How To Paint Furniture – Ideas And Tips

Painting of furniture not only enhances its looks but life also. Painting of furniture is an interesting project if you can put in some creativity therein. There are different styles of painting furniture and these include antique, traditional and contemporary and others. While choosing any style, care should be taken that by and large it goes well with the interiors of the house.

Techniques for Painting Furniture

Irrespective of the technique you may adopt for painting of your furniture, it’s important that the surface be thoroughly cleaned with sandpaper. It makes the surface smooth while getting it rid of accumulated dirt. The next step is to apply a coat of primer so that the painted surface lasts longer. Apply a coat of white color on the furniture and let it get dried. Now, you can draw some pattern or image on its surface with a pencil. You may fill in the pattern with colors and allow the same to dry, preferably under the sun. The outline can be made more prominent by marking it with dark color paint pen. Finally, you apply a finishing coat and let it dry. That makes your job over. Here are two important tips for painting furniture. The first one is to always start painting from the top and move down. The other is to choose an appropriate primer. If you intend using latex paint, insist on using latex primer. Likewise, for oil based paints, use only oil based primer.

Traditional Furniture Painting Style

For usual interior decoration, it’s best to use traditional painting ideas. You may choose to have black as the basic color and use red, cream or gold for detailing work. If you like to have provincial French look, go for a combination of light cream and gold. Other colors suitable for this style are sleek black and solid white. Use highly polished red lacquer if you are looking to give an Asian touch to your furniture. You can have elegant looking furniture by giving it a final touch comprising of high gloss polyurethane or well buffed layers of beeswax.

Antique Furniture Painting Style

Some people like to give antique looks to their furniture by giving the impression as if the paint were peeling off. It’s not difficult to get such looks on your furniture. Generally, this style most suits the kitchen or the family room. The colors normally associated with style include red, green yellow, white and blue. The furniture should be sanded before applying latex paint. After it has been cured, you sand it again at certain points to give it a worn-out look. Just dab a bit of diluted paint here and there on the painted furniture to enhance the worn out effect. You may like to include an element of fun by creating some freehand designs or patterns on the painted surface.

Contemporary Furniture Painting Style

This style best suits the furniture with sharp lines and distinct shapes. For giving it contemporary looks, you should be using attractive bright colors like glossy black and deep espresso brown. For best results use a small roller for applying paint instead of using a brush. That way you can avoid brush marks. To give it a tender fresh look, complex detail work and wood finish is best avoided. Once the paint gets dried, apply a coat of high-gloss polyurethane.

Here is hoping that you are excited by these ideas for painting your furniture and prompted to take some project involving painting of furniture. An important precaution that you should not overlook while handling paints and primers is to ensure to carry painting job in well ventilated area to avoid foul odor and harmful effects of chemicals used in paints.

Fresh Painting Ideas For Your Living Room

Perhaps, no other place is as important in the house as a living room! This is the room that is most frequently used for getting relaxed with family or listening to music and for welcoming visitors. Therefore, the main considerations for designing its interiors are to make it look spacious and attractive, and above all it should remain comfortable. When designing of interiors, colors play a very important role, but it’s not enough to simply choose the right colors. It’s equally important to choose the right painting technique. Before talking about the different techniques of panting the living room, let’s see the colors that may be employed for painting of your living room.

Living Room Wall Color Ideas

The size and shape of the living room needs to be considered while deciding the color to be used for its painting. Before you choose the color, it will be good to know the effects of using different colors that are normally used for painting such rooms. Basically, colors can be categorized into three, cool. Warm and mute. Red, yellow and orange or their combinations make warm colors. On the other hand, cool colors comprise of green, blue and violet in different shades. If the size of the room is small, it is recommended to use colors that make it appear large. In such situations, it’s good to be using cool or muted colors that give the impression of large room. Additionally, you need to keep in mind the color of your furniture that occupies the living room. The color of furniture and that of the walls should jell with each other to boost the looks of living room. Try imagining the effects of colors you chose to use therein.

Choosing the Right Paint

Once you have decided the color of paint, it’s time to visit hardware store to buy that but before you go ahead and order your stuff, you must take measurements of the room to be painted to assess the quantity of paint that you are going to need. Paints are available to give different forms and textures, and each kind gives a different finish. You may opt to have matte finish, flat finish, satin or gloss finish for your living room. Paint with flat finish gives no shine and wouldn’t reflect light. Gloss finish, on the other hand, gives maximum shine and is very durable too. Paint with matte finish reflects light to a certain extent while satin finish moderately reflects light that has a soft glow. So, you can choose the kind of paint as per requirements of the room and your personal taste. You may also like to consider factors like durability, maintenance and cost of different varieties of paints. A good hardware store should be able to provide all the needed information.

Painting Ideas for Living Room

Having decided the color and type of paint to be applied in the living room, it is time to apply the same on your walls. You have many painting options that help giving an exclusive look and feel to your living room. You may just follow a contrast theme and paint the four walls of the room or opt to have personalized wall painting such as faux painting. Faux painting enables you to get the looks of some natural elements such as wood, stone or marble. The other option comes by way of simple rubber stamping painting. You can also consider a more stylish painting method like Trompe L’oeil. There are still more options such as focal walls, striped walls or wall stenciling. It may be pointed out here that some of these techniques are quite expensive and it would be desirable for you to consult a professional to get a realistic estimate of the expenses involved. Moreover, some of these techniques are paint specific, meaning only certain types of paints can be employed for these techniques. Therefore, it will be wise on your part to consult a professional and understand which paint and technique will best suit the requirements of painting your living room.

As a final note, just keep in mind that for painting of your living room it’s not only the choice of color but also the kind of paint and painting technique that you need to consider to get the most desirable results.

Buying A New Bed For Your New Home

First thing you will do after you finish painting your new bedroom is to put a bed in it. But, if you are buying a new bed it could seem like a minefield trying to decide what to opt for. Not only do you have to choose a type of mattress you also need to think about the base as well.

A divan is probably still the most popular choice of bed base in the UK, although as interior design trends change a lot of people are starting to get bedframes. A divan is basically an upholstered box that your mattress will sit on top of. However, while that sounds simple enough there are many options to choose from. Here is the Dreams guide I found to the type of divan bed you may come across.

Sprung edge divans

These have open coil springs or pocket spring units mounted into the top of the divan and give extra support across the whole mattress. Because of the extra springs they also act a bit like a shock absorber so will increase the life span of the mattress “ but make sure you get a mattress that is designed to go with a sprung edge divan.

Solid platform divans

These basically do what it says on the tin. Unlike the sprung edge divan they have a solid base so are firmer to sleep on and are also often cheaper.

Firm edge divans

These normally have a solid side with a small number of heavy duty springs in the base.

Flexible slatted divans

These have a slatted base mounted into a divan so offer a certain level of springiness

Storage beds

With a lot of divans you also have the option to add storage solutions into your bed base. This could be great if you need a bit of extra storage. A lot of divans will come with draws underneath them which are ideal for storing things like sheets and duvets.

You may also find that some beds have sliders at either the side or base to access the interior of the bed. But for the ultimate in storage solutions you could go for an ottoman bed where the base lifts up so you can store items underneath the divan base.

Discover New Kids Room Paint Ideas

Colors are known to play an important role in our lives and influence our mood. Colors play an especially important role during the developing years of children and care should be taken while choosing colors for their room so as to have an overall positive impact on young minds. That makes it important for parents to understand the significance of different colors and how these affect our bodies and minds. Today’s post is intended to give you ideas about painting kids’ rooms.

Paint Ideas for Kids Rooms

Usually, colors are classified as cool colors, warm colors and earthly tones. Understanding the effects of different colors on mind helps us to choose appropriate colors for kids’ rooms. Here’s a brief description of these colors and the effects they cause on our mind:

Wall Painting

Cool Colors: Blue, green, and violet are considered cool colors. You see cool colors on imagining a cool lake. Cool colors are frequently used to paint the walls of a small room to make it look larger. Such colors are known to cause a calming effect but should not be used excessively in kids’ room, as they may cause a depression.

Warm Colors: The colors of red, yellow and orange are considered warm colors because they are the colors of fire. These colors rev us up and get us going. Cheerful kids are sure to love these colors. These colors can be well exploited to heighten the decorative effects in kids’ rooms.

Earth Tones: Earth tones or ground colors include shades of brown, beige and gray. Such colors are especially suggested for very energetic children as they are considered helpful in brining a feeling of warmth that makes such children more comfortable.

The walls of kids’ rooms should be so painted to make them look very interesting. Vibrant and bright colors make kids’ rooms very decorative and they surely like such colors. Walls painted with animals, nursery rhymes and cartoon characters are some of the options that make the room very cheerful. You may have realized that yellow is the most suitable color for their room. That’s because it can reflect more light than any other color. So, even if a room gets insufficient light, yellow helps creating a bright and cheerful atmosphere.

Flooring Paint

Keeping ocean as a theme for painting the floor is an exciting idea! Most kids are going to love that idea. A lot of ideas come to mind when painting the floor with such a theme. Here’s an opportunity for you to show your creativity. Instead of just painting the floor with fish and such sea animals, it’ll be nice to include paintings of flora and different sea related items. As kids’ rooms are most often dirtier and messier compared to the rest of the house, it’s recommended to use good quality washable paints to maintain neatness in their room.

Crucial Things to Remember

It’s important to take a few precautions while considering fancy paint ideas for kids’ room. You should be looking for eco-friendly colors as fumes from normal paints could cause allergy or dizziness to kids. Some children tend to develop headaches, nausea and even asthma on being in close proximity of usual paints.

The above ideas for paints for kids’ room should prove to be of help to parents while undertaking decoration of kids’ rooms. Giving due consideration to the opinion of the kids is also important when decorating their rooms as ultimately you want them to have an enjoyable time and remain comfortable in their rooms.

Modern Bathroom Painting Ideas

When considering painting of the bathroom, people often don’t give it as much of concern as say for the living room or bedroom. Yes, it’s a small room, and that’s why it needs better attention, as painting it in an appropriate color enhances your experience for the time you are in there. There are many bright and unique ideas while painting a bathroom. You may use light pastel shades on the walls of the bathroom to make it alive an effervescent or you may opt to have some superb motifs on its walls to get enhanced effects.

The ideas for painting your bathroom necessarily form a part of its décor. If you can think of some bright idea, you may ask the painter to give shape to your thoughts and design. However, if you like to have a fairly good idea of how the bathroom walls would look with your kind of idea, you may search the Internet and perhaps, you could further modify your idea and get better more attractive design to be implemented in your own bathroom.

Most often we find the use of mirrors and tiles on the walls of a bathroom to give it clean and interesting looks. It’s almost a norm to include mirrors in the bathroom, especially when the bathroom is small to make it look larger. But, you should understand that in due course of time mirrors do fade out. That’s because of their prolonged exposure to humidity water and varying temperatures in the bathroom. As a result they lose their attraction and finding new ones for replacements is a time consuming expensive venture. Quality paints on the other hand can be replaced after a couple of years without spending so much. That’s one reason that prompts homeowners to opt for paints rather than mirrors.

You always have the option of going in for a single color shade on the walls of your bathroom to make it look bright or incorporate some bright designs and patterns to go along the wall décor of your bathroom.

Nursery And Paint – Get Your Ideas Here!

To renovate a bedroom for a new baby, painting it is just the right thing to do. The use of paint to give the special effect to the nursery is not only simple but is quite cost- effective too. The babies grow up very quickly and moreover, both you and the baby may want a change of look.

Color Schemes

The color scheme you choose will be an important factor in the total appearance of the nursery. You could take a look at the furnishings to help you decide it. If the cot and the nursery furniture gives an old fashioned conventional look, your preferences could be fresh pastel colors like white, pale pink, blue or yellow. You could get ideas for the color scheme from the baby’s quilt, a picture on the wall or a mobile hanging on the bed. Bright colors match well with both old and modern furniture.

Choice of colors is perhaps more important for you than the baby. However, babies also have some preferences. A baby may be attracted towards large, bold and simple shapes and for that matter even black and white would do. There is no need to be too much concerned about this as the baby is going to spend most of his or her time sleeping in the nursery, while there will be a lot of other bright spots for him to gaze.

Creating Visual Interest

The best ways of creating a center of attraction in a nursery are borders and murals. You can make beautiful decorations using stencils. Motifs that go well with any theme are easily available. The stencils can be cut to size and reused. You can use borders as well as stenciled motifs to decorate the walls instead of putting pictures. You can match the furniture with the walls by putting the same motif on both. A room can also be decorated using stencils of alphabets and numbers and you would thus familiarize the baby with them. The floor of an uncarpeted room can also be brightened up with colors.

Murals can create wonders if you are quite enthusiastic. If you have the talent, you could create a scene from a fairy tale on one of the walls. Even beginners can paint cartoon characters to decorate the walls rather than using stickers that cannot be removed easily. Glass paints can be used on windowpanes to create a stained glass effect. The baby would surely be attracted towards this as the Sun filters in through the glass while illuminating the design.

Miscellaneous Tips

The nursery should not have too many designs, images and paints because it is after all a bedroom. Fresh paint ideas will make the nursery look more appealing even if you do not want to redecorate it fully. The wall could be left plain but door panels, picture and mirror frames will not require much effort to be painted and make the place look baby friendly. It is quite obvious that you would need to use non-toxic paints in the nursery.

Paint Ideas For Your Modern Bedroom

Apart fro the living room or drawing room, another room that we love to decorate is the bedroom. This is one place in the entire house where you can afford to be your natural self without any restrictions of any kind. That’s what makes it your favorite room. Most often people like to unwind in the privacy of their bedroom at the end of a hard day. Everybody likes to have this room in his own personal style and taste and it surely reflects the personality of its occupier.

This article is intended to give you some ideas for decorating your bedroom thru the medium of paints, which you may find helpful while renovating your bedroom. An outstanding idea for bedroom paint decoration is to include textured painting on one of its walls, which becomes the feature wall and the main attraction of the bedroom. You get textured paints in many verities and compelling deigns that can completely alter the looks of your walls and quickly make the room warm and welcoming.

Though these are costly, that’s money well spent. And, you always have the option of cutting down on cost by painting the room yourself. The ideal wall for textured painting is the unbroken one that is smooth and has no shelves, doors, windows or beams. The rest of the walls are left exposed without any paint or may be covered with perfect white or pale beige to balance the rigorous looks of the textured wall.

You can be sure that the idea of one feature wall will be high point of the bedroom as it transforms the conventional looks of a bedroom. Though you can experiment with colors, I’ll give you an idea that would prevent making your bedroom from looking inept and awkward or make it look smaller than its real size. Restrict yourself to using soft pastel colored shades to get the impression of a large space. Deep or dark colors limit its looks and feel.

Deep colors are best avoided on the walls of the bedroom as these are known to put at risk the chances of a sound sleep. The best options for bedroom walls comprise of comforting soft color that facilitate inducing good sleep.

Exterior Paint Ideas – Think It Through

It’s not wise really to rush your decision of painting the exteriors of your house. That needs a prolonged thought to make sure that it is done perfectly in one go only. Painting of house is an expensive affair and certainly not a very easy task. Mind you, whatever decision you take, the consequences will last for the next three to five years! Getting ideas on the subject is not so difficult as you might be imagining, as you could make use of the Internet and educate yourself on the subject and get worthwhile ideas that would suit you most.

There are a few points that should be kept in mind while painting the exterior of your house. Old-fashioned neighbors may at times frown if you apply bold and vibrant colors on the exterior. Many a time there are neighborhood associations that won’t allow you to deviate from the specified color schemes. So, play safe and choose from among simple colors like white, cream, gray or beige, lest you earn the unpleasantness or sarcasm of neighbors.

You need to keep the architectural design of the house in mind while drawing plans for exterior painting of house. For instance, it will be inappropriate to paint the exteriors of a historically old house in a modern color scheme. It would not only look funny but also bring down the value of the property. In contrast, painting it in bright and pleasing colors in line with the environment and neighborhood can further enhance the looks of a modern house.

Usually, houses have some minute flaws because of its design or otherwise. Such flaws can be hidden from view by use of correct colors. Well, if you decide to paint the house of your own, it’ll surely work out cheaper, but hiring the services of a professional makes sure that all flaws will hide from view, giving the house a flawless look that may not be possible if you painted the house on your own.

When considering external painting ideas of the house, it pays to choose colors that blend with its natural surroundings. Observe the surroundings. You can visualize how the greenery of your garden blends so well with the misty Blue Mountains in the background, the birds those flutter from one tree to another or the lively colors of flowers growing in your garden. Nature itself provides such beautiful palette and you just need to treat your house as the central point and decide the colors that will look best in your particular environment.

If you are unable to get a specific color or shade you like to have, you can approach expert color mixers who are able to create the exact shade you want to have. However, under such circumstances you will be required to have the needed quantity in one go as it becomes to difficult to get the same shade the next time. Using exterior house paint ideas add to the beauty and value of your property and even passers-by give it admiring looks.

Wall Paint Ideas – Creating A New Home

Colors catch the eye, and when color is used around a room your eye travels from one part of the room to another, taking in the entire space. Color can effectively be used to create a focal point. But that’s a bit tricky, for too much of it makes the room overwhelming and too little just gets lost. It needs just the right balance?

Every room longs to have a focal point, something to draws your attention, and paint is an easy and effective medium for doing it. Focal points build interest and when you make the rest of the room around it you get a very lovely space.

Paint can easily be exploited to have a focal point. Here’s a very low-cost method called color blocking. Color blocking is especially easy. You apply a block of any size or in any shape of an accent color to a wall. I had a series of three photos that I loved very much and was keen to have them on a very large wall of my living room. The pictures on their own wouldn’t have created much interest, so I made a large block of an accent color on the chosen wall and then housed them within that block of color they looked fantastic. I pulled the accent color out of the pictures themselves to get a very cohesive look.

When looking for main points of your home, whether it is kitchen, bathroom or a living room, consider its architectural lines and design like archways, bay windows, recessed walls, or moldings. Paint, and great paint ideas, can be used to highlight those so that they become the focal point of your home. Use of contrasting color can make them more appealing.

Look for bigger piece of furniture, windows or even a lofty ceiling, something that can be emphasized with color to attract the eye to that item. Don’t just stop there after having located the part of the room that you would like to highlight instead, continue with that color around the room. It may appear in pictures, fabrics, pillows, or rugs on the floor. That way, the eye keeps moving around the room and it looks connected and complete in itself.

But, you have to be cautious so as not to overdo the highlighting of walls unless you can think of balancing the same within the room. Let’s say the room is already painted red, which is a very intense color by itself and you choose a deep purple color for highlighting a particular wall or another part of the room. That will indeed be a bit too much and the result will be very overpowering and intense. It may be better to use a different shade or intensity of red for highlighting a wall, and us deep purple throughout the room by way of pictures, pillows or fabrics. This would give a more balanced and the kind of look you wish to have.