Nine Unexpected Ways to Refresh Your Home This Summer
The obvious updates — a new accent wall, a repainted front door — have their place. But the more interesting work often happens in the corners of a home that get overlooked entirely: the ceiling, the closet, the garage door. These nine projects go a little further than the usual advice, offering real character for those who've already done the predictable updates and are ready for something with more nuance.
1. Ceiling as the Fifth Wall
A painted ceiling — in something other than the reflexive white — adds a depth and intention that a flat white ceiling simply can't. A soft, considered color overhead changes how an entire room feels, often more dramatically than any wall treatment.
2. Interior Door Panels in Contrast
Rather than painting a door as one flat surface, picking out the panel insets in a contrasting tone creates the look of custom millwork at a fraction of the cost — a small, deliberate detail that reads as considerably more expensive than it is.
3. Radiator & Vent Covers
These are the parts of a room most people paint around, not into. Blending a radiator or vent cover seamlessly into the wall — or calling it out deliberately in a bold contrast — is the kind of detail that separates a finished room from one that's merely painted.
4. Closet Interiors
A closet doesn't need to disappear into builder-grade white. A saturated, unexpected color inside turns an ordinary door into a small, satisfying surprise — a private indulgence that costs very little to execute.
5. Baseboard-to-Wall Color Blocking
Extending your wall color down over the baseboard, rather than stopping at the usual white trim, creates a seamless, elongated look that reads as both more modern and more traditional at once — a favorite technique in higher-end interior design right now.
6. Outdoor Furniture Refresh
Weather-appropriate coatings bring worn Adirondack chairs, porch swings, and bistro sets back to life without the expense of replacing them — an easy, high-impact way to refresh an outdoor living space for the season ahead.
7. Painted Floor Cloths
A hand-painted canvas floor cloth — durable, washable, and genuinely one of a kind — is a growing alternative to a traditional rug in entryways and kitchens, and a wonderful way to bring a historic motif or pattern into a functional piece.
8. Bathroom Vanity Cabinetry
Bathrooms are finally catching up to kitchens in the design conversation. A rich, saturated vanity color, paired with updated hardware, remains one of the highest-impact, lowest-cost updates available in the entire home.
9. Garage & Utility Door
It's often the largest single exterior surface on a home — and the most overlooked. A well-chosen color here can meaningfully lift curb appeal, particularly on homes where the garage faces the street directly.
The best updates aren't always the obvious ones. Sometimes it's the closet, the ceiling, or the garage door that makes a home feel truly finished. Which of these will you take on first?
Olde Century Colors — historically accurate paint, made by Harrison Paint Co., Canton's own since 1911.
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