Tips for saving money & ideas to update your home with paint

Well, here are my latest articles. I have an artist profile I need to finish and publish also but I’ve been SO busy!

Save money on art, crafts, and home improvement materials Great resources here. Some are new to me such as Habitat for Humanity Restore ~ I think that may be a great one for after our move!

10 ways to improve your home with paint Some ideas to spruce up your home using the ever versatile material ~ PAINT!

Faux finished accent wall

Oh, I’ve also added more items to my Bonanza shop: Renaissance Home’s Booth

Budget Makeovers: Kitchen Island Redo

First, I want to apologize for taking so long to get a project up here. I had other business related work I had to get out of the way before I worked on my own home. So … here is project #1:

I redid my standard kitchen island. By adding molding and paint, my kitchen island now looks like a custom piece. The original island was one of those plain paneled built-ins that came with our home. I’ll see if I can find a picture to add here.

 The molding can be purchased at your local Home Depot or Lowes. Start by giving your island a good sanding, knock back as much of the glossy surface as you can. Cut the moldings to the sizes you need and attach with glue made for that purpose (usually sold in the same area of the store). Apply a primer made for glossy surfaces to be safe (I used one tinted to my base color). Lightly sand smooth. Apply 2 coats of your base color (tan is used here), lightly sanding between coats.

Use a white wax candle to rub down all of the edges and raised moldings where the base color is to show through. After that paint 2 coats of black satin(or a top color of your choice) over everything. When dry lightly sand back to the base color where you applied the wax.  I chose a satin paint for the look and feel. However, if you prefer, glossy will work well also. I then used furniture wax to give it a nice shine and a little more protection. I also added drawer pulls to finish off the look.

Additional articles you might like:

10 ways to improve your home with paint

10 easy ways to give a cookie-cutter home style and originality

Save money on art, crafts, and home improvement materials

Paint projects to spruce up your home and not bust your budget!

With the economy the way it is, business is slow. Let’s face it, people aren’t spending like they used to and the way home values have depreciated, people are loathe to put more money into their humble abodes. Well, thankfully a majority of homes will recoup their value if the homeowner can wait it out. So for those of you who will be staying put for a while, what better way to drive away the doldrums than to spruce up your surroundings – without breaking the bank!

I’ve decided to do some sprucing up myself. I’m happy to share with you what a little paint and ingenuity can do. I have a list a mile long of what I WANT to get done but it will remain to be seen what I will actually accomplish this year. With each project I take on, I will take before and after pictures and tell you a little about the process. Whether you decide to take on some new painting projects of your own or hire them out, I hope I’ll at least provide you with a little inspiration.

To get us started, I’ll share with you a couple recent projects.

This is my “new” computer desk.  Actually, it’s an old vanity. (Sorry, I don’t have any before pictures for this one.) I gave it a light sanding, added a faux leather finish to the top and drawer fronts , and painted the rest black. I sanded back a little of the black to see some of the wood underneath – so when my kids bang it up a little it won’t be noticeable because that’s how it’s supposed to look. I topped it with a couple coats of varnish. I added a keyboard tray and replaced the drawer slides that were broken and VOILA… a cute practical desk.

 For project #2 I repainted the yellow metal mirror surrounds with a special textured paint topped with black glaze.  A couple coats of varnish protects it. Now, I need to do the other bathroom.

before

after

larger mirror

Neither of these projects was on a grand scale but they each succeeded in brightening up a part of my home. Not only that but I saved a piece of furniture from a landfill and it only took a little bit of paint. So, take a look around your own home and start planning your next project.

Stay tuned for more…

 Additional articles you might like:

10 ways to improve your home with paint

10 easy ways to give a cookie-cutter home style and originality

Save money on art, crafts, and home improvement materials

Choosing color for your home: What colors mean and how they make you feel

Deciding on colors for your home can sometimes be nerve-wracking. Painting a room is hard work and nobody wants to paint a room only to decide that they’re not happy with their color choice. When we enter a room, the colors in the room affect how we feel, how we react, if we want to stay or run for the hills. Here is a short guide on what colors represent to us and how color choices affect us.

Reds are exciting, stimulating, and warm. They can represent danger but also love. Red is a very strong color that can bring about strong emotion. It can make a room feel warm and cozy but be careful using it in bedrooms as it can also cause restlessness.

Pinks are cheerful, feminine, and youthful. It is a very relaxing color and is great in children’s rooms.

Oranges represent warmth and friendliness. Orange can also stimulate both your appetite and creativity. It is a good choice for kitchens, dining rooms and creative areas.

Yellows can be cheerful, warm, and fresh but also intense, stimulating and hot. Choose your shade wisely. Pure, bright yellow should be used cautiously because it may be overstimulating. Paler yellows are fresh and uplifting. Yellow is a good choice for an entranceway or activity area.

Greens represent harmony, calmness, and friendliness. Greens are appropriate for most areas of the home.

Blues represent safety, calmness, and peacefulness. A deep, intense blue however, may cause stimulation and restlessness. Most blues are perfect for bedrooms and bathrooms.

Purples represent royalty, dignity, poise, drama, and soberness. Light/pastel purples represent freshness, kindness, femininity, and sensitivity. Light shades of purple are great for bedrooms.

Other helpful links:

Decorating with the colors of the Southwest: Where to use them, what they mean (part 1)

Decorating with the colors of the Southwest: Where to use them, what they mean (part 2)

http://www.homeandfamilynetwork.com/decorating/color.html

http://www.hgtv.com/dc-design-colors/choosing-interior-color-schemes/index.html

Going Green – Eco-friendly Paint

I made the choice recently to switch to environmentally friendly paints. Often I basecoat an accent wall for a faux finish or mural but sometimes I need to paint the whole room. I had noticed that at the end of my day painting, even with plenty of circulation – which isn’t always easy here in Arizona in the summer, I would go home with a headache. So, the last time I was asked to paint a whole room I decided to use eco-friendly paints.

For this particular job, I especially wanted to be safe because it was a nursery and the bundle of joy would be coming home to his new room in a month or so. I had been doing research on paint prior to this job and new it was the direction I wanted to go in. Regular latex paints, although definately less toxic than alkyd (oil-based) paints, have volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) that continue to off-gas (emit chemicals into the air) for years after the paint job is done.

I used Harmony (no VOC’s) by Sherwin Williams for the basecoat and Duration Home (low VOC’s) also by Sherwin Williams mixed with my glaze for the finish on top. Not all colors can be mixed with no VOC paint so that is why I chose Duration Home for my second color. What a difference it made for both me and the homeowners who said they almost forgot I was painting because they couldn’t smell anything. I could smell it just a little but I didn’t get that headache by the end of the day! It costs about $10 -$15 more per gallon than regular latex paint but well worth the extra cost.

Eco-friendly paints have no or low VOC’s and very little odor. They are much safer for us and our environment. They come in flat, eggshell, or semi-gloss sheens and are very durable. Most, if not all, of the major paint companies now carry no and low VOC paints as well as Home Depot and Lowes.

So the next time you have a paint project, think of the environment and your family’s health and go GREEN! You’ll be glad you did!

Here’s an additional article :

Arizona’s summer is a perfect time to go green with low odor eco-friendly paint