DIY

‘A house is made with walls and beams. A home is built with love and dreams.’

This is a famous quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson. So, what is a colourful homemade with?

You can get the answer from magazines, websites or even from your friends’ homes. There is a lot of sources to provide you with information about how can you keep your home colourful. In that spirit, here are some tips to facilitate your decision when making your home colourful.

Get Inspired and Get Planning

You may be inspired by websites and magazines featuring current interior design trends and decide you want to paint your home by yourself. Colour consultants can also be a source of your inspiration and motivation to undertake DIY residential painting.

When planning a DIY residential painting project, there’s a lot to consider. Deciding on paint types and finishes, choosing brushes and rollers, and identifying any areas that you don’t want to paint.

This means you need to consider:

Planning what you have to purchase
Planning what you need to do before painting
Planning what you need to do while painting
Planning what you need to do after painting

Purchases:

If you are not already committed to a colour, you can test different paints by painting a piece of foam board to see how light affects the colour. Before buying paint you need to know the square footage of the room you intend to paint. Generally, one gallon is considered sufficient for every 400 square feet.

Before applying colour on your walls, you need to know whether the current colour is water based or oil based. Take a white cloth and alcohol then rub it on the wall. If the paint begins to transfer on the cloth, it is water based. It is better to use eco-friendly paints for DIY residential painting as they have little to no volatile organic chemicals (VOC).

Tools:

For water-based paint use a brush with nylon or polyester-bristles
Use natural bristles (ox or hog hair) for oil-based paint
For painting moulding or window casings, foam brushes are good
Use flagged brushes for smooth and precise layers of paint
Use a 3/8-inch or less nap roller for wallboard and wood
Use larger naps for heavy texture to reduce the number of coats needed and the amount of time spent.

Before Painting:

Clean the walls with soap and water and rinse with water, as paint doesn’t stick very well to dirty walls
Clean the ceilings before painting as well
Cover the floor with cloths or old sheets to protect from splatters and drips; don’t use plastics, as they are slippery underfoot
You can mix all of your colour cans together to ensure colour consistency throughout the room.
Fill holes with spackle

While Painting:

Don’t spend all your time taping everything. Buy a quality edger instead of painter’s tape.
Use a 2-inch angled-sash brush. Hold it like a pencil and paint the corners
Use a hammer and nail to punch holes in the paint can every inch or so, so that paint around the rim can drip back inside the can.

After Painting:

When the paint is water-based, use soap and water to clean your brushes immediately after painting is complete
When the paint is oil-based, use a solvent such as paint thinner or mineral spirits to clean your brushes
Hang moist paint brushes upside down. wrapping them by plastic or waxed paper.
Roll the paint brushes as close to the cut-in areas as possible to prevent hatbanding

Now you have an answer to the question of what a colourful home is made with, haven’t you?

Category Archives: DIY

DIY House Painting Tips to Keep Your Home Colourful!