Paint White Walls - Decorating Inspiration for the Many Uses of This Color

Painting white walls can be called boring or maybe contemporary, or actually trend setting. Having all white walls is loved by many people. They love the starkness of the color, the clean look, and the way it goes with anything. After all everything matches a white wall.

When choosing color we are often over whelmed with all the choices...it is no different when choosing this color. Do you realize that there are hundreds options. Some have deeper colors like brown or gray or green added, others have cooler colors added like blues.

One great use of using white walls is when displaying artwork; you never see art galleries with any other color. That is because they want the artwork to stand out not the walls. It is very effective so if you have a lot of beautiful artwork this is the color to use so that your art makes the statement.

The most effective use of choosing the color white is to go all white, and use different textures for interest in the room. Example use a different textured for the curtains, another different texture for throw pillows. This can all be pulled together with your large pieces of furniture like couches and chairs make sure they have an all white or all neutral look and feel.

Something that can give white painted walls a different look is the sheen you use for the paint. A flat paint will not bounce color around; it will just absorb the color. While a paint with a shinier sheen will help the light bounce around the room. Don't be afraid to even create an accent wall with one wall using an extremely shinny sheen and the other walls having a duller sheen.

It is a lot of fun to create illusions with this color. When you use a slightly darker or lighter hue of it and paint either a stripe, or stencil, or even just sponge it on the wall, it gives a new subtle depth and interest. Remember you are just looking for the illusion of another color or design, nothing overwhelming so keep the colors very close together. Always practice before you start on a wall, and live with the sample through a couple days of light changes in the room. This gives you a good way it see how it will look when you are done with the entire room.

Before you start any interior design project like painting, be sure you have done your home work. Take pictures of inspirational places and use picture from magazines to give you a better understanding of how the colors you want will look together.

Color Inspiration - Choosing Interior Paint Colors by Looking At the World Around You

Choosing color for your home can be fun and easy, when you approach it in a new way. What if you carried a camera with you everywhere you went and took pictures of colors you saw that you liked? Maybe it is the paint colors in a large opulent hotel, perhaps a friend's house. Don't forget the best of all canvases Mother Earth, the richness of color is everywhere in nature. When you purposely start looking it might amaze you what you have been missing.

Watch to see how various places use paint to create different feelings and emotions depending on what they want you to feel or how they want you to act. Great place for this is restaurants, check out the paint colors they use and ask yourself why their choices? See if there is a theme in the colors your favorite restaurants use. Remember they say red makes you hungry... do you think it is true?

If you have a very active play room, go to places that also want you do to high energy things, take pictures of the colors they use in their paint choices. Likewise if you want a very healing quite space, a great place is a hospital, I kid you not, check out the healing colors they use, it might surprise you. In Colorado they use a lot of deep light hues of purple.

Do these activities for several days then compare the pictures and see what they say about you and how you choose paint color. Are they all warm, deep intense or are they lighter more beach hues. Do you see a pattern? If you find a pattern you can use it throughout your entire house. If not that's ok, you choose your favorite and use some of the other colors as accent. When you have made your final choice blow up the pictures so you can have the colors matched, any color can be created at your paint stores or large hardware stores.

Also use some of the photos you have taken and blow up for artwork throughout your home, you may have some masterpieces. Don't be afraid to crop the pictures in different places to create more interesting subject matter. Get a matching mat and you have a wonderful addition to your home.

There is rarely any place I go that I do not see how paint color is used, and yes I always have a camera and take a lot of pictures. It is in my blood and I love it. I am not the norm and that's ok someone has to do it and I always hope to recruit some other newbies. I love color and the way it changes emotions, feelings and actions.

Tips For Using Acrylic Paints

Acrylic paints are very useful for painting the weekend crafts that you and your kids create in your wood shop over the weekends. In dealing with acrylic paints, here are some tips to help you get the most out of your experience in dealing with them.

The nice thing about acrylic paints is that, unlike ones that are oil based, they are fast drying. This means that you can cover your bird house, knick knack, or other craft in the morning and by afternoon it is dry and ready to be used. Of course, since the acrylic is fast drying, it means that you should work with it quickly. Once you open the tube, work with it as quickly as you can to avoid having it dry out before you can cover your target piece.

Acrylic products are among the most versatile of paints in that they can mimic the other two major styles of coverings - water and oil based. For example, by diluting it with water or other substances, you can give the color a slightly washed out look that closely resembles water color. By adding acrylic gel or media, you can mimic the look of an oil painting.

Those who are tight on funds and have never used acrylic products before, may want to start with a lower grade product. Some manufacturers sell what is known as student grade acrylic coatings. These products have a lower pigment concentration and a few other differences that make them less expensive and more affordable for those who can't quite afford the premium paints. And then, as you become more comfortable using acrylics, you can make a seamless transition to the more expensive grades.

If the acrylic container has been previously opened, you may find that some of the moisture has evaporated making the paint thick and hard to handle. In this case you need to thin it out. The easiest way to do this is by adding plain water to it. When the covering dries, it will still provide a water resistant layer to the piece you have painted.

A part of acrylic paint maintenance is caring for the paints that you use. When you are finished painting, clean the caps on your acrylic paint tubes. Clean threads as well. If you don't, you may find it difficult or impossible to reopen it the next time that you are ready to use it.
Article source : EzineArticles

What Are The Best Paint Schemes for Your Home's Exterior?

Figuring out what color to paint your home may be a tricky thing to do. You might imagine how a certain color will look in your head only to find out that it's far from what you imagined when you see it in reality. There are several different ways in which you may choose to go when painting your home, but when it comes down to it, make sure that you carefully consider the choice.

If you're home is old and you want to maintain its historical integrity, try to determine what the original paint color was. Old photographs from previous owners, if you know them, or asking the neighbors may be a good place to start. If you'd like to keep a tone similar to your neighbors, try to pick colors that do not clash with houses in the area. In a neighborhood full of muted earthy tones, choosing that psychedelic green may not be the best choice unless you're trying to get your neighbors to quit pestering you with friendly small talk.

Also consider the landscaping and natural setting of your house. Are you by the ocean? Then a collection of blues and lighter colors might do you just fine. Are you surrounded by trees and bushes? Natural, green and brown colors might be a good choice.

Don't forget about your roof's color, either. It doesn't have to be a perfect match, but make sure that you don't paint your home's exterior a color that clashes with the color of your roof. The same goes for brick houses. The bricks probably won't be painted, so you'll want to make sure that you choose a paint color that goes nicely with their color.

If you're trying to make your house seem larger, choose lighter colors. Light colors tend to make a house appear larger, while darker shades tend to make it appear smaller. Don't shy away from dark colors if you're trying to accent recesses, this may work quite well.

One of the most important things to remember is not to achieve a balance with your color scheme so that one area does not stand out too much.

Article source : EzineArticles

The Best Paint Colors For Small Rooms

Are you dealing with a small room and wondering what the best paint colors are to make it look larger? If so, we're going to go over a few options you can choose from that will give you the look you want.

Consider the following choices to open your space up...

Option 1) Use a (Light) Cool Color. If it's not yet obvious (light) cool colors are said to be the best colors to go with because they trick the eyes into thinking they are further away than they really are. If you're wondering what colors classify as cool colors, cool colors are considered to be...


blue
green
purple

Putting an example to them, you can think of the colors of the ocean or sea, sky and trees.

Option 2) Use a Gloss Finish. If you want to go a step further consider using a gloss finish. Paint experts at Behr.com have said that using a gloss finish can also contribute to making a small room appear larger. The best ones to use are said to be an eggshell finish, satin finish and semi-gloss finish. You'll want to stick witch using a semi-gloss finish for the kitchen and bathroom. For bedrooms, living rooms and other rooms of the house a more subtle approach is best--the satin and eggshell finish being great choices for those rooms.

Option 3) Use Monochromatic Colors. A monochromatic color scheme is simply using colors that are close in tone so that when the eye moves around the room it is uninterrupted and tricks you into believing there's more space than there really is. A simple way to go about using a monochromatic color scheme is to use colors from the same palette, such as light blue, medium blue and so forth.

Lastly, after discovering that cool colors are the best colors in principal, you still might want to consider another choice.

Option 4) Compromise with a Light Warm Color. If you're wondering what warm colors are, they are yellow, orange and red. Putting them into an example, warm colors are the colors of heat. You can think of the sun and fire as good examples.

Generally, warm colors get the opposite results that cool colors get. That is, they make a room feel smaller because they appear as though they are coming toward you. However, they also make a space feel cozy, which means it's sometimes worth the sacrifice to pick a warm color, especially if you love it.

Remember, you'll be the one living in your home day in and day out. You want to be certain that the colors you pick are colors you can enjoy. If you can't enjoy the selection of cool colors then it might be best to you to pull from both worlds...

That way you'll still be getting something light but warm at the same time. Choosing a light warm color will then ensure that your room will feel fairly bright to you, but also offer you that intimate feeling that you couldn't deny yourself.

So keep in mind not to only choose what's best for your rooms but also what's best for you...

After all these are choices you'll have to live with every single day.

by Tameka Norris .
Article source : EzineArticles

6 Steps to Hanging Pictures the Right Way

6 Steps to Hanging Pictures the Right Way ( Steven Rosen)

If you feel something is not right about your walls, never fear. There is an easy and simple way to brighten up your living space - add pictures to the walls. Doing this can give your home some personality and make it more cozy and inviting. Pictures work like no other accessory to bring style to your walls.

The kind of artwork you choose does not really matter. You could head over to the local art gallery for a one-of-a-kind print or hang up some of your children's work. Or you could hang up some of your work. It is not hard or expensive to find the right pictures to adorn the walls of your hallways and rooms.

Let's say you have the pictures that you want. The next step is learning how to hand them so that they do not spontaneously obey the law of gravity and crash to the floor. Hanging them seems like a simple task, but the truth is that they must be hung exactly right to avoid the issue of gravity and potentially damaging your wall. Here are some simple steps to follow when hanging pictures.

1. Select the picture or pictures to hang.

2. Figure out where is the best place to hang said picture or pictures. Larger pictures do better in open spaces, and smaller pictures work great in enclosed rooms. Make sure the picture matches the color scheme of the room. Wherever you decide to hang them, make sure the pictures are at eye level.

3. Depending on the size of the frame, choose the right hanging implement. Small frames can be hung up with just a nail. Large frames may need screws set into the wall in order to be secured. Hanging your pictures on drywall requires special equipment like picture rail hooks to keep the drywall from cracking. If hanging large pictures on drywall, a wall stud complete with screws will be necessary because the drywall will not be able to support the picture's weight.

4. When hanging a picture, never stretch in order to reach a certain height. You will only end up hurting yourself and probably hanging the picture so that it is crooked. To make sure this does not happen, get a stepping stool so that you can comfortably hang the picture at the height you desire. Most pictures will only need a two- or three-step stool in order to be hung. A tall picture will likely require a step ladder, otherwise you will not be able to hang it properly.

5. Use a level to make sure that the picture is in fact hanging straight, level with the floor. It is embarrassing to put all of your tools way and then discover the picture is crooked.

6. Solidify the artwork's presence on your walls by adding some family pieces, as well. This cements the pictures in your home and makes them feel as if they belong there. Personalizing your walls is a great way to make the house yours. Family members can now enjoy it for as long as you own the home.



Author : Steven Rosen consult for AS Hanging , manufacturing and distributor for picture and art hanging system. He also guest blogging for alanzain