Color Drenching! Is This A Trend Worth Trying
There’s a reason why you’re starting to see a new trend in painting called color drenching. Color drenching is when you walk into a room and everything in the room is painted the same color: the walls, the trim, and the ceiling. If there’s a radiator, sometimes even that is painted in the same color. It can give the room a dramatic and cozy feeling all at the same time.
The reason I started looking into this is because I’m thinking about doing it in a room. I’m getting ready to redo my son’s room when he leaves for college. I want to do something different in there. In fact, it’s a project I’m going to share with a group of people who want to do a project at the same time. If that’s something you’re interested in, see this link: Decorating Challenge.
First, let’s learn about color drenching. Who is it for?
It is not for someone who doesn’t like color. It doesn’t count if it’s white. It has to be a color. It can’t be white trim, white walls, or a white ceiling.
It’s probably not for you if it’s something for a place that you’re renting in the short term. Color drenching is not only a time commitment. It’s a big financial commitment, especially if you’re paying someone to paint the walls, the trim, or the ceiling. It’s an even bigger commitment if you’re doing it in a room that has a lot of cabinetry.
Color Drenching Room Examples
Let’s look at these examples, starting from the least dramatic to the most dramatic.
We’re starting with this pale yellow room. You can almost barely tell this is color drenching. Everything in the room is a soft butter yellow.
Next, we’re going to look at this girl’s bedroom. While everything in the room is pink, I don’t feel like the room looks juvenile. I feel like it has an updated look to it.
You may have seen this green one in my green living room series. It’s almost like a light celery green. The fact that everything in the room is painted green I feel like gives it a unique look.
Here’s an example of a blue office. In this case, you have to be committed to blue to paint your cabinets light blue. Painting cabinets is an expensive thing to do. I don’t recommend this if you’re not married to the idea of living in the space for a while and also love the color a lot.
Here’s another example of a living room that’s all blue. This one seems like less of a commitment because there’s not as much in the room that’s woodwork to paint. It still has a really dramatic effect.
Finally, the last one is a dark green bedroom that’s color drenched.
Color Drenching Tip
One thing I want you to see with each one of these examples is lighting. If you decide you want to do color drenching, you have to think about your lighting. That is part of what makes the room look dramatic.
You need to make sure you have the three kinds of light that all rooms need to have: ambient light (which is the lights that are in the ceiling), task lighting (like table lamps or floor lamps to light up a specific task), and accent lighting. Accent lighting is what makes a difference in a room that is color drenched. It makes it feel cozy and warm.
If you’re thinking about color drenching, let me know and let me know which one you liked best in the comments. If you are scared of the commitment to painting everything the same color, consider painting your ceiling.
Hi there! I’m considering using color drenching in my dining room. What is the paint color used in the Victorian example? I love that green!
Thank you, Pam
Pam,
I think it looks very close to Sherwin Williams White Mint, but I highly recommend using Samplize and ordering a bunch of colors because the lighting in your room makes a big difference.
I hope this helps.
Andrea
Can you share what the dark color
Green is?
Rachel,
It Sherwin Williams Hunt Club.
I hope this helps.
Andrea