Creative ways to pruce up your home with wall painting - Geometric Art Wall Painting

Geometric Art Wall Painting

This bar code pattern with pockets of gold is a zany way to give a dramatized look to picture hangings on the wall.

You will need:
Ruler
Pencil
Masking tape (1cm width)
Small paint brush
Paint - white (base coat), light blue (stripes), Gold (square)

Painting Methods:

1) Alternatively mark out 1cm lines, 3cm apart, parallel from the picture frame to the end of the wall. Mask off the 1cm spaces.

2) Determine where you want to apply the gold paint and apply masking tape horizontally to create a square. Apply paint.

3) Using a small brush, tap on the gold paint, so there is some texture when it dries.

How to paint Terra Cotta pottery

For generations, terra cotta pottery has been used widely as outside and indoors planters for growing houseplant or young herb. Low-cost pottery with their boring looking will turn great with style when you add some attractive colors.

Maybe it sounds easy, but you have to know how to paint terra cotta pot properly if you want your decorative painting efforts to last. Here are a few simple instructions that guarantee your painted technique will maintain to look attractive for years.

To paint a terra cotta pottery, you will need:

1) Terra cotta pot
Choose any size of terra cotta pot of your preference.

2) Pottery sealant spray
For pot that will be used for planting, use oil or water based polyurethane. Both of them will work great but oil based polyurethane will last longer.
For pot that will not be used for planting, use water-based polyurethane or craft acrylic sealant.

3) Acrylic or latex paint
Choose two or three colors of your preference. Most hardware stores able to scan just about any color you may bring to make a color match, therefore you do not have to try and mix yourself.

4) 2 inch wide foam brush

5) Masking tape

6) Clear acrylic coat spray

7) Sheet of self-adhesive laminating sheets and scissors (optional)

8) Fine grit sandpaper


Instructions:

Wash and rinse the terra cotta pot with warm water and let it dry completely. Next, sand the pot with fine grit sandpaper to remove any rough spots or loose clay particles.

Spray inside of the pot with pottery sealant as recommended above. Let the pot dry thoroughly. Once it dried out, spray inside the pot with pottery sealant again and let it dry thoroughly for about 24 hours. This process is necessary to ovoid the outside finished from peeling and bubbling consequence of moisture that coming through the pot's interior.

Paint outside of the pot with your first preference color with foam brush. Allow the pot dry thoroughly for several hours.

Once the pot is dried out, wrap masking tape around the center of the pot. Apply your second color and allow it to dry thoroughly for about several hours.

If you want the pot finished in variation with circle or square design, draw circles or squares on a laminating sheet, and then cut out the stencils carefully. Once the pot is dried out, peel off the laminating sheet and set the stencils on the pot where you want it. Apply your third color and allow it to dry thoroughly for about several hours.

Remove the stencils. Spray the whole pot with clear acrylic coat. Allow the pot to dry the thoroughly.

Once the pot dried out for several days, plant any houseplant or young herb with a sufficient amount of soil.

Now you have spent a good amount of time and effort painting your terra cotta pot. It is great for making a stylish look of indoor or outdoor, and also great for gift.

How to Remove Paints from Clothes

A) To remove WET paint from clothes:


- For WATER-BASED paints

Scrape as much as possible off the surface of the clothing, then use plenty of running water to away the rest. Rub gently or use a soft brush to dislodge any stubborn remaining paint from the fibers (be very careful if treating wool or silk). Make sure all the paint is gone, and then the clothing can be washed as normal.


- For OIL-BASED paints

Scrape as much as possible off the surface of the clothing, and then use a simple detergent - undiluted to dissolve the paint. You will probably have to use quite a lot. Keep adding it until you are sure that all the paint is 'loose' from the clothing. Then, and only then, start rinsing, with plenty of plain cold water. Once you're sure all the paint is gone, the clothing can be washed as normal.


B) To remove DRIED paint from clothes:

- For WATER-BASED paints

Soak the clothing for at least 24 hours in cold water. Then, as for wet paint, rub gently or use a soft brush to dislodge any stubborn paint from the fibers. Make sure all the paint is gone, and then the clothing can be washed as normal.


-For OIL-BASED paints

You will almost certainly be unable to scrape the paint off the surface of the clothing. You will probably have to use a commercially-produced paint remover: be sure to read the instructions CAREFULLY as to whether it is usable on the material from which your clothes are made. Again, once you're sure all the paint is gone, the clothing can be washed as normal.

You could also use paintbrush cleaner, available from any DIY store, but I would not recommend this for any artificial fabrics, or for wool or silk.

Of course, prevention is always best - wear old clothes for decorating, or craft activities, or cover up with an overall.

How to Estimate an Interior Paint Job

Here's the secret on how to estimate a painting job, slow down and pay attention to detail.
Seriously, everybody loses when an estimate is not done carefully.

When I do an estimate, I try to imagine in my mind, actually doing the paint job. For example, is it easier or more difficult to bring all the tools into the house? Are there pets or children to contend with? Are the walls dirty? Are there a lot of nail pops? Basically, what are the conditions before painting? How much time will it take to get the area ready to go on?

Protection, what is needed? What needs to be removed prior to starting? What about switch plates, lighting, pianos, grandfather clocks or anything that is expensive and will require special handling. If you think that is overkill just wait until one of your painters scratches a piano and you have to get its expensive lacquer finish redone. Again how much time to move and protect?

Preparations, how much time will it take to spackle, sand, and prime or spot prime prior to painting?

Next, measure the room, width then length. Then multiply the width times the length. That will give you the square feet of the ceiling. How much time does it take to paint a ceiling of this square footage?

Second, measure the height, then multiply the width times two, then multiply the length times two, finally take that total and multiply times the height of the walls. This will give you the square footage of the walls. Now how much time does it take for your crew to paint walls of this square footage?

Third, back up, the baseboard lineal footage is 2 times length plus two times the width. How much time does it take for your crew to paint baseboards?

Count doors, windows, shelving and any other single item such as crown molding, chair rail, etc. Add them up individually and multiply times the amount of time your crew takes to paint these items.

Are you all done measuring for painting? Great, now replace those things you removed prior to painting. Add up the time it would take.

Cleanup, figure the time it will take to remove drops and ladders etc. Now compute how much time to vacuum, wipe down etc. Put everything back into the truck, how much time did that take?

Finally, add all these times up and multiply by the hourly rate that you have calculated to be what you need to make money, and you are done.

Tips for painting a room

A fresh coat of paint with suitable shade gives a wonderful looks for a room. Painting a room may take hours or more than a day. It depends on the room size and the painting style. Whatever the size and the style of the room, the painting techniques remain the same. In this article are some helpful tips for painting a room to make the process easier. You will enjoy the project as much as the finished result! It’s personally rewarding, inexpensive fun.

Before you start, you have to decide color for the room. The color set the entire mood of the room. You may want your room into a light and happy place or a more serious place that you can use to get work done. So you can use color scheme card to help you in making your color decision. Once you've made your decision, go to hardware store or paint store to purchase suitable paint for your room and painting equipments.

Follow these tips for painting a room:

1) Plan a day ahead for preparation.

A good result usually begins with a good plan. Make sure you purchase sufficient top quality paints and get ready all the painting equipments. Use only top quality paint because their finishes are much easier to work with and offer long-term performance.

Use a day ahead of painting day to gather furniture in the center of the room and cover them with a good drop cloth, take everything off the walls, put blue painter's tape around doors and windows, and cover light fixtures with large plastic bags.

2) Prepare the wall surface properly.

Paint only stick on surfaces that are clean and sound. Remove dirt, dust and grime from walls, ceilings and trim with a detergent-water solution. Rinse the wall thoroughly with water and allowed to dry completely. Then use a putty knife to fill cracks and holes with a quality acrylic caulk. Finally, if walls or ceilings have water stains, it may be necessary to coat them with a latex or oil-based stain-blocking primer before painting to prevent the stains from bleeding through the new paint.

3) Painting process.

Firstly, start painting at the ceiling. Starting at a corner, paint a section about 3 feet square using paint roller. Use a zigzag pattern which will disperse the paint on the roller evenly. Fill in this 3 feet section without reloading the roller until you have complete coverage of this section. Continue to cover the ceiling, working across its shortest dimension in 3 foot square sections, overlapping while paint is wet to minimize lap marks.

After completing the ceiling, continue to paint the wall. Use tools for edging to paint the top edge of the walls. Then paint in a vertical direction using a zigzag pattern with paint roller. Push the roller upward on the first stroke; paint a section about 3 feet square without reloading the roller until you have complete coverage of this section. Continue with this approach until the wall is finished. Touching up spots you missed when the paint is wet will help minimize sheen potential sheen differences.

4) Clean up process.

Rinse your paint brushes, rollers and equipments in warm water to clean. Let the painted walls dry completely before you reinstall your furniture and rearrange your room.

How to improve your mood with paint colors

Your mood can be affected by paint colors. The sensation of a room is influenced by colors. Whether you are aware of it or not, certain colors evoke different emotions that can either improve, maintain or demote the way you feel.

It is important to choose the right paint colors for the right rooms. You won't want to paint the walls of your bedroom sunshine yellow or red if your bedroom is where you do most of your relaxing.

In everyday life, you can make use of the effect of color on your psyche in order to improve your job satisfaction and well-being. The following is a list of some colors and their matching moods which you should keep in mind when selecting paint colors:

Red
Red, the most intense, pumps the adrenaline like no other color. It empowers a room's energy. It is a good selection when you want to blend excitement, especially at night. In the living room or dining room, red represents people together and stimulates conversation. In a front entrance, it makes a strong first impression. Red has been revealed to raise blood pressure, speed respiration and heart rate. It is usually measured too stimulating for bedrooms, but if you're only in the room in the night, you'll be seeing it mostly by lamplight, when the color will appear muted, rich, and elegant.

Crimson
Ancient cultures used crimson to stimulate the body and mind and to increase circulation. It is able to make some people bad-tempered and should be avoided as the main color of a room since it invoking feels of rage and hostility. Sitting for long time in a crimson room will possibly breakdown any peace and harmony.

Orange
Orange was used to heal the lungs and increase energy levels in ancient cultures. It is an energetic, cheerful, commanding, and stimulates goodwill color. It evokes excitement and enthusiasm. It is not a good idea for a living room or for bedrooms but it is great for an exercise room. It will bring all the emotions out that you need when jumping into your fitness routine.

Yellow
In chromatherapy, yellow was believed to stimulate the nerves and purify the body. Yellow captures the cheerful, increases energy and communicates happiness. It is perfect for kitchens, dining rooms, and bathrooms, where happy color is energizing and uplifting. In entries, halls, and small spaces, yellow can feel expansive and warm. But it is not a good choice in main color schemes of a room. It tends to create feeling of frustration and anger in people and the most fatiguing on the eyes. People are more expected to lose their tempers and babies seem to cry more in a yellow room.

Green
Green is considered the most restful color for the eye. It has a soothing effect when used as a main color for decorating. It is believed to promotes emotional growth and relieve stress by helping people relax and refreshing. In addition, it believed to help with fertility, thus it is a great choice for the bedroom.
In a kitchen, a sage or medium green cools things down. In a family room or living room, it encourages unwinding but has enough warmth to promote comfort and togetherness.

Blue
Blue is cool, refreshing, soothing, relaxing, and promotes feelings of tranquility and peace. It brings down blood pressure and slows respiration and heart rate. It is often recommended for bedrooms and bathrooms. However, a pastel blue that looks pretty on the paint chip can come across as unpleasantly chilly when it's on the walls and furnishings, especially in a room that receives little natural light. If you choose for a light blue as the primary color in a room, balance it with warm hues in the furnishings and fabrics.

Purple
Lighter versions of purple, such as lavender and lilac, bring the same soothing and relaxing quality to bedrooms as blue does, but without the risk of feeling chilly. Dark purple is rich, dramatic, and sophisticated. It's associated with luxury as well as creativity, and as an accent or secondary color, it gives a scheme depth.

Color choice is an individual belonging. These general lists are a good preliminary reference point in your search for a paint color to improve your mood. But remember that you're the one who has to live with your new paint color, so decide a perfect color that suits your lifestyle.

How to choose color scheme for your room?

Using a Color Scheme in Your Room

When you set about to design a room, one of the most important things that you will need to tackle will be the color scheme you are going to use. The color scheme will set the entire mood of the room, making it into a light and happy place or a more serious place that you can use to get work done. Of course, you will want all of the objects that you are putting into the room to work well, so you may wish to begin selecting your color scheme by using an object which you already have and plan to include.

If the object has a pattern, you have it rather easily set. Items with patterns already have a color palate included and you can use this to help you establish the rest of the room. This can be anything from pillows to drapes, area rugs to wall decoration. Any items which include different colors can be used to help you set the color palate which you will base the rest of the room around.

After you have picked the pattern based on the object that you are going to follow, you need to select three colors from that pattern to use as the base for your room. You will want a light color, a dark color, and something in-between. This will help to give you a good balance that will give the eye enough information to look over while it is scanning the room and can help find a healthy medium for the room to exist in.

The lightest color that you choose will be set to be the background of the room, hopefully the colors of the walls. This is usually not hard to achieve because most rental spaces come with white walls and white is the lightest color you can find. Therefore, when you choose the light color, you should find something as close to white as possible because it can provide a great background for the rest of the room to exist against.

The middle color that you choose should be your larger furniture and the areas around the windows. This means that the drapes that you choose should be closely associated with your furniture and the area rug that you may have. In fact, if you use the area rug to base the room around, by selecting the medium color in the area rug, you will be able to easily base the rest of the room around this.

Finally, the darkest color in your color palate should go toward the accessories in the room. This means the end tables, the lighting fixtures, and the accents that you place around the room. The eye will be more naturally drawn to these accessories and you will want to arrange it so that they are placed sparingly around the room, so that they eyes aren't overwhelmed with all of the items it is being attracted to. Following this pattern can give anyone a great color-coordinated room!


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sarah_Crosset

How to paint a Car

Want to paint your own car?

You can paint your own car with your favorite color by yourself. Paint a car is different than painting a house. Here are step by step instructions to paint a car:

How to paint a car?

Step 1
Get a spray gun. Rent a professional-grade one. Let the company know you are using it to paint a car, so they will give you the proper equipment.

Step 2
Clean the car surface. Wash your car and make sure that every nook and cranny is spotless.

Step 3
Strip the wax or finish off the existing paint job using a commercial car wax stripper or degreaser.

Step 4
Sand any shiny spots with 250 grit sandpaper. Now is also the time to fill any dents or other small imperfections.

Step 5
Ground the car to prevent static charge from building on the surfaces that you want to paint. Attach a wire to the car frame and run it to a grounded object.

Step 6
Mask windows, chrome and tires with masking tape and paper to keep the paint from getting where you don’t want it.

Step 7
Apply base coat of primer. This helps the later coats bond to the car.

Step 8
Apply color coat. Repeat two to three times or until you have solid, even coverage.

Step 9
Allow the final color coat to dry 20 to 30 minutes. Then lightly sand with very fine grit sandpaper.

Step 10
Apply clear coats. Let each coat dry thoroughly before applying the next one.

Tips & Safety

No. 1

Deep-clean the painting area before getting started. Run a dehumidifier if necessary. Moisture will mess up your paint job, as will dust and grit.

No.2
Practice spray technique many times before applying paint to the car. Get too close and the paint will run. If you're too far away, the paint will dry slightly before it hits the car’s surface. This will make the finish look pebbly.

No. 3

Read and follow the manufacturer’s suggestions for use of wax remover, paint and other materials needed to paint a car.

No. 4

Wear appropriate protective equipment. Cover your skin and wear a respirator.

No. 5

Paint is flammable. Do not expose to open flame.

No. 6

Never use house paint on your car. You will regret with the results.

What To Look Out For When Selecting Paint?

What do you need to look out for when selecting paints? What are the properties of paint that you should be looking out for?

Let me explain to you the qualities of the different types of paint.

1) Wash-ability

A prime concern about paint is its wash-ability. The glossier the paint, the more easily it can be washed. However, do note that the shinier the paint, the more light is reflected and it can be very distracting to the users. Also. The paint is thinner and imperfections will be shown more easily.
If you need to use washable paint, use them for areas such as the bathrooms and kitchens.

2) Drying time

Paint needs time to dry and cure. Drying refers to surface drying and curing occurs when paint dries all the way through. Paint usually takes a longer time to dry during high humidity as the rate of evaporation decreased. It is crucial that you give time for your paint to dry as paint needs to be clean and re-coat.

3) Flammability

When selecting paint, do beware that paint can catch fire. Every alkyd-based product should be considered as flammable.

4) Odor

All paints have a certain degree of odor. Latex paint has an odor but it is not strong smelling or pungent. Most people dislike alkyd based paint as it really smell awful. Alcohol based paint is even worst. The bad smell lingers !

Hence, the next time you select the type of paint, do keep a look out on the above points that I have mentioned.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tan_Ruixiang_William

Best Way to Paint a House Fast!

When you have an investment property, it is very important to spend the extra money to make it look nice so you can keep it rented. An empty house is a negative return on your investment.

I had a tenant move out at the end of last month. I got a call from our property management company last Friday saying they had someone who wanted to move in this Friday! Not bad having a property sit less than a month. The property management company had a list of items that I needed to either pay someone to do or do myself, but fast either way. One of those items was repainting the interior of the house because the last paint job was bleeding through and looked spotty. We got a quote to paint the house. It is not a large property...just 1112 sq ft. They wanted $1950.00 to paint the house. We decided this was far too much to pay and that we would do the work ourselves.

We completely repainted the interior of the house in one and a half days. The "we" was me and a friend. The tools we used were varied. We used old fashioned rollers, a roller that had a reservoir that you pulled the paint into and then painted until it needed refilling, and an airless contractor series paint gun with the roller attachment.

The airless gun worked well, but was heavy and required two people to move from room to room without making a mess. It also took twenty minutes to clean. I like this tool for fast exterior painting when you can afford to have overspray, but it wore me out for interior painting. Still, it gave excellent results. I do recommend cleaning the roller after each room.

The tool with the reservoir worked well and was less cumbersome. Because we bought 5 gallons of paint in one can, it required we have a smaller container to put the paint in to before sucking it into the reservoir. Overall, it worked well.

Then, the old fashioned rollers...they worked well. You had to keep going back to the tray for more paint. They took the least amount of time to clean as you could either rinse the roller to use later, or just throw it away and start with a new roller later.

The first day, we tried to paint room by room. Things were going pretty slowly and we were worried that we might not finish in our allotted timeline of being done that weekend. After two rooms, we realized this was not the most efficient method and we decided a new approach.

We decided that framing each room was the most time consuming part of the job. We both started painting along the ceiling line and around the doors and outlets. We did the rest of the house and called it a day. A very long day...

***Important note! Only frame the rooms that you have enough paint to complete. If you are low on paint, go buy more and start fresh on the next room. Otherwise, you could end up with extra work on your hands when you realize that the paint does not match perfectly.***

The next day, we went back and finished the house in just a few hours. Because we only had to focus on painting the large areas, the painting went much more quickly. After finishing, we left the house for a while we allowed the paint to dry and our eyes to adjust back to seeing normal things. When we went back, we looked for any spots that needed to be touched up and happily found that there were very few to touch up.

So, save yourself some time and make sure that you have the right tools and frame the rooms first.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_E._Grey