Last week we helped a friend paint her living room (before and after pics coming soon!). Since the space is quite small and has a few big pieces of furniture, the space felt cramped with little room to breathe. To make the space seem more open, our friend decided to paint the walls a glittering gold hue--and it turned out amazing. We've rounded up a few spaces from previous AT posts to give you some inspiration!
If you didn't have a chance to check out this full post from AT; Chicago, definitely take a quick glance. They've posted a before photo of this bedroom's white walls and we're amazed at what a little gold paint can do. Not only does the gold paint liven up the white walls, the wide stripe of paint defines the space.
You don't have to paint your walls one hundred percent metallic--a hint of a shimmer works just as well. Take for instance this ColorTherapy post. The light bounces off the walls creating a soft glow that will make any space feel bigger instantly.
Frottage, a painting technique, is used here with dark undertones mixed with a layer of shimmer to make this room expand.
We love the instant glam effect that this silver metallic paint has on the kitchen walls. While we do love how metallic paint instantly opens up a room, make sure to prep your walls and smooth out any flaws. Glossy paint tends to overexpose a wall's imperfections.
Related Small Space Posts
[Image on first page from Ralph Lauren]
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Apartment Therapy Presents 
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Comments (7)
i like that gold chair. I'd like to see an example in person - pics are hard to tell. In general i don't like shiny paint on the walls - i prefer lime or clay matte.
Oh, I wish I didn't have metallic paint-itis, because shiny sparkly things are great.
However, after buying my current house from a decorative painter and inheriting a kitchen, bathroom and living room that all had metallic paint elements and/or walls, including the bathroom with it's silver/dark blue glazed walls, I never ever want to live with that again.
Oooh, shiny.
Before I moved out of my mother's house, I repainted my old room and did an accent wall in a dark teal metallic paint. My mother loves it, but unfortunately that room doesn't get a lot of natural light, so step number two is to work on lighting. That's one thing to remember about metallics - you need good lighting!
Metallic accent walls look amazing in candle light. I've always wanted to try it in my own home.
I painted the ceiling in our bedroom (err, my HUSBAND painted it) a light aluminum (Ralph Lauren paint), and it didn't quite turn out the way I had envisioned.
A big part of the problem was the crappy primer we used, which did not adhere to the new wallboard and drywall compound (I strongly advise everyone to avoid BEHR products because of this horrible experience. Sure, the chances that something like this will happen to you are low, but be warned, when it DOES happen to you, it is a nightmare. And there is NO support from Behr, despite the best efforts of Home Depot).
Apart from the intercoat adhesion problems though, I think the effect I was after may have been better achieved by paper the ceiling with Joss Paper (I'm not Asian, so the superstition wouldn't bother me).
Walls are quite irregular, even if you use fresh wallboard (e.g., even perfect joints will show), and the metallic paint isn't quite metallic enough for the effect I wanted -- which was the metal quality of silver leaf.
I've seen gold-leaf walls, and the effect is .... amazingly beautiful. Can't imagine the time and expense necessary though, so the joss paper seems a good compromise. (AT did a post on it last year).
I painted the back wall of the foyer niche in a moss green Ralph Lauren metallic -- with gold metallic frames against it, and a can light over it, it looks pretty good!
mschatelaine, you can get gold or silver composition leaf at a craft store (Michael's, AC Moore, etc.) or online, and it's much cheaper than real precious metal. (Probably about $8 per book of 25 5.5 inch squares.) (Still costy for a ceiling, but WAY cheaper than real gold, for example.)
But you are right -- you need a perfectly smooth surface for the best results.