Use Paint to Refresh Home Décor

Paint is a decorator’s best friend, it’s easy to use, inexpensive and versatile. Every DIY’er should learn the basics of painting immediately because once they’ve perfected some painting techniques they can use them to refresh their home décor in a variety of ways.

Basic Painting for Interior Decorating

• Painted Furniture – Obviously painting upholstery is not a good idea, no matter what they say on the DIY television shows, but painting the wooden, plastic, metal and other non-fabric surfaces of furniture is not only acceptable but a wonderful way to make old furniture look amazing. Before painting learn a little about the material to be painted and make sure to purchase the right primer and paint. A little preparation goes a long way toward achieving a fabulous, lasting result.
• Painted Walls – Sure painting the walls is the first thing anyone thinks of when they think of paint and interior decorating together, but there are a variety of ways to use paint on the walls. Explore different faux finishing and decorative painting techniques to uncover what look is best for the walls, one wall, or possibly just part of a wall.
• Painted Trim – Rather than giving the walls a boost, give the surrounding trim a fresh new look. Many people are afraid of painting trim and instead they suffer with outdated, cheap looking trim. Leave the fears at the door and slap a fresh coat of paint on the trim and wow at how incredible the entire room looks. For brave souls, stray away from white and black and, as long as you’re painting, opt for a bright and trendy color.

Intermediate Painting for Interior Decorating

• Painted Rugs – The average rug can’t be painted, but a floor cloth can. Floor cloths are basically tightly woven canvas and can be found at many craft stores and paint shops and bought sized to order. Base coat the floor cloth, apply stencils or freehand a design or use a faux finishing technique to achieve the desired look. Then seal the floor cloth with a few layers of clear polyurethane.
• Painted Mirrors – Initially the idea of painted mirrors doesn’t make sense but stencils on a mirror frame is a wonderful way to update an old mirror. Or for those people with a bit more creativity, frost paint can be used to stencil a design onto a mirror or glass of any sort and create an etched appearance. But note that cleaning products can remove the stenciled design, so clean carefully.
• Painted Fabrics – It’s typically not a good idea to paint fabrics, unless a fabric paint is used, in that case it’s totally acceptable! Painted pillows, window treatments, shower curtains and even upholstery in some cases can really spruce up home décor. Attempt simple patterns that don’t require precision as paint (even fabric paint) can often bleed. And speaking of bleeding, make sure to protect the underlying material from paint seepage.

Advanced painters can take any of the above painting ideas and amp the creativity and skill to come up with their own masterpieces or even their own ideas on ways to use paint for interior decorating projects.