Wall color is an essential element that sets a room’s mood and serves as a backdrop for furniture and accessories. We’re excited about Behr’s color trends for 2009, which embrace eclectic interior designs and celebrate diverse cultural influences.

Question: Why would you want to whitewash brick? How do you do it?

Answer: Whitewashing can be a beautiful and lower-maintenance alternative to painting your entire brick exterior. Though today’s standard exterior paints are specially formulated to hold tight to masonry, they still require a good deal of touch up and maintenance. Whitewashing, on the other hand, tends to look even better over time as it ages, and it gives your home a nice English cottage or historic look.

To touch up tiny spots use a Q-tip instead of a brush; you won’t waste paint and you won’t have to clean a brush.

When you need a primer coat (usually white) and you’ve chosen a dark finish color, add a bit of the finish paint to the primer. The final coat will cover much better.

One way to judge the quality of a paintbrush is to examine its bristles for split ends known as "flags." These enable the brush to retain more paint and spread it more uniformly. On good brushes, at least half of the bristles are flagged.

Non-traditional materials serve as unique alternatives to traditional framed wall art, providing a variety of creative solutions for common interior design dilemmas.

Whether you’re suffering from a cramped and cluttered pint-sized living area, or the powers that be have forbidden you to nail or paint the walls, a little ingenuity and the right materials will have your space shining with personality.