Things to look out for:

• Generally, darker colors tend to make a room seem smaller, so, for those small rooms, like the bedroom, choose a lighter color.
• Once your walls are painted, the paint will look darker than when it was still in the can. Choose a color a few shades lighter than what you originally intended.
• Find the correct types of paint and what each of their effects are. For example, eggshell or velvet paint have a soft look to them. They go nicely with pastel colors, and are best suited for the bedroom.
• Choose a color that complements your room’s decor. Whether contrasting or not, it must ADD to the rooms decor, not detract from it.

Once again, take a look around. There are plenty of website out there with tips on what paint to buy, why to buy it, and which room it suits the most. There are also a lot of sites you can visit with ideas (and photos) for decorating certain rooms. You could take a look at the sites/photos and see what they have done with paint and the contents of the room.

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© James for Make a good house a GREAT home, 2006. | Decorating Tip #1 – Choose a good paint color | No comments yet. Click here to add yours... |

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1. Choose a paint that you can live with for a LONG time. Especially in your bedroom. In 6 months will you still think bright pink is cool?
2. Make small rooms seem larger. In this day and age, people are moving into smaller and smaller spaces. Learning how to make the most out of the space you have is essential.
3. Don’t modernize everything. If you have a house with an old fashioned kitchen, turn it into a retro kitchen.
4. Decorate the walls with framed pictures and paintings. BUT, the key here is to make sure that the frames are good quality, good looking frames.
5. Use good lighting effects. Find what needs to be lit (is it the room, or just a painting), and do it in a stylish way.
6. Trash cans are not JUST trash cans. Think of the little things. Just because a trash can is where your dirt goes, doesn’t mean you can’t have a NICE trash can.
7. Create a focal point in a room. I have already discussed this in a previous article, but it is a key issue in interior decorating.
8. Create easily accessible “paths” around your house. Don’t make your guests (or yourself) climb over things or have to dodge furniture.
9. Give each room a function. And make sure that each function can be fulfilled in the room.
10. Take a look around. Browse the internet, look in the shops… You can get ideas from a lot of places.

© James for Make a good house a GREAT home, 2006. | Ten Tips for Better Interior Decorating and Home Improvement | 3 comments. Click here to add yours... |

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Of course, Varnishing is not always what needs to be done. A better option is Sealing the wood. I used something called an “Exterior Gloss Sealer” by Woodoc. Here are the properties for the Sealer I used (from www.woodoc.com):

• Excellent wind, water, pollution and salt spray protection.
• Incorporates a special alkyd base that remains flexible, preventing surface cracking associated with temperature variation.
• Superior Ultra-violet radiation protection in extreme conditions.
• High build characteristic for a smooth gloss surface.
• Deep penetrates to nourish wood and combat fungus growth.
• Biodegrades at the end of its life cycle.
• No need for scraping or sanding. Clean the old surface with Woodoc SteelWool and mineral turpentine before re-applying Woodoc 55.

As the last point mentions, I used Fine Grain steelwool to smooth the surface of the wood before applying the sealer. Here are some before and after photos:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

This is after applying the first coat. It is recommended that you apply 3 coats to your wood for the proper effect. As you can see, the colour is already a lot richer…

© James for Make a good house a GREAT home, 2005. | Varnishing or Sealing your Wood | Only one comment. Click here to add yours... |

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