Tag: painting

Paint Palette: Matching Colors to Room Types

Posted on Staff

When it comes to painting your home, color is extremely important. You want to use the right colors in the right rooms.

Using the wrong color can create negative feelings in your home, and that is the exact opposite of what you want to accomplish.

colorsColors are characterized by different properties. These are passive, active, and neutral. It is easy to match a room’s colors to personal tastes, as well as the purpose of your room.

The lighter colors are airy and expansive, which will make a room seem much brighter and lighter.

Darker colors are warm and sophisticated. They offer larger rooms more of an intimate feel and appearance.

Red

Red offers more energy. This is the most intense of colors. It offers an adrenaline rush like no other.

This color is a great choice if you are looking to stir up some excitement; especially during the nighttime hours.

Red is a great color for dining rooms and living rooms. It draws people together and will stimulate conversation.

Additionally, if you use this color inside of an entryway, you will make a very strong first impression.

Red has also been proven to have some negative effects. It has been shown that this color can raise a person’s blood pressure, as well as their heart rate.

Yellow

This color captures the joy that radiates from sunshine, creating a sense of happiness.

Yellow is a great color for kitchens, bathrooms and dining rooms. It is energizing and very uplifting.

If you use yellow in halls, small spaces and entries, you will offer a welcoming feeling.

Even though this color is cheery, yellow is not a good color to use as the most dominate color.

Studies have shown that those who are surrounded by the color yellow are more likely to get hot-tempered.

In nurseries, yellow has been known to make the babies cry more than normal.

When used in chromotherapy, yellow is thought to stimulate nerves and even purify your body.

Blue

Blue is thought to bring down a person’s blood pressure and even slow respiration. It will even decrease their heart rate.

This is why blue is deemed a calming, serene and relaxing color.

Blue is one of the top colors that is recommended for bedrooms. If you are thinking of a pastel blue, it will offer up a colder feeling. It is essential to accent the room with warm colors to balance out the blue.

This color encourages relaxation in areas that are social like living rooms, family rooms or even larger sized kitchens. You should consider the warmer blues like periwinkle.

Green

This color is deemed very restful for one’s eyes. If you combine green with cheerful yellow and refreshing blue, then your room will be energizing, comfortable and warm.

Green will also encourage you to unwind and cools things down in a kitchen. If you use this color scheme in a living room or a family room, it will promote togetherness.

 

When you are renovating or fixing up a new home, then you will need to consider the possibilities of how colors make people feel. Think of what you want the room to offer your family.

Think of if you want the room to be energetic or calming. If you are redoing a bedroom for a child, then you will need to take care only to use calming and happy hues.

If you are using a main color that is warm, then accent with cool colors, and vice versa.

While these are all great suggestions, remember that at the end of the day it is your home and you will be the one who has to look at the color everyday.

Just be sure to pick the colors that make you happy!

 

A Beginner’s Guide to Painting a Room

Posted on Staff

Painting a room yourself can be easy if you go about it the right way. It can also be a lot of fun.

Changing a room’s color, or simply applying a fresh coat can help a space look both clean and inviting.

This is also an alternative to buying new furniture or rearranging the furniture you already have if you are wanting to spruce up an area of your home.

If you have never painted before, never fear! Here are some tips to help ensure that you get great results:

green wall with ladder

  1. Begin with a clean wall. Make sure to wash off any dirt, grease, or anything that shouldn’t be there. If you are using soap to clean the walls, be sure to go back over those spots with plain water so that you don’t leave soap residue.
  2. Sand paper any previously puttied spots, and use putty in order to have a smooth wall. If your walls have any holes or broken areas, be sure to repair those before you begin painting.
  3. Use trim tape to save your floors and windows, or anything else you don’t want paint on. There is special painter’s tape made for this purpose; it is easy to apply and peel off. This tape can also be applied for a long time without peeling off any existing paint on your wall, like normal masking tape might. Paint tape helps to protect the paint from getting all over as well as assists you in creating the perfect line.
  4. Prime the walls for maximum coverage and the best look. Priming the walls means you are just preparing them for the actual color that you will paint them. If you are painting over a dark colored wall with lighter paint, will need primer to ensure you an enhanced, even color. It is advised that painters use primer for lighter colored walls as well.
  5. Use a brush AND roller. In the smaller and hard to reach areas, you will need to use a paint brush. This is where the paint tape comes in handy as you are painting in those crevices and corners. Tape and brushes are also handy when it comes down to painting along trim. For most of the wall, use the roller brush to cover large areas in a shorter amount of time. Roller brush strokes also come out much more smoothly and evenly, if done properly.
  6. Lay the roller on the wall with sweeping strokes. Start in the middle of the wall, and roll upward and then down at a slight angle while applying pressure. Be sure to not touch the ceiling or anything you don’t want paint to be on. While you are painting, make sure to do it quickly, as you don’t want the paint to build up or create roller marks.
  7. Don’t forget to wrap your brush and cover paint if you take a break, even for just 10 minutes. Be sure to use a plastic bag, or plastic wrap, in order to keep your brush from drying out. Also, be sure to put the lid back on the paint can when you aren’t pouring it in order to avoid drying as well.

Painting a room may seem like a daunting task at first, but follow these tips, and you will be perfecting your painting techniques in no time!

And don’t forget to check out our article about selecting the right paint pallet for each room!

 

 

Try A New Hobby – Paint Your Lake!

Posted on Glenn S. Phillips
Paint your lake

Recreating water on a canvas is not an easy task for any artist. It requires an artistic eye and special skills that can take a lot of practice.

It is also dependent on the type of water you are drawing, because painting a river requires something unique as opposed to painting a lake.

Studying reference images regarding different bodies of water is crucial, if realism is your goal. Every artist has a different technique but keep reading for some tips on how to paint water scenes.

Different Bodies of Water

Paint brushDifferent brush stroke techniques will depend on the body of water itself. It mostly depends on whether the water is moving or stationary. Here are some tips for painting water that is shallow.

• Use energetic brushwork with strokes going from side to side with a thin brush.

• Make sure you drag the paint from the darker reflected objects at a fast pace into the lighter areas. Wash your brush and then drag the light areas back to the dark.

• Keep an eye out for bright highlights from the ripples in the darker areas and smaller dark streaks may appear lighter in areas.

Deep water will require a different type of brushstroke and skill type. This is a much smoother image and surface to work with.

• Use broader brushwork and use a large flat brush.

• Apply slow strokes that will form softer, more elegant edges.

Under the Water

Paint colorsIf you are painting underwater scenes, the colors you will use differ depending on the depth.

• Shallow water tends to have a warmer tone and is impacted by the rocks, algae, and sand that lies beneath it.

• Rivers, streams, and lakes tend to be greener in color. This is because of the sediment that is in the water and how it reflects more light.

• As the water gets deeper, the greener your color pallet should be.

• Light will appear darker when reflected on the surface of the water. The sky that is reflected on the water’s surface is a deeper version of what is actually in the sky. The reflections will be much darker and dimmer than looking at the objects directly.

• Dark colors are lighter when reflected on the water. On the water’s surface, shadow areas from certain objects next to the water tend to be a window to the surface underneath.

These are just a few tips to keep in mind when you are trying to paint water. If you are already an artist you may already know what is required. For beginners, this may serve as a basic guideline for future projects.

The important thing to keep in mind is that lighting is everything, your resulting image will depend on how much or how little light there is reflecting on the water that will strongly impact your painting.

However, part of art is rejecting conventional norms, so if you want to paint a bright orange lake surrounded by purple trees, go for it! Art is also about having fun, and lake life reflects that concept perfectly.