Adding Decorative Painting Techniques to Your Home

Changing Paint Color 

Changing the paint color of rooms inside your home can make you feel renewed and excited.  But for some homeowners, who paint a lot or get bored by simple, flat colors, you may want to consider another option for your next painting project.  You can use paint in many creative and decorative ways by applying some simple techniques!  We’ll discuss the details on how to create various stripes, shapes, polka dots, and other graphics to transform your space.

These techniques already assume that you’ve got some basic DIY painting skills under your belt.  If you want to read up some more, we have articles and blogs devoted to this topic.  If you’d rather trust it to the professionals to get it done quickly, correctly, and properly the first time, then call an expert New Jersey home painter.

Adding Stripes

The first technique to consider is adding stripes to your walls.  These can be horizontal or vertical, and are a great simple way to add a unique element to otherwise blank and boring walls.  Stripes can also change the way the room appears inside by tricking our perception, with horizontal stripes widening a space and vertical stripes pushing the ceiling upwards.  Remember all of your painting basics before you begin: make sure the room is clean and clear, and measure out the locations you’re thinking of painting.  Here are some more quick tips:

• • Begin with your base coat (usually in the lighter colors of the two you have selected) over the whole wall and make sure it is nice and dry.
• • Measure and use pencil or blue chalk to choose the exact locations of your stripes, and then tape them off accordingly.
• • Keep your stripes a good width – 4” stripes may be too narrow, and more than a foot wide is probably too heavy.
• • Use an odd number of stripes and consider your corners, and where the stripes meet. It’s a good idea to start in a less-noticed corner in case you need to make any adjustments.  If you need to, the width of stripes can usually be changed a quarter/half an inch without being too visible from afar.

If stripes aren’t your favorite, maybe other geometric designs and shapes are.  Diamonds add a royal feel, and are great for kids’ rooms.  Squares or checkerboard shapes add personality and character, especially if you use multiple colors and textures to create varying patterns.  Perhaps the most whimsical are polka dots in light, airy colors – they’ll cheer you up every time you enter the room.

• • Measure out the sizes for your shapes beforehand. Diamonds should be twice as long as their width.  For squares and dots, stencils will save you a lot of time.
• • Draw guiding lines vertically, to allow for easy placement of your shapes along the same axis. You can also mark off the corners (for diamonds and squares) or the centers (for dots and squares) to help you visualize.
• • Painting with a partner will keep your lines (for both taping and the actual application process) straight and even. Or leave it to the professionals; experienced home painters can apply any shape you want to even the most difficult spaces, leaving you Worry Free.
• • Your tape should be tight enough to prevent colors from bleeding over, but still able to be removed once the paint is dry and done.
• • Mini rollers are your best friend when trying to fill in smaller, tight spaces like these geometric shapes.

wall graphics

If the shape you’re considering might be too complicated to paint by hand on your own, check out the huge selection of decals and other wall graphics available.  After replacing the base color of a room, adding some special details is easier than you think!  Try finding some premade shapes and decorations in hobby and art shops – kids love their favorite sports stars and cartoon characters. If you have an art projector handy, use it to project the shapes you want and then it’s as easy as tracing and filling in with paint.

These techniques are great for the experienced home painter and homeowner to consider.  There’s no better way to customize your space and really let loose creatively.  You can still accomplish this when hiring a residential painting contractor in NJ, and they can give further recommendations on popular trends for interior painting projects.  You’re sure to be pleased with the results for years to come.