When Racheal Jackson bought her 1978 fixer-upper in Vancouver, Wash., she considered the wood-accented house a blank canvas waiting to be made over with color. The designer and artist took it one room at a time: painting a mural here, creating a piece of art there. Before she knew it, her house was an amalgamation of smaller projects, most of them accomplished with paint.
Her motto, “It’s just paint,” also has colored the work she’s done on clients’ homes. “Does your room feel uninspired? Paint it,” advises the founder of Banyan Bridges, a mural and interior-design service. (Jackson also co-hosts the series “Artfully Designed” on Discovery+.) “We live bolder lives when we surround ourselves with bold design, so … just try it on. Paint your wall fuchsia!”
Maggie McGaugh, a home-renovation Instagrammer and self-proclaimed “dumpster diver,” agrees with Jackson’s “go bold” approach. For the past few years, the Texas creative has shared her adventures rehabbing discarded furniture with more than 500,000 followers. Sometimes the slightest changes can make the largest impact, McGaugh says.
Want to give your own DIY project a go? Jackson, McGaugh and other design experts share some of their favorite home-refresh ideas, all requiring nothing more than a single gallon of paint.
