Design

One of the reasons why people paint their home interior is to give it a new look. A fresh coat of paint can give new life to a dull or drab space.

To get an excellent result, make sure that you plan your interior painting well. Do not opt for shortcuts because you will just end up disappointed.

Here are some tips that you can follow:

• If you want to have the best result, always choose a reliable brand of paint. The paint must be the one that is most used by most interior designers and contractors. This way, you never have to worry about the results. Of course, choosing high quality paint means that you will have the best outcome in your interior painting; you still need to follow the proper way of applying it.

• Once you have decided on the brand of paint you are going to use, now you may need to choose on color choice. You probably have an idea of what colors that you like so it would be best to choose the color that would suit your home furnishings. You can do test painting. Try to check what fits your personality and style. It is possible to get several pints of paint testers to paint parts on a wall to see how you are going to like it.

• After you make a decision on a paint color and have bought your paint, it is time to prep the area before you began painting. Initially, you need to move all your furnishings in the middle from the room, away from the walls and cover it with paper or plastic drop cloths. Remove outlet covers and doorknobs, and patch all holes on the walls.

• Clean all areas that need to be painted. Clean walls and woodwork to get rid of dust and grease from all of the areas to ensure that the paint will stick to the wall well. Any grease which is not cleaned up will end up destroying your interior painting. On the other hand, dirt and dust that is not cleaned up well will bind itself to your freshly painted surface.

• In starting your interior painting, you should cut in all corners prior to using rollers to paint the larger parts of your walls. Load up the roller by dipping it into the tray and rolling it up the tray’s ramp till the roller is full. Continue to roll paint to cover all the parts of the wall.

If you are looking for help with your next painting project, take a look at The Urban Painter.

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If you thought that lighting was a troublesome thing to install that requires the assistance of a trained electrician then you are sorely mistaken my friend. In fact one of the easiest and most stylish ways to add character to a room is with self-adhesive LED lighting strips.

These strips use a tape and substrate, onto which the LEDs are placed at regular intervals and all you have to do is stick the strips to whichever area you feel would best do with some additional lighting. The great thing is that these LED strips are inexpensive, easy to install and make a simple but stylish addition to any room in your house.

The potential for what you do with LED light strips is near endless and you can even install them outside as well as indoors, throw in the fact that they are available in a variety of colours and different levels of brightness and you are guaranteed to find some that can perfectly suit your needs. Below we have listed some of the most common uses for these light strips in a home:

– Lighting strips are commonly placed either above or below kitchen cabinets. It is the perfect way to help not only create more of a welcoming atmosphere but it also allows you to prepare food with a greater level of direct light that isn’t affected by where you stand.

– The strips are also equally as useful in the bathroom and can add a real air of sophistication and spa-like vibes.

– If you want to add a modern look to your flooring then you might consider adding the strips to you kick-panels or skirting. This is also a method that you can use in the kitchen instead of above or under the cabinets.

– For a cheap way of lighting your garden you can use LED strips to highlight a path or certain borders such as flowerbeds.

– They can also be added underneath bookshelves to help illuminate their contents or around the frame of a piece of art to help draw more attention to it.

There are plenty more ways you can introduce the strips into your home but it is also important to take some factors into consideration before doing so. Here are some of the main questions you should ask yourself before you decide what sort of strip lights you should buy:

– Will the strip lights be used to create an ambient look or are they required for more practical tasks? This should help dictate the power of the lights and even their colour.

– The light strips need to be installed on a secure, clean and dry surface to maximise their ability to stay put and also for safety.

– Always check each individual LED light strip manufacturer to see whether the strips can be used in wet or humid conditions, such as outdoors or near a hob or kettle.

– Finally, where and how you can conceal the additional power wires of the strips is an important factor to take into consideration.

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