DIY decor tips
Choosing the right paint
The right colour paint can often be difficult to find, you need to use a little bit of guesswork and sometimes (more often than not) blind faith. The colours in the shop are not always the same colour as the paint on your walls at home; this is due to the lighting difference between the shop and your room. When you make custom blends remember that the colour is often duller when the paint dries because the slick wet look of the paint doesn't stay. There is normally a professional on hand at the paint shop that will be able to help you at the time of purchase.
You should also choose the right colour to reflect the mood and the décor of the room you are decorating. For example if you were decorating a minimalist dining room, you would want to use cool, light colours to complement the style of the room, not warm hard colours. Warm colours like burgundy and ochre are nice for living rooms, creating a denser more homely feeling.
If you have the resources it is an excellent idea to get small samples of paint so that you can actually test what the colours look like on your walls. Often the colours on the tin vary greatly from the colours on your wall, due to lighting and the surfaces on which the paint is applied.
It is also a good idea to measure your walls carefully, figuring out the area you want to paint so that you know exactly how much paint you will need to cover all the surfaces. This will save extra trips to the paint shop.
You also need to think about the surface that you are painting and the type of paint that you use. Damp proofing paints are good for areas that have a lot of moisture in your home, porous paints will not last long at all in damp areas. Enamel based paints are much stronger and should be used in areas that experience a lot of traffic, like the kitchen.
It is really impressive how easy it is to transform a room with just a single coat of paint, don't you think it's time to give it a go?
This is general guidance and should not be read as authoritative and if in doubt qualified individuals/organisations should be consulted.
