Stylist Matthew Mead Demonstrates Creative Wallscapes as Backdrops for Personalized Room Decor

MINNEAPOLIS, July 31, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- When designing a room, think of the walls as your canvas – the foundation for anchoring the furnishings and accessories that will stamp the space with your personal style. 

That was the advice offered by Stylist Matthew Mead, author of Matthew Mead's Backyard Style and Holiday with Matthew Mead during a recent Wagner Spray Tech-sponsored event in Brooklyn.

"Walls – and the treatments you choose for them – are critical to bringing your personal design statement to life, because today we've moved beyond painting to becoming our own design directors," he said. "Think of walls as the backdrop for your furniture, art and the personal objects you love."

And today, advanced paint application tools make it possible to prepare and paint walls quickly and achieve professional results. "What's great is that we now have the technologies to create original, personalized wallscapes easier and faster than ever, so there's more time to stretch the imagination in adding other decorating details," said Mead.

Citing the use of the Wagner FLEXiO 590 handheld model and the FLEXiO 890 stationary sprayer for his more extensive projects, Mead was able to play with color gradation, two-color interplay and graphics, "There's no reason to be afraid of spraying. It's easy and fast – and it's definitely something even a first-time DIYer can master." According to Mead, the FLEXiO is a good choice because it's lighter weight and quieter than other sprayers, making for a more pleasant experience.      

During the event, Mead revealed four design ideas that illustrated how creative wallscapes provide the foundation of a look:  a Scandinavian holiday inspired dining room; an ombre office; a frame stenciled bedroom wall and a backyard sanctuary.

Holiday dining room
Festive, fun and up-styled for holiday entertaining, the dining room decor begins with the walls: They are spray painted evenly with satin paint for a clean, modern feel. A stencil of paper crowns placed at the plate rail adds a festive accent. Taking inspiration from Scandinavian design, the scene is completed with classic red and white furnishings. Satin paint is sprayed quickly and - expertly - to the color-dipped table, chairs and sideboard to create a dressed-down, warm and welcoming style.

Ombre office
Inspired by the graduated tones of a Rothko painting – probably the most famous of ombre designs, the multi-tone wall treatment, achieved with controlled spraying to meld the tones, features a perfect color palette for building your personal design statement. The walls serve as the room's canvas, ideal for assembling layers of colors, textures and objects, including these repurposed flea market finds, to create intrigue and inspiration.

Frame-stenciled bedroom
A graphic stencil frame provides a strong focal point in this bedroom area, but stenciling success depends first on wall preparation – cleaning, smoothing cracks and applying an even, stroke-free layer of paint to complement stencil colors. Nothing helps prepare the walls faster and more professionally than the Wagner FLEXiO 590 paint sprayer. The stencil, inspired by the richly decorative brocades of times past, is given a modern, stylish, DIY look with fresh colors. Here, pattern mixes with color to create a decor that is interesting, yet coordinated, for the eye. Favorite colors, textures and collectibles can serve as the perfect complement.

Backyard sanctuary
A backyard sanctuary can be created easily and inexpensively with flea-market finds up-styled with paint and color. In this comfortable grouping, the coffee table – its base an oversized aluminum planter –and trellis divider are spray painted with contemporary horizontal designs in teal green and earthy chartreuse – a job easily done with the Wagner FLEXiO 890 sprayer.  Shades of green on the spool table and trellis help draw in the surrounding natural world, while  bright yellow boat cushions – provide color that embraces summer's warmth.

Editor's note:  Room decor photos available upon request.  

About Matthew Mead
Matthew Mead is a stylist, writer, author, photographer, lifestyle editor, and noted style expert. The former style editor of Country Home magazine and co-editor in chief of Flea Market Style magazine (2010), Matthew is the official food photographer for the Associated Press and is a regular contributor to Better Homes and Gardens and Victoria magazine. Matthew has also written several books and produced countless magazine spreads and ad campaigns for noted companies such as Pottery Barn, Dove Chocolate, Target, and Stonewall Kitchen.

About Wagner SprayTech Corp.
Minneapolis-based Wagner SprayTech Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Wagner Holding, Inc., is a market leader in advanced paint applicators. It develops and markets a wide array of painting and decorating products used in home improvement, commercial painting and industrial fine finishing. These products make it easier to prepare surfaces, apply paints and other coatings, and clean up after painting. Wagner supports its customers through innovation, high tech engineering, quality manufacturing and service. For more information: www.wagnerspraytech.com, https://www.facebook.com/WagnerPainting,
@WagnerSprayTech on Twitter or YouTube: youtube.com/WagnerPainting

Contact:
Jeanne Carpenter
612.803.1282; [email protected]

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140724/130255

SOURCE Wagner SprayTech Corp.