Adding the WOW factor to a Boring Room

If you have a room in your home you find particularly dull and boring, here are a few ideas on things you might do to transform them from dull and boring into daring and bold.  If you’re already begun searching the Internet you surely have come across the term “the WOW factor”.  Just what is the Wow factor?

You’ll find a variety of urban dictionary definitions but one of the best is simply a “set of properties an object has that elicits a pleasant surprise from an observer.”  In simpler terms, if a visitor walks into a room and exclaims “WOW”, or has a “WOW” look in his or her eyes, you r room definitely has the WOW factor.

One of the most effective and also the easiest ways to add WOW to a boring room is through the use of dramatic contrasts in color.  Solid white walls as a background against which a bright red or blue or green accent piece is contrasted definitely rates a WOW.

A single wall can be selected as a focal point and painted in a bright solid dark color, with lighter shades on the side walls for contrast.  Finer home decorating magazines you can peruse at your local library will show you many examples of contrasting colors for a dramatic effect.  One of the biggest WOWS you can elicit comes from painting the ceiling in a dark shade, contrasting with lighter colored walls.

Adding chair rail molding to a room is yet another way to increase the WOW factor.  Chair rail gives you more area for contrast, with dramatic darks below the chair rail and softer hues above.  For even more contrast, consider painting your light switch and outlet covers in a bright color.  Spray paint makes doing this an easy task.  Switch and outlet covers can also be finished in fabric to match draperies and other fabric accessories in the room.

Another way to achieve the WOW factor is to add interest by using stencils to add pattern to your wall painting.  Stencils are available in an endless array of shapes, figures, and patterns.   Sponge painting and rag painting are techniques that can be used to WOW up your walls as well.

Fabric covered walls are yet another approach and even inexpensive bed sheets can be used as a substitute for wallpaper.  Fabrics add texture to a room, especially when applied to walls.  Wall paneling that simulates natural stone is getting popular and adds another WOW element to texture and pattern:  depth.  Many of the more expensive stone look wall panels have an almost 3D effect and are really dramatic.

Since the world is going green, how about WOWING your guests with some dramatic living plants?  Check your local garden center and you’ll find many varieties of large, stately potted palms that are spectacular to behold.  Their price can be spectacular as well, so be prepared to pay.

A final area where you can look to add WOW to that boring room is in interesting and unique accessories.  An antique sofa is sure to attract attention as are interesting architectural artifacts you can use to decorate the walls of the room.  Vintage art glass windows can be found at local salvage outlets and used as wall hangings in front of existing windows.  The sun streaming through the colored glass is guaranteed to elicit a WOW from visitors to the room.