This French Paint Method Adds Instant Personality to a Beige Bedroom

Sarah Everett
·3 min read
Candle sconces and mirror hang on wall above bed with red gingham bedding flanked by two lamps.
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Mirror and candle sconces above bed with red gingham bedding flanked by lamps and windows in white bedroom.
Art on white wall above pink cart with religious and mushroom decor and candlesticks in bedroom.
Mirror and plates on white walls with pink trompe l'oeil detail above green striped stool and stacked books in bedroom with green area rug.
Bed with red bedding and gallery wall with paintings on white walls with trompe l'oeil detail.
Floral art and candle sconces above bed with red bedding flanked by lamps in white bedroom with with trompe l'oeil detail.
Red dresser and white walls with trompe l'oeil detail in bedroom with easel and gallery wall of paintings and bed with red bedding.

ABOUT THIS BEFORE & AFTER

HOME TYPE: Apartment

PROJECT TYPE: Bedroom

STYLE: Colorful, Cottage, Eclectic

SKILL LEVEL: DIY

RENTAL FRIENDLY: Yes

If your home is lacking architectural details, you can take matters into your own hands by adding a ceiling medallion, adding peel-and-stick stained glass, or picture frame molding —or any of these six methods for adding more architectural character to a home.

Or, you can take a page from artist Scott Csoke’s book and add 2-D architectural details. That’s right — your additions don’t even really have to be architectural, technically, to make a statement. Scott gave the bedroom in their Williamsburg apartment bedroom a bold update with a gorgeous pink paint project.

Mirror and candle sconces above bed with red gingham bedding flanked by lamps and windows in white bedroom.
Bed with red bedding and gallery wall with paintings on white walls with trompe l'oeil detail.

The bedroom had plain walls before.

Before, the bedroom had a base color chosen by Scott’s landlord, and they chose to liven them up with his largest-scale paint project to date. They did a little bit of sketching of the faux-architectural trompe-l’oeil, aka trick-of-the-eye, mural before beginning, but not much.

“Sometimes I would take a picture and draw on my phone, but I tried not to obsess over it,” Scott says. “The inspiration came from Christian Berard [a French fashion illustrator], who did these trompe l’oeil murals for people back in the ‘30s and ‘40s.”

Art on white wall above pink cart with religious and mushroom decor and candlesticks in bedroom.
Mirror and plates on white walls with pink trompe l'oeil detail above green striped stool and stacked books in bedroom with green area rug.

Everything was hand-painted with an angled brush.

Using an angled-edge paintbrush and a discount vibrant pink paint (True Value’s Formosa Pink), Scott got to work painting faux molding on the wall, and it was a fairly improvisational process.

“The process was extremely fun, and I didn’t want it to end,” Scott says. “It was an adrenaline rush because I really didn’t know what to do if I messed up; I just hoped for the best, and it worked.” (Scott has painted furniture and individual pieces in a gallery wall before, but nothing to this scale.)

The entire process took some time — the bedroom took around a day to complete, but they advise it’s not something to be rushed due to the intricacy of the project. “There aren’t really any shortcuts when you’re doing something like this,” Scott says. “You kind of have to just let it take the amount of time it takes.”

Overall, Scott is delighted with the paint project and it has made them trust themselves more when it comes to DIY. “I love that it is happy. I love that it is pink and not something that everyone has,” they say. “I also love that it is inherently me because I painted it.”

Inspired? Submit your own project here.