How to Make an Old House Feel New Again, Using Nothing but Paint

Buying and updating an older starter property can feel pretty overwhelming. Luckily, you don’t need to spend a fortune to feel instantly at home in your new digs – these easy painting DIY home projects will get the job done in no time.

Mother and daughter holding hands climbing a multicolour wooden staircase painted with blue, green and yellow paints of various shades

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Stairway to Heaven

Jazz up a simple stairway by painting each rise its own bold colour – choose a single colour with varying amounts of white added for an ombre effect, or splash out and turn it into an indoor rainbow. Lugging laundry up and down the stairs just got a whole lot brighter. Tip: A sample can typically holds 8 ounces, which would be more than enough to cover a step or two.

Blue curtains on a dark wooden curtain rod sitting on the floor in front of a wall covered in blue and white striped wallpaper

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Curtain Call

Update tired wooden curtain rods with a fresh coat or two of scratch-resistant paint. Cleaning, sanding and painting them will take a bit of elbow grease but it’s a way cheaper alternative to replacing them all, and will instantly change the feel of a space.

Beautiful sitting room painting in BEHR Almond Wisp PPU5-12 with a fireplace mantle painted in BEHR Canyon Dusk S210-4 and topped with framed art and photos, a potted plant and various objets du art, and a cream-coloured armchair with a throw and a black and white geometric pillow

Behr: Almond Wisp PPU5-12, Canyon Dusk S210-4

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Show Your Mantle

When noodling over the best living room paint colours, turn to the experts. This year, Behr has selected BEHR Canyon Dusk S210-4 as their 2021 Colour of the Year – its warm inviting tones make it the ideal shade for a mantle refresh. Sometimes pulling out one element in a room to paint is all that’s needed to elevate the design; use a durable on-trend flat paint, such as BEHR SCUFF DEFENSE Interior Extra Durable Flat Paint & Primer, for a modern feel.

Beautiful living room with a long white couch, two wooden framed mid-century modern armchairs, a rectangular coffee table, white walls, black window frames and door, a brass constellation chandelier, artwork on the walls, and a ceiling painted teal as featured on HGTV’s Masters of Flip

HGTV Canada

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Look Up, Way Up

When looking for other living room paint ideas, all you need to do is look up. Yep, adding colourful paint to the ceiling – especially if the rest of the room’s palette remains quite neutral – is a fun way to flip convention and inject energy into a space without too much work or investment.

Colourful rainbow lines painted on a white wall in an entryway as part of a DIY project by HGTV’s DIY expert Tiffany Pratt

HGTV Canada

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Finding Patterns

Instead of using traditional (and oftentimes, expensive) wallpaper to highlight a specific area, opt for this simple DIY painted-wallpaper alternative. Painting a rainbow riot of colours with a (steady) free hand brings visual interest and vitality to a small space, such as an entryway or powder room.

Man throws gallons of yellow and blue paint at a large canvas in an empty room with a drop sheet on the floor

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Out Canvassing

When looking for an easy DIY home project, you can go beyond painting a feature wall and think about what you’d like to put on that wall. Put your artistic hat on and create your own large-canvas abstract masterpiece…just make sure you protect your “studio” from wayward paint splatters while working on your craft.

Chic modern kitchen and dining area in a light filled home with cabinets and feature wall painted with BEHR Dressed to Impress MQ1-19, an oven hood painted in BEHR Mined Coal PPU18-18 and the wall painted in BEHR Minimalistic PPU25-12

Behr: Minimalistic PPU25-12, Mined Coal PPU18-18, Dressed...

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Paint Cabinets

When searching for straightforward, paint-based home improvements in the kitchen, look no further than the cabinets. Give these kitchen workhorses new life with a fresh, on-trend colour, such as BEHR Dressed to Impress MQ1-19, and choose a made-for-the-task paint such as BEHR PREMIUM Cabinet & Trim Enamel in the newly launched satin finish. It flows on fast and level, and dries to a durable finish – a must in a hardworking kitchen.

A young woman painting a vintage chair with yellow paint and a paintbrush in a backyard

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Take a Seat

Another bright DIY paint idea is to give a vintage chair new lease on life with a bright makeover. It may be a piece you found, inherited, thrifted or hunted down online, but putting your own creative stamp via a vivid coat of paint is an easy way to create an instant focal point in any room you place it in.

Fun and modern bathroom with white subway tiles on the wall, two brass scones, and a brass framed mirror hanging on the wall above an eggshell blue bathroom vanity

Tracey Ayton Photography

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Blue Moon

White, cream, tan: there’s nothing wrong with bathroom vanities in these neutral shades – but if you want to add a little drama to your space, go for colour. This bright sky blue vanity paired with romantic brass fixtures and accessories is an undeniably sophisticated combination.

Sophisticated dining room with light grey wood floors, a white and wood dining table on a grey and white rug, a blue chair painted in BEHR Caribe PPU13-01, and bookshelves painted in BEHR Broadway PPU18-20 and Euphoric Magenta M110-7

Behr: Broadway PPU18-20, Euphoric Magenta M110-7, Smoky...

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Back to It

With the advent of the #shelfie, bookshelves have become so much more than just a place to store your books – they’re now curated displays of taste, from art to personal interests. Painting the back of the bookshelves in deep, rich colour creates a tonal backdrop for these new décor vignettes to shine. Don’t worry: You don’t need elaborate built-ins to get the benefits of this simple DIY paint idea – any bookshelf setup will do.