painting Archives

Applying a fresh coat of paint is one of the easiest, most effective ways to raise your property value. It costs relatively little, and you can complete multiple painting projects over a single weekend. Creative types can let their inner Picasso loose and transform their home into something beautiful.

That said, it’s a little more complicated than finding the right color. To make the most out of a painting project, you’ll need to create a clear vision of what you want to achieve. Here are seven tips to get you started.

1. Ask Yourself Why You’re Painting

Your reasons for painting will vary. Maybe you want to sell, but the exterior of your home is peeling. Perhaps the previous tenant turned the spare bedroom into a nursery — but now you want to create a home office where you meet with accounting clients. Maybe you just need a change.

Your painting goals guide your project. Painting your interior results in a 107% return on investment when you sell, but only if you select a palette that appeals to most buyers. Conversely, if you’re painting because you’re expecting a new bundle of joy, you might not care what a teddy bear mural does to your property value temporarily. You only care about your family’s opinion of the space.

2. Consider the Style of Your Building

If you own a Victorian mansion, darker paint tones can project a somber, funereal atmosphere. However, colors like black and dark gray provide striking accents to modern, contemporary homes. Keep the following guidelines in mind:

For a country cottage look: Select warm tones like golds and light greens.
For a Tudor-style home: Opt for red and brown accents.
For Southwestern flair: Stick with a light-colored palette with turquoise and copper accents.
For minimalist decor: Go with white with subtle pastel undertones like lavender.

3. Select Your Color Palette

Now that you have a grasp on your purpose and style, you’re ready to select your palette. If you’re painting your entire house, choosing hues that work well together will improve value. A successful painting project starts with planning.

Start by picking a color scheme for the largest, most central part of your home. For many people, this refers to your living or family room. Alternately, if you have your heart set on a burgundy tone for your dining area, start with that bold color and work outward from there.

Then, select variations of that hue for any adjoining rooms or areas you can see from the original vantage point. For example, if you paint your dining area a deep red tone, consider a rose-gold for an adjacent living area or hallway. Create a brick accent wall in the kitchen. The goal is a harmonious blend of colors from every viewpoint.

4. Choose an Accent Wall

Accent walls can create a cohesive look. If you choose to paint your kitchen cabinets hunter green, making a pine or emerald-colored accent wall in the living room unites your look. Such walls are a stunning backdrop for family photographs or decorative mirrors.

Your accent wall belongs where your eyes naturally gravitate. If you have a fireplace, you want to gaze at it while you sip cocoa — so highlight this area. If you have large windows lining one wall, make the opposite one your highlight.

5. Create a Striking Effect

You don’t have to paint all your walls a solid color. Stripes create a unique look for game rooms. Wainscoting adds an Old-World flair to the traditional study. Borders introduce whimsical elements to guest bedrooms.

Imagine that you’re Jackson Pollack and use splashes of color to bring a child’s bedroom to life. Create a mural of Middle Earth on your library wall.

6. Set a Specific Mood

Colors influence your mood. Tones like yellow and red energize your body and spirit. They work well in kitchens or home offices where you need to be alert. Light blue and lavender shades relax you, so paint your bedroom in that kind of hue. You’ll find it easier to slip into dreamland at the end of the day.

7. Tie Everything Together

Once you finish your painting project, take your time in laying out photographs and paintings. Keep beloved heirlooms and favorite pieces, but visit your favorite online or retail art shop to pick up new things as well.

Add a centerpiece that highlights the paint in your dining room. Set out decorative candles and books in flattering shades around living areas and studies.

Take Your Project to the Next Level

With planning, you can get the most out of your next painting project. Whether you want to increase your home’s value or simply freshen up your look, you’ll delight in the fruits of your labor when finished.

Dylan Bartlett writes about a variety of topics on his site, Just a Regular Guide. Check it out for more info on home improvement, DIY projects and remodeling apps. Follow him on Twitter @theregularguide for frequent updates!

Creativity is complicated. If you’ve got any sort of artistic impulse, you often find that the urge to give in to that instinct tends to fade away when you realize that you may not make a living doing what you love. As far as you’re concerned, if you can’t find a career that corresponds to your artistic inclinations, you shouldn’t bother acknowledging them at all.

Unfortunately, such an attitude will do little more than prevent you from enjoying the most enriched life you could possibly have. If you possess any sort of desire to create any sort of art, you should feed that desire as much as possible. Doing so will. . .

Enhance Your Skills

No matter how much you may want to be an artist, you can rarely succeed as one – on either a personal or professional level – without much practice. While there have, in history, existed geniuses who were able to master a craft with little effort, most of us aren’t that brilliant. We want to be a great writer, or painter, or composer, but we aren’t going to reach our goal without working towards it.

True, you may not end up making money doing the work that matters to you, but you most certainly won’t if you don’t put in the time to develop your skills.

Heal Your Mind

The urge to create art indicates that the individual feeling this urge has something to say. By not indulging in your creativity, you are essentially biting your tongue, refusing to let loose the insights you feel an unshakeable need to share. This will only lead to stress. Granted, just because you feel the need to say something, doesn’t exactly mean you should – the art you create does not need to be shared if you end up understanding that the message behind it isn’t something you think others need to hear – but by not at least giving yourself the chance to commit your thoughts to a permanent, clear form, you deny yourself the mental health that comes with speaking your mind.

Enjoy Your Life

The creative act is, almost always, a joyful experience. Yes, it can involve torment, yes, it can involve tearing at your own soul to bring to light the darker feelings lurking below the surface of your mind, but in the end, the time you spend creating a work of art is time that it generally enjoyable.

Life itself isn’t always that fun. The work you do to earn an income can be difficult, the relationships you have with others may be stressful, and the way you feel about yourself isn’t always positive, but the art you create will bring you happiness.

Focus Your Intention

We must always understand that we can’t exactly expect to make money as an artist. It’s possible to do so, but you’re certainly not doing yourself any favors if you think there’s a guarantee that your skill will turn a profit.

Then again, if you fail to follow your passion at all, you’ll notice that you lose that driving force that motivates you to live your dreams. By continuing to give in to your artistic sensibilities, you keep that flame ignited. You remind yourself, each and every day, why you truly wake up in the morning.

Explore Your Soul

When we set out to create a work of art, we may have an intention in mind, but those who truly give in to the creative process often find that they discover shades of their minds, bodies, and souls, that they didn’t know existed. The message you meant to express evolves into something new and compelling.

This is always a fulfilling and worthwhile experience. Yes, life is best when we spend time to learn about the various cultures, thoughts, and beliefs that are foreign to us. However, we may not realize that within our own identities, there are such foreign ways of seeing the world.

By creating art, we allow ourselves to meet these new perceptions, enriching our overall experience, not only of the world, but of our own lives.

Tag: painting

7 Pointers for Your Next Painting Project