Canvases of Creativity

WALL.

A Blank. Imposing. Motionless. The image of someone staring at a wall implies that they have nothing better to do than look at nothing.

Staring at a wall, however, can be an event-just like staring at the French armoire discovered at an antique shop on Greenville Avenue that now sits in your bedroom, or the abstract painting purchased at a downtown arts festival that brings together every detail of your living room.

Walls are more than structures to hold up the roof, more than backdrops upon which to display your collection of art. They are the most spacious decorating areas in your house-huge canvases for your imagination.

“People are timid about walls,” says Stacy Robinson, who runs her wall finishing business, Dragonfly Studios, out of her home in Frisco. “They’re nervous about making a statement,”

Often overlooked when remodeling the home, walls can make quite a statement on their own, They can also accent what you already have and save you money in the remodeling process.

The concept is nothing new, The Egyptians embellished their primitive dwellings with what we now consider wall decor. These early “wall treatments” are featured in museums across the world.

In modem times, covering a wall with something more ambitious than a few coats of paint or a layer of wallpaper began in the ’80s. Homeowners learned they could take, for instance, a sea sponge, dip it into a bucket of paint, press it against the wall and create a new look. Such wall treatments have created a demand for the services of people like Robinson who consider the work as much art as remodeling.

“I don’t want someone to come in and say, lOh, you sponged your walls,’” says Robinson, a graduate of the An Institute in Atlanta. “I want them to come in and touch the walls because they look so interesting.”

INDEED, THE OPTIONS AVAILABLE MAKE ordinary white walls look almost déclassé. The current trend is artistic, imaginative, textured and individual. If you want leather paint on your walls-“Fabric-in-a-can” products by Ralph Lauren also include flannel, denim and suede-you can have it. If you think something out of your garden would look just as good on your kitchen walls, go for it. Your walls do not need to be simply the box in which you live; they can be a reflection of your taste.

One of Robinson’s projects involved the kitchen and breakfast room walls of Lane and Harvey Henkin’s home.

Lane came to Robinson with a simple problem: She haled her kitchen. Specifically, she thought the maize-colored wood cabinets and floors ruined the look of the kitchen area in the couple’s North Dallas home. The gold, red and green wallpaper merely accentuated the parts she hated.

Robinson advised her to flip through modern art books, wallpaper books and magazines for colors and shapes (hat appealed to her. After several discussions, Robinson picked up her paint brush and started painting. The product evolved one stroke at a time, with neither Robinson nor the Henkins knowing exactly where it would end up.

Two weeks later, it looked like Kan-dinsky had taken over the Henkins’ kitchen. Floor to ceiling, the walls are tike one giant abstract painting. Brilliant colors create blocks, circles and swirls.

“They have tall, cathedral walls and did not want to just display another piece of art,” Robinson explains. “1 took my paint brush, dipped it in red and purple and all sorts of other colors and mixed it on the wall. I was willing to do whatever they were willing to do. I love it when someone’s brave enough to do something wild.”

“I feel like I’m living inside a painting,” says Harvey Henkin, who works as vice president of sales for Breath Assure. “Some in the room-1’umiture, flooring, pieces of ail. Is it light or dark in the room? You don’t have to get crazy with a wall to bring out the features of a room. Although Robinson is a big fan of color, brighter doesn’t necessarily mean better.

“In their mind’s eye, people think, ’I want a yellow room’ so they go with a yellow room,” Robinson says, ’if, instead, they’d stay with a tan that has a little touch of yellow, they’d be much happier.”

Once you’ve chosen the main color scheme of each room, place the paint chip or material samples side by side to see if the scheme flows through the house: “They can all be very bold, but they need to be of equal weight,” Robinson says. “One shouldn’t stand out tremendously from the others.”

Many people are afraid of making bold statements on their walls, mostly because they are mindful of the home’s resale value. What if the Henkins sell their home to someone who hates Kandinsky and abstract art?

Simple. They can cover it up.

“It’s only paint.” says Robinson. “I try to stress to people to make their homes their own. It’s your retreat. There’s nothing more personal than your own space.”