Choosing Paint

Never buy paint from a paint swatch - get at least three samples of your desired color.

Colours always look darker on walls than they do on the tin. Paint an area of about 1 metre square (not just a couple brush-strokes!) on each wall to test the colours. Wait until the evening and check the colours again in artificial lighting.

Decorating with color

Be careful with using strong colors - they will affect your mood & behaviour.

Avoid cold colors in north or north-west facing rooms. Don't use strong and deep colors in small, dark rooms. For subtle variety, paint the walls of a room with different shades of the same color.

Preparation for painting

Cover your floors with newspaper or old sheets before painting. Use a piece of cardboard between the skirting and the floor and behind radiators.

Cover awkwardly shaped areas with foil or cling-film. Wear a shower cup and surgeons' gloves. Smoothe surfaces next to glass with wire wool instead of sandpaper.

Repairing Small Cracks & Chips

Mix filler into some of the paint with which you'll be decorating your wall.

Then touch up the small chips and holes using cotton buds.

Make Painting Easier

Always paint from a paint kettle or tray - not from the tin.

Line your tray or kettle with a plastic bag or aluminium foil - then pour the paint into the tray. When finished, dispose of the bag/foil and rinse out the tray. Even more effective is to put the whole tray inside a plastic bag before pouring in the paint.

Missing tools & Materials?

Don't panic. If you don't have any paint scraper use a fish slice.

If you don't have a brush - use a sponge. If you don't have a paint kettle - use an ice-cream or yoghurt tub

Unfinished painting

If you haven't finished with the painting - you don't need to spend too much time and effort on cleaning out your brushes and trays.

Just rinse them quickly and put a plastic bag or cling-film around them. Do the same when you stop for a break. If your brush has hardened, dip it into some boiling water mixed with some vinegar.

Storing Paint & Brushes

When you've cleaned your brushes put an elastic band around the bristles in order to stop them spreading out.

Store your paint tins upside down (this prevents any skin formation). Pour small amount of paint into a jar instead of leaving it in a big tin.

Smell of paint

Always paint with the windows open. If you don't like the smell of fresh paint

add some vanilla or almond essence to the paint. Or, when finished, cut up some onions and leave it the room!

Kids' room decoration

Generally avoid wallpaper - repainting is so much easier than re-papering.

Paint an area with chalkboard paint - another with magnetic paint (under the final coat) for kids to get creative. Always use wipeable paint. This is the room to be creative with colors - but avoid clichés! Decorate wood picture frames (or old unwanted frames) with funky glittery colors and frame family photos or the kid's artwork.

Kid's room floor

If the bedroom is also used as a playroom, avoid carpets - use laminated, vinyl, rubber, or wood flooring instead.

If you want a rug, think of the cost of dry-cleaning, so it's better to chose something that's machine washable.

Kid's room storage

Have plenty of storage boxes for toys - decorate cheap rubbish bins or shoe boxes.

Decorate jars and tins for pencils and small objects. Redecorate old chests of drawers either with your child's favourite colour, theme or a mural - or just give it a lime wash or a coat of varnish and change the handles to funky ones! Utilise the walls: hang toys, bags of toys and cloths on (child-safe) hooks, peg or rails.

Beds for kids

Kids love bunk beds - use the space underneath for storage, a couch ( or sofa bed) a desk or chillout zone.

Alternatively have a raised bed with drawers underneath. Girls love the princess style - just hang some muslin from the ceiling or have fairy-lights around the bed-frame.

Bedroom Design Idea 1

Use your bedroom only for sleeping and relaxing. Don’t use it as the junk-room or the office or the utility room.

Don’t let your kids to take it over or use it as (yet another) playroom. Don’t have too many furniture and too many ornaments – instead make it a haven of luxurious cushions, throws and linen. If possible, have a separate walk-in wardrobe; if not, streamline one wall with floor-to ceiling wardrobes. Have a large bed with bedside tables – but don’t have shelves above your head. If it fits, have a comfy chaise-longue or armchair for lazing.

Bedroom Colors

Despite its popularity red is not cosy as people might think and it’s not really suitable for a bedroom. Why?

Because red is considered to be an advanced color – it has the longest wavelength, thus requiring the most adjustment by the eye. It can make you feel restless, tense and even claustrophobic – not how you want to feel in your bedroom. Green is the ideal color for a bedroom as it requires no adjustment by the eye – so it makes you feel peaceful land calm. If you don’t like green, choose a natural, pale or off-white color.

Clean Lines

Do you need to paint a line with nice sharp sides to it?

The way to avoid getting fluffy edges when drawing a line is to put a rubber band round the bristles of the brush.

Bathroom Flooring

Never use carpet in the bathroom! It’s unhygienic. Also, try to avoid vinyl flooring too

Ceramic or stone tiles are the most suitable materials for bathroom flooring – use limestone, slate, marble or sandstone. A cheaper alternative is stone-looking ceramic tiles. If you prefer the warmth of wood, hardwood or properly treated softwood can also be used in a bathroom. If you decide on tiles consider some under-floor heating.

Bathroom walls

Bathroom walls should be able to take condensation and areas next to water should be water resistant.

This doesn’t mean that you must use tiles all over the walls. You can paint the walls with specialist bathroom paint and just tile around the bath. Instead of tiles, consider using clear, frosted or coloured glass! You can also panel the bathroom walls and paint the wood-work with gloss or external paint. If you want a trendy bathroom wall – panel it with veneered MDF, then seal it with yacht varnish. Alternatively, cover the walls with decking or bamboo fencing!

Bathroom storage

Storage is very important in bathrooms - yet it’s widely overlooked when people remodel their bathrooms.

Most wall space can be effectively used for plenty of storage space!rnBut don’t just install a couple of shelves or cabinets – utilise a full wall if possible. Bathroom cabinets don’t need to be deep (really, only the thickness of a toilet roll). Add mirrored or wooden doors! You can also use the space under your bath – just panel your bath with wooden doors and store your cleaning products there.rnHave only a few toiletries on display – use a trolley for storing them and your towels.

To drill through a tile

If you need to put up a shelf or a fixture you might have to drill through some tiles.

Try to arrange your fixture to be installed through the grouting. If this is not possible, you’ll have to drill through the tiles with a masonry drill. To avoid cracking the tile, put a cross of masking tape over the spot where you want to drill. Drill through the tape, tile and wall slowly with the smallest drill bit you have. Drill again with the correct gauge bit. Make sure the hole is deep enough by marking the length of a wall plug on the drill bit with tape.

Splashback

Given the condensation and grease in the kitchen, the walls around the cooking and near wet areas need to be covered with a heat, water and stain-resistant material.

Most people tile around the cooking and wet areas. This isn’t actually necessary. You can just paint the walls with special kitchen emulsion or eggshell – this is hardwearing and wipeable. Alternatively, be creative - attach a sheet of glass (colored or transparent, but heat-resistant!), stainless steel, aluminium or Perspex (colored or transparent). You can also sandwich wallpaper, posters, holiday snaps between the plastic sheet and the wall to create a unique splashback! Don’t forget to seal the top with silicon

Nursery furniture

Nursery furniture should be solid, rounded, and easy to clean

When you buy or make furniture for a nursery, think about spatial needs and practicalities. Try to avoid furniture made of MDF – use pine or solid wood furniture. You don’t need to buy new furniture – just paint old pine chest of draws or cabinets with toxic-free paint. Later, when your baby grows into a toddler and young child – just repaint the furniture with a different color-scheme. Make sure that your baby will not be able to pull out the draws and open the doors easily. Also, provide plenty of storage for future toys – chests, boxed, hampers

Nursery color scheme

Avoid the cliché colors of baby pink and blue – babies see them as gray!

Babies prefer strong, contrasting colors. Try to use primary colors of red, blue, yellow – or secondary colors of purple, orange and green. Choose three of these colors - paint the walls in two different shades and use the third color as the accent color on accessories, soft furnishing and furniture. Be creative and bold with your color scheme , but don’t make the room look like a painting store!

Nursery Design

Design a nursery for your child – not for yourself!

This is the place where you can get imaginative and playful, but remember that a nursery has to be practical and safe too. Before you plan your baby’s room, get down to the floor and view the room from your baby’s perspective. Make sure you use natural material, such as wood, linen, cotton and toxic-free paints and varnishes. Think about storage - babies only need space to sleep for a few months, then they’ll need space to play and to store their toys!

Nursery lighting

Most babies don’t like sleeping in the dark.

When you decorate your baby’s room, think about lighting. Provide lamps and low lighting that don’t disturb their eyes (nor yours!). Use creative lighting systems, such as light displays on the walls, mobiles that lit up at night, fairy light around the window frame or furniture, stars and paints that sparkle during the night. Also, plug a night-light into a socket in the room.

nursery themes

Choosing a theme for the nursery

Babies are more interested in shapes and colors than stories & tales. So base your decor theme on nature & animals rather than story characters. Interesting themes can be the ocean, the jungle, the garden, the farm, the seasons, day & night etc. Make sure your decor is flexible - your baby, as a toddler, might be bored by or just not like your chosen theme!

Working from home

When you work from home it is important spatially and psychologically to separate your working life from your home life.

If possible, have your office in an extension, outside building, garage, attic or basement room. Make sure your office can be shut off from your home. Even if you need to have a double functioning room, such as office/dining room, office/ guest-bedroom, your working life should be hidden behind sliding doors or cabinets. Be disciplined in your mind -“go to work” and leave your home life and responsibilities behind. When you’ve finished work, “go home” - close the office door, the sliding doors or cabinets. If you don’t separate the two, sooner or later your work will overtake your life.

Office space

When it comes to space we always underestimate what a home office requires

Before you convert a space in your home into an office, write down what your business requires. Don’t underestimate storage. You’ll need cabinets or shelves for files and folders – and more than you think. Your desk should be as big as you can fit into the room. IT equipment always takes up more space than we think they do. Make sure you organize things efficiently.

Office Decor

Just because it’s an office it doesn’t have to look like an office!

Don’t let your home office look boring and corporate-like. Use fresh and vivid colors to cheer you up - instead of typical filing cabinets and office desks, use wooden furniture to bring warmth into your room. Clear space allows for clear thinking - keep you files, folders, stationary & books in cabinets rather than on shelves. Paint a wall area with magnetic paint to stick important messages, letters and images. If possible have a coffee table and couple of armchairs to take a break or for visitors / clients.

Damaged Brick

If a brick is damaged (e.g. by frost) you'll need to replace it. But can you find a matching brick?

Firstly you remove the brick by drilling through the mortar all the way round then gently chiselling it out. If you can't buy a new one that matches (often the case with older buildings), you can just turn it around and mortar it back in.

Painting wood

Bare wood must be properly prepared before painting & varnishing

Knots in bare wood must be treated to stop them bleeding. Then a coat of primer should be applied, followed by a coat of undercoat then the final paint. Eggshell, satinwood and acrylic are the most suitable paints for woodwork. Use a good quality brush and paint in the direction of the grain. Finish with a coat of varnish.

Leftover paint

When you’ve finished painting, put back the lid firmly, then tip the tin upside down for a few seconds.

The paint will get to the underside of the lid and form an airtight seal.If you only have a small amount of paint left over, it’s best to decant it from the tin into a jar with a screw-top lid. Rub some petroleum jelly around the neck of the jar before pouring in the paint – this will stop any spills sticking to the lid. If there is grit in the paint, filter it through a piece of muslin or old tights before storing it. Don’t forget to label the jar!

Painting order

The order in which you paint various surfaces is important and differs.

Always paint the ceiling first – any splashes on the walls can be dealt with later. Start painting a wall from the top right-hand corner (opposite corner if you’re left- handed). If you paint the ceiling and the walls different colors, first use a brush for the edges then a roller on the rest of the surfaces. If you’re going to wallpaper the walls, paint the door and window frames first – allow the paint to go onto the adjoining walls, then if you leave any gaps between the edges of the wallpaper and the frames, they won’t show up!

Painting doors

This is how to paint doors correctly:

Paint outwards from the centre of a door towards the edges.rnFirst paint the panels, then the vertical inner surfaces, then the horizontal sections, and finally the frame. If you want different colors on each side, the latch edge should be the same color as the side that faces into the room when it is open

Flaws

This is how to deal with painting mistakes and flaws:

Remove stray bristles immediately – or let the paint dry and remove them with a scalpel. Small insects should also be removed after the paint has dried.rnrnBetween coats of paint don’t forget to wipe surfaces with a damp cloth after rubbing them down, otherwise grit and dust will show in the next coat. Sags and runs are difficult to remove – try to prevent them by not using too much paint in the first place. You can remove paint from a window pane by using a scraper.