If you want to cut costs and decided to paint your walls yourself, here are some steps you’ll need to take after you’ve purchased the paint and before you actually apply it on your walls.

1.Buy the right tools. Choosing the right brushes and rollers, and making sure there are enough for everybody, will make the job faster.
2.Make sure the room is well-ventilated and the air is circulating if you don’t want the fumes going to your head. Open the windows and use an oscillating fan if you have to.
3.Remove all decorations, fixtures, etc. from the walls. Move all furnitures away from the walls. For immovable objects like built-ins or light switches, cover them with plastic sheets or drop cloths.
4.Clean and repair the surfaces to be painted – Remove old and peeling paint, clean and wash the walls and repair the surfaces to be painted. Patch and sand any holes or uneven surfaces.
5.Apply a primer - priming seals the surface and helps the paint cover the surface more evenly. It will also lessen the number of coats you’ll have to apply.

Now that you’re all ready, make it a group project and invite your best buds. You’ll get free help, and have fun bonding along the way!

Image source: www.brownstoner.com
Some say that our homes reflect our personality. But what about busy buddies who work almost all day and have no time to fix their houses? I don’t agree that it reflects who you really are but rather what kin of lifestyle you have. But still, we need to fix our homes to make it more inviting for visitors that we can invite them for dinner or parties.
The very thing about house makeover is that you must know what you want it to look like. The themes of houses range from cultural, foreign, modern and a whole lot more. It is up to you what you want and what relaxes you. After all, houses are decorated to give comfort to the owner.
Japanese houses are known for simplicity. Mexicans are for their warm colors and many more. If you are interested in modern themes, do not put too much furniture on it.
All that you have to remember before after choosing what you want id that minimize the usage of bulky furniture. It makes the house look crowded.

The Hollywood Regency motif is quite “in” right now. The idea behind this design is layering. You may begin by making use of black and white floral inspired wallpaper. Match it with the couch on your living room by using stripped fabrics for its cover. Add plain black and white throw pillows to complete the set. Keep your furniture simple. It is recommended that you make use of a Parson white or pitch black table. Highlight the platform with a simple but sophisticated high-gloss black and white lamp. For empty spaces, use black or white modernly crafted bookshelves.

Organize your son or daughter’s trophy and plaque collections as well as academic ribbons and display them in glass cases. You could also use shadow boxes, floating shelves or classic bookcases. Accessorize them with photo albums, picture frames, yearbooks as well as sentimental toys. This will immediately breathe life to any room. For added drama, use black and white photos, enlarged images and display them on translucent picture frames that are thin enough to go invisible. If you are up to the rigorous labor, create a family collage. This will contain your children’s transition from childhood all organized in a gold plated frame that is as big as a regular painting. This is sure to be the center-piece of the room if not the whole house because of the conversation it will encourage.

8. If ever you have items that you no longer need but are still functional. Do not throw them away just yet. Try giving it out to friends who may need them or better yet donate it to charity. It is much better to have others use them than being disposed. It’s like hitting two birds with one stone, you got rid of unnecessary stuff and have others benefit from it at the same time.

9 Sort your storage for useful items that you can reuse and recycle, aside from saving extra bucks for repurposing them you also get to help mother nature by maximizing the use of resources around you.
Conservation may be a little thing, but a little thing goes a long way don’t they? Beautify you home and help save our HOME, Planet Earth.

5. Consider using reclaimed wood for things like benches, decks and fences. Buying new ones will cost bigger while the quality is almost the same. Also do some research on what kind of wood you will be using, for example: Cedar wood ages gracefully and it naturally has an insect repelling property, by doing so you can choose the right kind of wood for the job.

6. Another man’s trash may be another man’s treasure, check out garage sales for items that may come in handy. But never buy things that you do no think would have a purpose so that they wont end up sitting in your trash bin.

To be continued…

3. Replace fluorescent lights with more energy-efficient bulbs. If possible, get solar powered ones. It may be a bit costly but it will prove its worth in the long run. Imagine this: by getting solar powered lights you can save a lot on your electric bill, and contribute in energy conservation as well.

4. Make your home a better place for you and your family. Have a space for potted plants, they would act as C02 absorbers and give out 02 in return. Choose plants that do not require much watering so that they would not be hard to maintain.

To be continued…

1. When painting your newly renovated home, always use a low VOC paint. VOCs or Volatile Organic Compounds is known to be a cause of indoor polluting as well as the air in the atmosphere. VOCs contribute to the greenhouse effect that causes Global Warming.
When painting, use a spray machine to lessen the work time, thus limiting your exposure to the VOC.

2. Set up s a rain chain and barrel under your home’s eaves troughs so that you can catch rainwater which can be used in watering the plants or some minor cleaning. By doing this you can help conserve water.

To be continued…

Blue and yellow is a classic combination that will never go out of style. By adding white into the mix, a very interesting color scheme will come out.

For the bathroom: to make this three-color mix harmonious, the yellow of the wall above the tiles must also be integrated, even in small doses, into the lower half of the bathroom. A yellow bathroom rug or bath mat or a yellow storage basket for toiletries can do the balance.

Try the shade primrose yellow. For the bedroom, have one wall painted in blue and teal green stripes and the rest with solid baby blue. To contrast, use white furniture. With this, both the blue-ness and the busyness of the stripes will be balanced out.

Small spaces can gain benefit from container-based water gardens that have plants and other wildlife that are usually associated with bigger habitats. Container-based gardens can be found at home and garden centers which also sell accessories such as small waterfalls, fountains and even illumination appliances that can make it more attractive and functional.

Patios that have at least five hours of sunlight are the ideal places, but anywhere the sun rays touch would be nice. Shade in the hot afternoons is also needed for plants also suffer from sunburn. Be sure to locate your water garden that is within easy reach of water source in order to lessen the effort of topping it up during hot days where evaporation tends to take toll. Maintain the water quality with regular cleaning, making sure the water is free from pests such as insects and other nasty bugs.

Water treatment solutions can be found in pet stores to lessen, if not halt, algae growth which becomes unsightly in such a small space.