Lately, color drenching, swathing the entire room — walls, trim, ceiling — in one hue or similar tones, seems to be everywhere. And it’s for good reason: The technique is enveloping, calming, and dramatic. The finished product looks just as good in a countryside cabin as a jewel-box city apartment. There’s one paint technique, though, that’s catching my eye that might just be the next color drenching or color blocking: color folding.
New Jersey-based Hollie Velten, founder of SPACES by Hollie Velten and one of Apartment Therapy’s Small/Cool 2023 designers, recently completed a basement revamp that used color in this fun, interesting way. And here’s how she defines it: “Color folding is a more playful way to use color and an alternative to color blocking or drenching,” Velten says. “I like to think of it as continuing panels of color in asymmetrical folds, wrapping the room in different distortions of color choices.”
In the project, Velten used colors like light blue, minty green, pale pink, and chocolate brown to bring color folding to life, saturating larger walls in the lighter tones while the smaller walls are painted in the moodier shades. Even the doors and molding get in on this technique, too, as you’ll notice it’s never white but minty green and/or darker teal, depending on the area.
Using these quieter but still saturated shades in this methodical way is a departure from true color blocking, where bolder shades are used to create almost imposing monoliths of color. Instead, these distinct color zones appear to “fold” into one another smoothly. “It makes it feel softer and more kinetic than stark color blocking,” Velten says.
Before you reach for the paintbrush, Velten has a few suggestions on how to get great results without any clunkiness. “I tend to like softer colors with one or two darker accents on smaller walls,” she says. “And continuing the trim or molding in some asymmetrical extensions as well.”
She also thinks color folding is made for larger rooms. “This works best in a large space, particularly one with many doors, like this basement, to connect the walls,” she adds.
While color folding is a trend to watch, Velten doesn’t think color drenching is going anywhere anytime soon. “I think color folding is very nuanced — it can’t work everywhere without feeling a little chaotic,” Velten says. “Color drenching is still a really serene technique for making a room feel held!”
