Everyone knows that a fresh coat of paint brightens any area. However, there’s a hot trend that can not only give life to a room but also completely transform it! It’s called color drenching, and it’s an adventurous way to claim a whole new look with just a bucket or three of paint. It’s among the most interesting interior design trends 2023 has to offer!

Color Drenching: A Fearless New Trend in Painting

Color drenching is the process of painting an entire room in a single color. You start with the four walls, but you don’t stop there! The same color goes on the baseboard and trim and possibly on the ceiling. Picture frames, radiators and stairway railings are fair game as well! Often designers will choose furniture and accessories that echo the walls or are a related shade.

Sometimes color drenching will be achieved with two or three closely related shades of a single color, but quite often it’s the exact same monochromatic hue everywhere in the room.

Color drenching can be done in white or neutrals, but the most modern and adventurous interpretations feature jewel tones and saturated colors. Deep greens and blues and, in some cases, reds make the most arresting and transformative statements!

What Does Color Drenching Accomplish?

For those who are brave enough to take the drenching plunge, it can totally remake a space. This is especially true in a small room. If you can’t knock out a wall, you can still make a small area look larger! Any room, no matter what size, will be more engaging and will exude a contemporary aura!

Color drenching plays optical tricks with the furnishings and décor. It makes the room appear to recede, thus spotlighting objects that have any kind of contrasting color. Items such as lighting fixtures, cushions, accent chairs and contrasting knickknacks move forward and take a more central role.

While light drenched colors open up a space and make it airier, darker colors can make it cozier. The more saturated shades lend a sense of luxury and extravagance.

Another illusion occurs when you match the color of the ceiling to the walls. It makes the room feel taller and the ceilings themselves seem higher!

Interested? Here’s How to Get Started!

The first step is to choose a color. Unless you’re undertaking an extensive remodel, look at what’s already in the room. Do you want to build on the colors you already have by matching your large pieces, or do you want your furnishings to contrast? Do you prefer the room-expanding but safer choice of a lighter color, or are you going to take a step into brave new territory with a more luscious shade that makes a contemporary statement?

Will you embrace the full drenching of one precise color, or might you tone down the effect with multiple shades of a color? Surprising as it may seem, an assertive color in monochromatic interior design can sometimes create a sense of serenity!

Now take a brush or roller in hand and go for it! How much will you paint? It depends on how much you dare. At the very least include the baseboard and door and window trim. You might extend your color to interior woodwork. Look up! Are you ready to continue your drenching to the “fifth wall?” What else can your paintbrush target? If it can take paint, consider it!

Here are some miscellaneous tips for your color drenching adventure:

• Think about what else can match your paint color. This could include curtains, rugs, carpeting and upholstery.
• Use metallics and natural materials. These textures create points of interest without compromising the drench effect.
• If you have patterns in upholstery or carpeting, try to have one color in the pattern match the wall.
• Don’t overlook bathrooms, kitchens and hallways as candidates for drenching!
• Pay attention to lighting, both natural and artificial. With a single color, the effects of shadows are exaggerated.
• If you’re choosing new furniture for a color drenched room, one technique is to choose items as close to the drench color as possible. Another is to choose furnishings that match each other but contrast with the walls.

When it comes to changing a space, few things are as transformative or as cost-effective as paint! And, remember, what you paint once, you can paint again. You’re not stuck with the drenching color you choose. If you tire of what you picked, just change it!