Materials and finishes for Decorations
December 15, 2025
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When it comes to decorative painting, the first step is to determine the desired finish : matte, silky, slightly glossy, metallic, gradient, striped, or geometric. High-quality matte wall paints are an ideal base when you want a full, uniform color, with a contemporary, low-reflective effect, suitable for almost any space. Highly washable versions also make it easier to remove small marks with a damp cloth.
Glazes and semi-transparent products allow you to layer light clouds of color, create depth, and soften harsh tones. A pearl gray glaze over a warm beige background, for example, creates an elegant effect, while layerings of dove gray, sand, and light gray create soft, vibrant walls, perfect behind a sofa or in a dining area.
Metallic and pearlescent finishes are highly popular: warm silver, champagne, light gold, copper, and graphite. Used on a single wall or in selected sections, they reflect light in a controlled manner, adding a touch of drama without being overbearing. A typical example is the wall behind the dining table with a champagne metallic glaze or a pearl gray headboard with subtle silver highlights.
Water-based wall paints allow for more structured decorations: precise lines, clean-cut profiles, painted paneling, borders, and squares. Thanks to their greater durability, they are suitable for hallways, stairwells, children's bedrooms, and heavily used areas. With carefully chosen combinations—for example, a lower section of the wall in smoky gray and the upper section in warm white—it's possible to redesign the room's proportions and protect the most exposed areas from dirt.
Stencils and graphic motifs also feature in the decorations: highly stylized floral elements, tone-on-tone geometric patterns, and horizontal bands that run along the perimeter of the room. The use of tonal colors, such as warm white and beige, light gray and greige, or sage green and cream, makes these decorations elegant and suitable for spaces that may change furnishings and functions over time.
The choice of materials and finishes is not just about aesthetics, but also about everyday practicality. Walls near tables, beds, desks, or in the entryway benefit from more durable finishes, while in less stressed areas, more delicate and decorative products can be used, focusing the budget where it's really needed.
Highlight
• They allow you to characterise the walls by working only with colour, drawings and graphics, without creating thickness.
• They include very versatile solutions: solid backgrounds, lines, geometries, stencils, writing and graphic motifs.
• Ideal for updating already finished environments without invasive interventions on plaster and substrates.
• They can easily interact with furnishings and textiles, becoming a “backdrop” on which to build the rest of the project.
Low Light
• They require consistency with floors and furniture: random choices risk creating walls that are too “noisy”.
• Some very trendy patterns can become tiring in the medium term, especially in very lived-in rooms.
• Errors in proportions or positioning (decoration too high/low) are immediately noticeable and difficult to ignore.
