Posts Tagged ‘Tips’

Money Saving Kitchen Design Tips

Tuesday, July 6th, 2010

So we have compiled this money saving kitchen design tips feature to help you update your kitchen on a budget. And keep an eye out over the next few weeks as we add more to the list.

1.Do not automatically head to your kitchen retailer for new cabinets. Instead, sand them down and using thinned white house paint brush it over the surface. Wait a few moments and then wipe the surface. This will give you a fantastic mottled paint look that brings out the grain in your wood. Seal it with a wax for that quality finish

2. Pick up packs of Christmas Lights during the January sales and remove the coloured covers. The remaining white bulbs can then be tacked under cabinets and in hidden alcoves to add some cool new kitchen lighting.

3. Purchase some clear glass jars and store dry food in them such as pulses, nuts and seeds. This can add colour, texture and a ‘foodie’ feel to your kitchen design.

4. Create a kitchen wall border or some texture to your kitchen cabinets with a small piece of sponge and some paint. You can even add it to the hem of your curtains!

5. Create your own wooden cutting board by heading to the local builders’ merchants and asking for an off cut of pine or oak. Take it home a carefully sand it down using various grades of sandpaper. You can then varnish or stain it and smooth off any edges to create an ‘expensive’ cutting board.

6. Repaint the kitchen walls. It is amazing what difference a lick of paint can make. Think carefully about adding a new colour to the theme too as this can really bring your tired kitchen alive.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Home | No Comments »

Interior Design And Decorating Tips For A Complete Home Makeover

Friday, June 25th, 2010

Nothing is more important than interior design when it comes to giving your home a fresh new look. With some free time and the right tools, you can give your own home the perfect facelift. Here are a number of techniques which will allow you to change the look of your home, while still staying within your budget.

Getting Started
There are several points to consider before even setting out. First, plan your entire project ahead of time. Create a number of design models and then compare them based on looks, space usage, and practicality. Finally, select the one that suits you best. You have many options in home makeovers, so remember to choose according to your own tastes, whether that means using a minimalist theme or an abstract look.

General Considerations
One of the most over-looked decorating techniques is selecting artwork. Well-selected artwork harmonizes all of the colors in the room, while making a visual statement about you and what you are trying to communicate with your space. An excellent decorating tip is to consider artwork selection as both the first step and the last step of any decorating project. Considering artwork selection as a first step in a decorating project may enable you to find the artwork or wall art that perfectly complements your existing décor, saving you the time and money associated with a full-blown makeover of the living space. However, even in a complete home makeover or interior design project, considering or reconsidering artwork selection as a last step may enable you to find just the right pieces of artwork to complement and cost-effectively complete the design project or makeover.

One common practice in all designs is to repaint and design the walls. You can add decorative patterns to the walls or simply paint them in rich colors. Next, the furniture can be arranged according to color patterns. If you want furniture better suited to the new design, look for custom painted models at discount stores and sales. This will save money and add a polished atmosphere to your home.

Many people use a mixture of traditional and modern designs in their homes. Adding cushions and pillows will provide comfortable seating. For a chic look, you can experiment with spray painting your walls.

A Few Extra Tips
–Play around with lighting effects by adding a combination of functional and accenting lights.
–Pay extra attention to your kitchen and bathrooms as they are the most likely rooms to be used by visitors.
–Use designer drapes and blinds for your windows to create a separate mood for each room.
–Consider getting a Victorian style carpet or rug.
–Try placing a few abstract paintings on walls for a more modern touch.
–Adding wooden and bamboo furniture provides a unique atmosphere while making the house seem large and spacious.
–Finish off with a few potted plants.
– If you want even more creative decorating tips, you can consult an interior designer or consultant for latest home decorating tips.
–And remember: simplicity is the best key to a complete and charming makeover.

About Author
If you need more resources regarding interior design or regarding decorating tips or about home makeover, please visit these links.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Home | No Comments »

Tips on How to Economize a Home Decor Project

Thursday, June 24th, 2010

Home décor project offers the opportunity for self-expression. The opportunity to be creative and do not be afraid to try something different ideas or trends. Ubberhaus, pre-loved furniture and décor, recommends decorating your home with items that appeal to your own individuality, than adhere to someone’s standards of what is the norm. Pre-loved items and furniture truly create the ability to make one’s castle their own. After reading this article, I hope you will be able to come up with new ideas and enhance your home in a style befitting your distinctive personality. Remember you do not need a king’s budget to décor your castle.

Have a collective taste

Some people prefer to purchase all the furniture and items they need from just one place and that is fine, however they could be missing some saving opportunities. Make sure you are familiar with the used furniture stores in your surroundings, and take the time to visit most of them. You can find furniture of various qualities. The idea is to have a list of the items and prices available to you. Also, by following this step you will have the change to refresh your mind with new décor ideas that probably you did not come across before.

Review your list and Come up with a Budget

You can start by drawing pictures of the rooms you are in the process of decorating; try to display you ideas in this drawings. This exercise will help you to visualize the project outcome and come up with a reasonable budget. It is important that you focus on the budget when it’s time to go and make the purchases. One of the most common mistake that take people out of their budget is not having a clear understanding of what they need and what the budget is, because there is always going to be room for another item or furniture.

Start decorating you home

Try to follow the order:

  • The walls.- You may want to start by painting the walls if it was part of your budget. Painting the walls is the easiest and cheapest way to give a room some quality.
  • The windows.- Curtains can make any room look more interesting, and they don’t cost much.
  • The art.- You can frame old album covers; combine several postcards to make a collage you can hang; print some of your favorite photos and display them on a shelf or wall.
  • The floors.- Rugs are a great way to give a room some personality, and they don’t have to cost a lot.
  • The furniture.- Place your “new furniture” (pro-loved furniture) as you visualized them in your drawing

I hope you found this article helpful in accomplishing new ideas for your home’s style. Do not be afraid to experiment! Not everything in your home has to be a perfect match. You can get creative by rearranging furniture, changing the curtains, etc. Play around to see what makes it feel most like home.

About Author
Ubberhaus Dublin Ohio Northbridge/Bonefish Plaza 5760 Frantz Rd. Dublin, OH 43017 614-761-8888

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Home | No Comments »

Color Washing: Tips And Instructions

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

Color washing your walls is one of the easiest faux painting techniques. It produces one of the nicest looking faux painted walls. If a translucent texture is what you want to achieve, go with color washing. Color washing doesn’t require many specialized faux painting skills; it is easy to clean up from and is hard to mess up. Any color combination can be used with color washing. It’s generally applied with brushes over a solid paint color, using long sweeping strokes to meld the glaze colors together. In addition to a softer color, color washing can accentuate the texture of your plaster or stucco walls. Set aside a few days for this project as it could take that long to color wash an entire room.

The main technique in color washing is applying a glaze to your walls with a wiping motion. To create cool visual effects, all you need to do is vary your wiping motions as you apply the glaze. If you will be color washing an entire room, then glaze walls opposite from one another first. This will allow adequate time for drying and avoid smudging wet glaze in corners. If you want to achieve a look with richer color depth, work with three colors – a base color, a glaze that is darker than your base color and a third deeper glaze color.

Three Simple Color Washing Steps:

Step 1 – Preparing the Walls

Clean your walls thoroughly and patch any wall imperfections. Use painters tape around walls, moldings, etc.

Step 2 – Apply Base Color

Apply the base color you selected and follow any special instructions that come with the paint. Let the base color dry before continuing to the next step.

Step 3 – Apply Glaze Mixture

Start by dipping a soft cloth or sea sponge into your glaze mixture. The soft cloth will give glaze a more subtle appearance, while using the sponge will give a more textured look. You are now ready to apply the glaze and this is where technique matters. Start by applying the glaze mixture to your wall using a random wiping or circular motion, as if you were washing the wall. Continue this wiping technique until the entire surface is covered.

Marcy Tate PhotoAbout Author
Marcy Tate is a home improvement writer at Networx. If you don’t have the time to color wash your walls, hire professional residential painters to do it for you.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Home | No Comments »

Tips on How to Paint Your House Interior And Exterior Walls

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

Most houses & offices need to be decorated every two years, as dry walls are made up of material which allows mildew and bacteria to grow, this produces bad odor and smell, in closed door rooms even contaminates the air with microbes which can cause Lung or Skin problems, a layer of paint will allow to seal the pours of the dry wall and thus moisture retention will be reduced this will not allow fungus and bacteria to grow. Additional improvement with painting is you can change colors depending on the mood, color does affect ones mood, some color will make you be aware of good while other would depress your mind, it is said bright colors give inspiration and add confidence while dull and light colors make person feel depress. Residential Painting Company Bonton Beach is spealist in painting business for last 20 years, people have trusted them for the job they have been doing year after year since so long, very few painting companies last so long, these guys definitely have good intention and excellent customer service. Today there are a number of colors available in the market, even companies have color dispensers at several hardware store or home building material store, these dispensing units are computerized systems they display a multiple color ring, so you can select the exact shade you want to paint your walls with, this shades can be applied to dummy model images in the computer so you get an idea how the wall will look after painting.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Home | No Comments »

Caulking Tips When Gapping Walls Ready For Painting, Part 2

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

Welcome to the second part of caulking or gapping sealant which is as I mentioned such an important part of your home interior decoration prep work. [Make sure you read my first post on this :-) ]

The cut tip of the nozzle shapes the bead. If you twist or angle the gun, the shape of the bead will change. Once you have found your angle move along without twisting or shifting the gun. When coming to an obstruction or corner you might need to change angle, but keep your flow around corners and don’t stop the momentum you have gathered.

Now you will find you have to stop somewhere, so on the gun you are using somewhere near the trigger there will be a release mechanism or small lever [some models do not have these]. Depress the lever after your stroke and this will release the pressure off the gun. Then you can start again.
A wet rag is very handy; it’s good to keep things clean. It also plays a part in the finished product. After you have finished your bead of gaps use the wet rag over your finger to smooth and seat the gaps or caulk into the angle your working with.

Don’t press too hard [lightly] to even out the surface of the bead. I myself prefer to use a bare finger it’s quicker and you can feel what the gaps is doing. Also when buying a tube of caulk or gaps make sure it’s paintable. There are sealants on the markets that are silicone based and no matter what you try; paint will not stick to it. SO MAKE SURE IT’S PAINTABLE!!

So once again I hope this has helped you out with home interior decoration, with a few practice runs it’s a very easy little job to do …….happy gapping…………

And now here’s a tip from the top……when you’re finished with your tube of caulk or gaps and you know you won’t be using it for a while push a screw or a nail down the hole that you cut in the nozzle, this will stop the sealant in the tube from drying out. I’ve stored tubes for up to 9 months, ripped the screw out and used it again……….That’s it for caulking or gapping sealant the important prep work for your home interior decoration catch ya folks…………………………Wayne the painter

Wayne Smith PhotoAbout Author
Wayne is a Professional Painter for over 24 years and runs his own painting company. He is dedicated in sharing his knowledge with the DIY home painter. He created an interior painting guide DVD even complete beginners can follow. You can find his info on http://paintrescue.com

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Home | No Comments »

Wall Painting, DIY Interior Wall Painting Tips

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

The five biggest mistakes people make painting walls!!
Painting walls tends to be easier than ceilings, they’re more accessible and it’s a matter of just pulling furniture away from the walls and covering the floor and your away. Even though painting walls is cleaner cut, mistakes can still be made. Here are the five biggest ones when you’re painting walls for your interior wall painting project.

  • Lack or too little preparation. What I refer to is filling cracks and holes prior to painting. Your prep work is vital in determining the outcome and finished product of any job your doing. When it comes to painting, remember 95% is prep and 5% is finish work. You stick to that rule and you can’t possibly go wrong. OK!
  • Putting too much filler or Spackle on the walls. I’ve seen some people and been to rescue missions where people have got this wrong and it looks like either a couple of things have happened, firstly it has looked like they stood back and threw it at the walls from a distance or their two year old child got into the room while they were getting coffee and had a plaster party. In which case I’ve spent hours sanding and getting the walls back to a decent surface to work with. There really is no need to over fill your walls, take your time relax have some fun throw some filler or Spackle at someone enjoy the process of preparing your walls and you say “yeah right whatever”. But seriously now just a couple of light skims if you don’t get it the first time do a second skim it will save hours of backbreaking work trust me.
  • Failure to stir your paint and strain it through a stocking to remove bits of foreign junk and stuff. Just because it’s a new tin of paint and they’ve shook it up in the shop doesn’t mean it’s clean and doesn’t mean it’s stirred well. Make it a practice every time you open a tin of paint new or old to do these two important things and your walls won’t look like the surface of the moon and have bits of alien material on them.
  • Painting walls with the wrong technique. When applying paint to walls GET A ROLLER OR EXTENSION POLE. Don’t roll it by hand, you need nice long strokes from the ceiling to the floor and you won’t need to work from a stepladder everything can be reached from standing. You need to put plenty on and lay it back off into the wet edge. This method allows you to keep flowing and moving without a break in your coat, allowing for a nice even consistent coat of paint…… oh and don’t forget to second coat. A nice build on the wall makes for better cleaning and if you had to fill your walls prior to first coat it stops bad flashing or patchiness in the final product.
  • Tool mistake, a cheap and nasty roller sleeve. Try not to go for synthetic or sponge sleeves, although the synthetic sleeve can be used if you have no other option. The problem with these sleeves is they just can’t get enough paint on and when you’re talking walls you need good flow and plenty sliding on. What you need is! and I swear by them, they are the only ones I use and have done for years THE SHEEP SKIN OR LAMBS WOOL ROLLER COVER. I personally prefer the later one myself lambskin or lambswool. It leaves me with a nice smooth finish even if I really lay the coat on heavy. Sheepskin sleeves are a bit coarser which probably makes them better for things like brickwork or rough surfaces. I use them mainly for rendered brickwork where I can put plenty on. They take a bit to load up at first but once loaded they’re smooth and easy to use. Try both synthetic and lambswool, I guarantee you’ll go to the lambswool cover, they wash out a whole tonne easier and once cleaned out properly will last you years and years. You can’t beat natural fibre products when it comes to painting walls

Well that is all the wall painting tips I have for you today for your DIY painting project. Until next time.
……….Happy painting folks………….Wayne…..the painter ……..

For more information http://paintrescue.com

Wayne Smith PhotoAbout Author
Wayne is a Professional Painter for over 24 years and runs his own painting company. He is dedicated in sharing his knowledge with the DIY home painter. He created an interior painting guide DVD even complete beginners can follow. You can find his info on http://paintrescue.com

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Home | No Comments »

Caulking Tips When Gapping Walls Ready For Painting

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

A big part of home interior decoration is your preparation and getting the surface you’re working on ready to work with. When I enter a job for the first time and get the feel for the job, the first thing that sticks out at me is the damage to walls and surfaces. My pet hate in a job is seeing gaps. Not only does it let air in, but bugs and creepy crawlies find their way into your home. I make that room as water tight as I possibly can [if you filled it up with water you could float around in your lazy boy with your favourite beverage ;-) ]. On a serious note a well caulked or gapped up room looks very professional and gives you nice exact line and corners which also makes painting a whole lot easier. So in this segment I’m going to explain how to caulk and apply gap sealants when home interior decoration. The goal here is to finish up with a nice neat bead of gap sealant.

One thing I always do before I start to gap is make sure I cut my nozzle correctly. It is vital for a nice pro finish that you get this part right. These nozzles have either a sealed end or small hole already in end of the nozzle. The art of gapping is all in the way you cut the nozzle. Get yourself a Stanley knife or box cutter and cut you nozzle about 3 to 4 mm from end on a very slight angle, making sure it’s a clean cut.

Remember the goal here is to have a consistent bead of gaps that doesn’t change in size or shape. You will need a few basic things like a rag to keep close by some water or dampening your rag is probably better and a really healthy pointer finger.

OK! No pit stops here for a smooth and continuous bead. Start at one end and flow carefully but steadily to the other, keeping a constant medium pressure on the trigger of the gun. Stopping and starting will result in an untidy and broken bead of gaps or caulk.

When doing a long area of caulking, for example skirting boards, you find your running out of trigger, quickly release you trigger and start pulling it again remembering to keep the angle of the gun so you don’t have gaps spewing outside the line of your nozzle. Now with the pressure left in the tube you’ll find you can keep moving during that split second interruption [try to keep even movement and flow, this is the art of gapping] ] ………… Now stay tuned for part B of caulking and using gap sealants and you’ll be a master caulker in a very short time. Remember Caulking and Gap Sealants are a big part of your home interior decoration…….Catch ya………………….Wayne the painter

Wayne Smith PhotoAbout Author
Wayne is a Professional Painter for over 24 years and runs his own painting company. He is dedicated in sharing his knowledge with the DIY home painter. He created an interior painting guide DVD even complete beginners can follow. You can find his info on http://paintrescue.com

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Home | No Comments »