Color drenching may be one of the latest trends in interior design, but when done right it is a timeless way to elevate your interior. Read on to learn what color drenching is and how to pull it off in your home.

What Is Color Drenching?

Color drenching is a technique where all surfaces of a room are painted the same color, including walls, trim, doors, window sills, and ceiling. Color drenching can extend to radiators, shelves, cabinets, and floors as well. One room can include different shades of the same color or just one shade for a stunning dramatic effect. The color-drenched look can also be achieved by matching colored wallpaper with painted trim and ceilings.

Trending But Timeless

The color-drenching trend has been flourishing as homeowners look for new ways to personalize their spaces, but this technique has been around for decades. Historically popular with UK designers, this technique is often associated with Victorian-style interiors. In Victorian-style homes smaller rooms like bathrooms, libraries, and foyers have been favorites for this technique. In modern interiors we are seeing this trend make its way into living rooms, bedrooms, dining rooms, and kitchens.

Tips & Tricks for Color Drenching

Taking the plunge into color drenching can be intimidating – follow these tips and tricks to make sure you end up with a space you love.

• Start With Furniture: Consider key pieces of furniture and decor before choosing a paint color. If you’re working with a furnished room, be sure to pick a color palette that works with your existing key pieces like a sofa and accent chairs. If you’re starting from scratch, choose a few pieces of furniture and decor in the shade you’d like before choosing a paint color that matches that shade. Nothing is worse than painting a room, and then bringing home pieces in shades that don’t quite fit – it’s much easier to choose the right paint color and sheens once you have furniture and decor in mind.
• Choose the Right Color: Instead of going straight for the Pantone color of the year, or another trending hue, take some time to think about a color that’s right for your home. Choose a color that you will want to see for years to come, and think about how you want that color to make you and your family feel. Are you looking for a cozy, happy, energized, or calm feel? The right color can do that for you!
• Sample Your Color: Before committing to a color, bring home paint or wallpaper samples. Paint a large enough section of your wall that you can push pieces of furniture or decor in front of it to see if the colors mesh. See how the sample looks at different times of day, and with or without window treatments to make sure it looks great in your space with all lighting. Paint and wallpaper samples allow you to get a sense of the sheen and texture as well, which is an important part of color drenching.
• Create Depth & Contrast: Make sure you are retaining a sense of depth and contrast in your color-drenched room. There are several ways to do this, including adding picture molding or wood panels to the walls, choosing different sheens for different parts of the room, or using a wallpaper in the same hue as your trim and woodwork to add dramatic texture or patterns. You can also add depth with wall accents or a monochromatic gallery wall. If you plan to create a monochromatic look by choosing furniture in the same color, be sure to create contrast with lighter or darker hues to add plenty of depth to your space.

Is Color Drenching Right for Your Home?

Before committing to a full color drench, make sure this technique is right for your space. Here are some things to consider.

Benefits

Easily elevate your space with this technique. Color drenching can be used to create illusions or hide imperfections. Here are a few benefits of using this technique:

• Create Spacial Illusions: Color drenching can make a space look grander and taller since the color goes from floor to ceiling. You can also manipulate space by choosing lighter or darker colors to make your room look smaller or larger. Bright white color drenching can create a grand chapel-like space, while deep earthy tones can give a larger room a more compact and cozy feel.
• Divert Attention From Fixtures: Fixtures like built-in shelves, furnaces, or cabinets are distracting and can make smaller spaces seem more crowded. Including these fixtures in your color-drenching technique (aka making them the same color as the rest of the wall) can help blend these fixtures and keep the space looking cohesive. Diverting the eye from these imposing fixtures will make the entire room look more open so your furniture and decor can center stage.
• Manipulate Moods: Creating a well-blended and cohesive space can create calming and relaxing vibes. You can also play with color palettes to manipulate the mood of your space. Light blues, greens, neutrals, and pastels create calming surroundings, while vibrant colors can be energizing and jewel tones can easily give your room a more luxurious feel.
• Create Colorful Transitions: Carefully curated color palettes can create dreamy transitions between rooms. If you plan on color drenching more than one room, consider the visual transition. Make sure your color palette doesn’t clash with the next room by choosing complementary hues.

Considerations

While color drenching can be pulled off in most rooms, there are some exceptions. Consider these color drenching challenges before starting your projects:

• Avoid Open-Concept Spaces: Color drenching in an open-concept home can be very challenging. This is because color drenching a large area that has multiple functions can be overwhelming and hard to pull off. Without the physical borders of doors and walls, it can be difficult to know where to start or stop with colors. If you do have an open-concept home, you can still try out color drenching in bedrooms, bathrooms, or any other separate room.
• Know Your Lighting: Test your color choice against your natural and artificial lighting. Using a dark paint color in a poorly lit room can make your color look black, while using a pastel in an overlit room can make it look washed out. This is a bigger problem with color-drenched rooms since it will also diminish the room’s contrast and depth. If you’re set on a certain color, you can use lighting fixtures and window treatments to manipulate your lighting to work for your desired shade.
• Consider Your Materials: Think about the materials in your room before committing to color drenching. If you decide to paint brick, stone, or natural wood in an older house, it will take a lot of work to strip the paint if you change your mind in the future.

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