Photo courtesy: Berger Paints Bangladesh Limited

Sometimes all it takes is a little drama to spice up your life. Then why not start with your home? It is your sanctuary, your nest where you can be yourself. Interior decor consultant of Journeyman BD, Nazneen Haque Mimi offers us guidance on how to jazz up your walls with wallpaper and paint to bring in an element of magic and awe in your home. 

Find a focal wall
A focal wall is used as a statement piece that sets the mood and ambiance of the room. The most important factor in designing with a statement wall is to decide which wall will be highlighted as a focal point. It can be the wall you first see when you enter the room. It can also be the wall behind your couch, bed or TV. You should highlight only one wall of a room and not duplicate it on the rest of the walls. It should never be the wall by the window or the washroom as these walls tend to get water leakages and become damped. 

Different design styles with wallpaper and paint
You can use either a simple or a dramatic design style when setting the interior of your room. For a simple yet attractive look, you can plaster a wall and paint it a pearly white or cream. You can also choose a monochrome wallpaper with a soft textured layer instead of a paint. Preference should be given to light colours such as whites, creams and greys. Then to finish off, hang a painting or a decorative mirror. This kind of effortless and uncomplicated look can be achieved very easily and quickly within two to three hours. 

For an enchanting and dramatic effect, choose an accent colour that will contrast and complement with the other colours of the room. For instance, you can use a sunny yellow or rustic orange on the focal wall while the other walls are in light cream or white. 
You can now decide whether to use a wallpaper, paint or a combination of both. 

You can centre the wall with a wallpaper and have borders with a paint of the same colour tone as the wall paper. 
Or you can use the wallpaper on the entire focal wall and highlight it with spot lights and paintings, framed photographs or mirrors. Instead of a wall paper, you can use paint with a textured brushing technique, stencilling, asymmetrical patterns or stripes. The design possibilities are limitless when it comes to wallpapers and paints!

Maintenance and Cost
As our weather is very humid, it is a must that wallpaper is only cleaned with a feathered duster or a dry cloth. A thin layer of plywood can be installed before pasting a wallpaper to prevent damaging the wall if it is peeled off later. The longevity of wallpaper ranges from three to five years. Comparatively paints are easier to maintain and last longer. However, wallpapers offer a myriad of prints, such as stripes, flowers, polkas and oriental designs in all colours and metallic shades, which can be used to bring in a unique and loving touch to your home. 

Give your home a new look by using wallpaper and paint. Wallpapers are available in stores along the Mohakhali flyover. There are mostly Chinese and Korean wallpapers priced from Tk. 1800-5000 for a 52 square feet piece. Paints from different companies are easily available in local markets. Usually a litre of paint is enough to paint a wall, and it will cost you approximately Tk. 1000-1500. 
Contact Journeyman BD for any queries regarding interior design. See more of Nazneen Haque Mimi's work at www.journeymanbd.com. 

Illusions for the décor

With over 80 thematic, texture based paint schemes, Berger Illusions is a great way to add mood and ambience to your room. The Illusions collection ranges over a variety of themes from those of romance, urbane, posh and for kids. The collection is broadly categorised into seven parts – Bridal, Beach Wear, Liberty, Kids', Party Wear, Urbane and Valentine. 

The texture based paint is a great way to add character and personality to your home décor. For the kids, Illusions offer a range of fun designs which are bright and colourful. The Valentines and Urbane collection is more suave. To check out the entire range of patterns, please visit http://tinyurl.com/Berger-illusions or their website at www.bergerbd.com/decor