEN Juxtaposing eras p. 150

06 CREATING CONTRASTS LOOK Mixing decorative elements UP! for maximum effect p. 182

Decorating the fifth wall p. 208

THE MANUAL of Wall Decoration p. 240

Every wall is an opportunity to create beauty. 14

CONT EMPO RARY CLASS ICS

chapter 01

stylish homes with traditional details

TROCADÉRO

APARTMENT

Paris, France

Just across the Seine – a mere stone’s throw away from the Eiffel Tower’s twinkling lights – is this sophisticated flat in Paris’s Trocadéro neighbourhood by interior design firm Atelier Daaa. Set within a classic Parisian apartment building, Daaa’s design task consisted of marrying the building’s ornate original features, like herringbone parquet flooring and an elaborate moulded ceiling, with a contemporary aesthetic that would hold its own in one of the chicest postcodes in Europe. To achieve this, the firm turned their focus to the walls. In the living room, two opposite accent walls were painted an inky shade of navy blue and decorated with panel moulding, which conveniently frames pieces from the homeowner’s extensive art collection and draws attention to the carved wooden fireplace mantle – also painted to match the walls for a contemporary feel. Rather than extending the colour to the ceiling, though, the ornate cornice was left white in order to create a feeling of cosiness despite the precipitous ceilings. The skirting, alternatively, was painted the same blue as the walls. The solid colour fools the eye into believing the room is wider than it truly is – yet another clever trick the designers used to create an illusion of scale.

contemporary classics

INTER VIEW

ALEXANDRA

CHIGINTSEVA

‘All my life I knew I would become an interior designer,’

says St Petersburg-based decorator Alexandra Chigintseva, ‘but my design knowledge is a result of self-education.’ Rather than study interior design in school, she completed a degree in art history, but her choice of education did nothing to hinder her career. ‘Almost all my family have been working in construction, which gave me first-hand experience in every stage of renovation,’ she adds. In 2015 Chigintseva founded her design studio CHI Design, which creates homes and businesses for private clients in her native Russia. ‘We are doing our best to create something new but at the same time very personal in each of our projects,’ she says. CHI Design’s interiors are characterised by a timeless approach to decoration. By mixing contemporary and traditional details, they create spaces that are both comfortable and stylish, perfect for young families and new businesses that want the best of both worlds when it comes to function and aesthetics. In all of their projects, wall decoration is an integral element in the overall design concept. One will often find coloured panelling differentiating rooms, perfectly placed cornices and skirting and classic moulding framing furniture. It’s clear that Chigintseva has perfected the art of wall design. 46

How would you describe your style? We don’t think within one style; we prefer a wider frame of reference. It is very important for me not to create a perfect image that I believe to be artificial or far from real people’s lives, but to instead make something vivid, complicated with colours and a little uncombed.

As a designer, how can adding wall decoration enhance a project? All parts of decoration are about shape, lines and rhythm. All of them are very important to form the space. For example, in the Suvorovskyi project, we dared to add large rectangles to the sitting room. That helped us to move the centre of the room and put emphasis on the right proportions.

DESIGN TIPS from Alexandra Chigintseva

Create a rhythm of mouldings based on future furniture.

For your Suvorovskyi project, what were the clients like and what was the initial brief? The project was made for a very cool family with a little girl, a dog and two cats. They travel a lot and bring back souvenirs so it was important to leave enough space for future memorable things. When we started the project it was a good renovation from the 2000s; the walls were even but the corners and skirting boards left much to be desired. The main idea of this project was to remake the outdated renovation and add more colours and shapes in line with a modern interior.

In the living room, you opted for simple panelling in white contrasted with a wallpapered accent wall. How did you go about creating that classic yet contemporary look? The main thing was to create a beautiful box that could be filled with objects of different styles later. That is why the wallpapers with a more modern character already set the right mood. For the classic style, we made a false fireplace of white tiles. The rest of the furniture in the sitting room has a more modern shape.

What sort of advice would you give a first-time renovator wanting to decorate their walls? Where should they start?

Always keep in mind the furnishings that will one day live in the room. Think of wall decoration as picture frames for the objects. For example, choose a panelling system slightly larger than the width of your sofa so it can be placed perfectly inside the borders.

Use wall panels on one part of the walls to visually transform a simple room.

For their Suvorovskyi project, Chigintseva used simple wall panelling on one side of the room and foliage-patterned wallpaper on the other, creating a sense of contrast and structure within what would have otherwise been a plain space.

Colour is capable of anything.

Use colour to differentiate different spaces, pull focuses to decorative elements or make a room appear larger or smaller than it really is. The right combination of colour and wall decoration together can elevate a project in countless ways.

First, place the furniture. Then decide if you prefer symmetry or asymmetry. After that, choose the style: modern or classic. Finally, use wall decoration to set the rhythm and the emphasis in the room: think of which things you would like to highlight and which to unite.

contemporary classics

HOW TO

add contemporary wall design to your home

DESIGN TIPS

TOP-DOWN Not sure of where to begin when it comes to wall decoration? Start from the top. A cornice can set the agenda for the entire room. Fancy a more Classical atmosphere? Try a decorative Georgianinspired look. Prefer something more modern? A sharp-stepped wall-to-ceiling transition is perfect for that. From there, choose a complementary skirting board, and, if you’re feeling bold, go for panel moulding, which adds symmetry and order to a room.

contemporary classics

LET THE LIGHT IN Indirect lighting will give your walls a major glow up. An artfully placed strip of lighting can completely transform a room’s entire vibe. Not only can it make a space appear larger, but it can also be a great way to accentuate decorative cornices and create a cosy feeling after the sun sets.

CHASING SKIRTS A classic home feels, above all, tidy. The last thing you would want pulling focus from your perfectly put together space is an unsightly cable snaking from a floor lamp. To keep everything reined in, use a skirting board around the bottom of your wall, which can easily disguise any decorative loose threads.

MOD ERN MINI MAL

chapter 02

Breathing life into SPARSELY decorated spaces

VILLA

DE NIL

Sint-Denijs-Westrem, Belgium

Belgian developer Rietveld Projects transformed a historic villa from 1935 into a sophisticated office space ideally suited for today. Set over two sprawling floors in the town of Sint-Denijs-Westrem, the house came rich with original features such as parquet flooring, arched entranceways and Art Deco stained-glass porthole windows, all of which were thoughtfully preserved. The original architecture presented several interesting design challenges when modernising the space, specifically the rounded walls, which were understandably difficult to decorate. To produce a warm and inviting space while still adhering to the minimal aesthetic, the designers added flexible skirting at the base of the curved walls. The design choice added a visual bridge throughout the various rooms in the house, creating a consistent proportion and balance.

modern minimal