What are your favorite painting techniques?

This post was originally published on DIY Network’s blog Made + Remade in July 2012.

If you’ve been looking to switch up the paint colors in your home, the summer months are a good time to take on the challenge. Painting and experimenting with fun texture techniques can be a lot more bearable when you’re able to leave the windows open all day long to encourage the paint fumes to ventilate (and enjoy the fresh summer air while you’re at it).

In addition to this color blocking technique I embraced in my own living room, there are lots of different painting and wall covering ideas that I’ve experimented with.

If you’re making an effort to show your walls some attention, consider painting other spaces while you’re at it, like the staircase. My horizontal stripes required a lot of measuring and experimentation, and then took many days to complete, but make for friendly sight since it’s the first thing you focus on when you enter my house.

Sometimes it’s fun to add a little personal flair in hidden places that only you would really enjoy. I was inspired by ikat prints when I painted my bedroom closet:

And I made my own rules when I accented my stairwell closet with hand painted stripes. Sometimes it’s fun to ditch the painter’s tape and let the wall be a true canvas.