When you think of efficiency, everything depends on the purpose you have in mind. Speaking of white walls, they may be efficient in hospitals where by their neutrality and coldness they may extinguish intense, burning pain or help one find peace, objectivity and power before being released. But when we replace the setting and move back home, everything changes for the worst: what was there perceived as soothing coolness becomes here stark indifference, and the support of reflection ‘helps’ one here just to stare as it were at utter nothingness, leaving one in despair. Therefore, no, white walls by themselves are not efficient at home.
But if you are a resourceful person, you will know what to do. White walls have an advantage by being neutral; you should not leave them to be just boring. By being neutral, they form a kind of inert material that you can work wonders on. Depending on the style you choose for your home, you may enliven them by colorful furniture, or if your furniture too is in neutral colors as it is usually the case, intensely colored accessories are the right answer. And now you turned the drabness of your white walls into your advantage: if you want to redecorate again, all you have to do is to replace the accessories, and that’s the most inexpensive thing to do, while there are still flea markets or garage sales around.
So let’s see what you can do to spice up your home. Though your furniture is in cold colors, you may always find a sofa in vivid colors. Make it the center piece of your living room, and there you have your first touch of color. Then add brightly colored pillows everywhere: they will do the job and besides are easily replaceable. Then come with colorful lamps, vases and light fittings. The draperies do not have to be white or even pastel; you may choose them too in gay nuances. Place then some nicely matched rugs here and there and if even so you still feel the need of more color and sun in you home go to the next step.
Who said that draperies were meant just for windows? You can hang them up or just cover an entire wall with them. Or if you do not want to be so radical, you can cover your walls with some large colorful pictures of plain fabric.
So, as you see, there are many ways to counterbalance white walls without paint. Paint stinks, makes a mess of your home and then if you change your mind it’s hard to remove. The same holds true for colored furniture items. They may be heavy, expensive and not so easily disposable. Therefore, just accessorize and your white walls will allow you most flexibility and dynamism in trying on your creative color palette.
