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01 May

Five Ways To Make Your Feature Wall Flourish

Author Martin Categories Commercial, Decoration, External Painting, Internal Painting

A feature wall can often end up being the cherry-on-top of a well-decorated home.

While it’s not for everyone, most people appreciate the power of an eye-catching showpiece in their home.

The problem is, that most of us don’t know how to make them really work.

And let’s be honest: a botched-up feature wall is embarrassing.

We’re big believers in being bold and confident though, and so we want to help as many people as possible create feature walls that flourish.

To do this, we’ve put together a five-step process for making it happen.

Choose your wall for a reason

It might seem obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people appear to put no thought into which wall they make a feature of or why.

Having a clear rationale as to why you’re choosing this wall will help guide the whole process.

The wall you choose needs to be of a reasonable size – a 10” feature seems pointless – and it needs to be in a position that naturally draws attention.

Don’t create a feature wall opposite the TV, otherwise, you’ll spend all your time facing away from it!

Make bold (complimentary) colour choices

You need to make sure the colours you choose go with the colours in the rest of the room.

However, most important is to make sure you choose striking, brave colours.

A feature wall needs to stand out, and using interestingly coloured paint, possibly even with special effects like glitter or chalk, is the best way to ensure it does.

Choose a room where you can focus on it

It’s important that your feature wall has pride-of-place in the room it’s in.

Otherwise, what’s the point?

Making sure you choose a room that isn’t overcrowded, where there is space and freedom is key to ensuring the feature wall has its full effect.

A living room is a great choice in this regard, as is a study.

Experiment with objects and texture

Lots of people fall into thinking that feature walls are simply big, colourful walls.

Instead, a feature wall is like a work of art.

In that sense, doing as much experimenting and thinking outside the box is paramount.

You can play with different textured wallpapers, objects or inserts which could create powerful effects.

Be strategic with furniture and context

Whilst making your actual wall stunning is the priority, you have to remember that it will be massively affected by the context you keep it in.

You can accentuate aspects of the wall by placing furniture strategically around the room.

You can also off-set and augment the feature’s colours with your choice of complimentary carpet or rug.

Ultimately, thinking of the feature wall as part of the room it’s in as opposed to a separate entity is the real key.

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05 Apr

Painting walls with two main colours

Author Martin Categories Decoration, Internal Painting

Colour plays an essential role in the design of just about each and every living space hence we need to be quite imaginative, especially when combining colours to freshen up the atmosphere of our home. It is usually wisest to choose two colours that harmonise with each other so that to bring harmony and peace to your flat or house in Dublin. Say, you can choose yellow for the walls and white for the ceiling, or blue for the walls and some lighter blue for the ceiling; it is safest to assume that whatever colour you choose for the walls you can go with its lighter version for the ceiling or white comes in handy any time – for the ceiling that is.

Still, harmonising the colours is playing on the safe side; in case you want your room in Dublin to be vibrant and energetic go for some complementary colours or even split complementary ones. In general, complementary colours provide striking visual differences. For example, if you choose violet for the walls then the ceiling could be painted in yellow; or you can go for softer contrast by choosing some of the split complementary colours – for violet this could be burnt orange or olive. These could be colours either for the walls and the wood molding or for the upper and lower segment of a given wall in the room.

Additionally, if you are not inclined to expose that much contrast you can also opt for the triad colour scheme, for instance, the triad colour for violet would be green and orange. What’s more, if choosing colours for the master bedroom in your home, you can opt for soft lavender for the walls and oak tan for the doors, trim, and molding. Why not even combine the colour of the duvet or quilt with the colours of the room, you can also choose a duvet in oaky tan for such a bedroom – this would be the ideal finishing touch to such an imaginative masterpiece. 

Analogous colours are mainly a variation of the main colour thus if the main colour for the walls is violet the analogous colours for the second paint would be purple or blue for the molding, the segments, for the doors, trim or the duvet in the room. Another suggestion is yellow as a main colour and orange or tan as secondary or analog colour. Such a colour scheme is perfect for the kitchen or the living room as it would make the atmosphere truly sunny and warm. A wise application of analogous color paints involves painting 3- to 4-inch-wide vertical stripes of alternating colors, but it is also quite energising in areas with chair rails where the darker colour is situated right below the apparent horizon and the lighter colour is above.

Finally, remember that warm colours like red, yellow and orange brighten up any room and your mood as well; while cool colours like blue, violet, and green are more peaceful and calm you down. Thus the latter are preferred in lighter hues for bedrooms and children’s rooms.

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01 Mar

Why Choose a Professional Painter?

Author Martin Categories External Painting, Internal Painting

Any job, whether it’s a small paint job or decorating an entire house, can quickly turn into an entire project.

It is simple to excel at something you have done many times… However, when painting and decorating without prior experience, it is easy to overlook something.

So here are some reasons why you should consider hiring professional painters and decorators to assist you:

Experience

Painters and decorators know which details to keep in mind when it comes to the task of painting and decorating. They understand how to prepare walls for painting, how to choose colours and finishes, and how to test them. They know where to go to get the best products for each need, so even if you want to buy paint and materials yourself, they can advise you. Operating in your neighbourhood also allowed them to gain experience on likely requirements such as strict timeframes and a high level of customer satisfaction.

Work completed quicker

Even though painting and decorating take time, professional painters and decorators are used to working under tight deadlines to complete the job and thoroughly clean so you don’t have to. You can even live in your own house while the painting and decorating is being done, as it can be done while you’re at work and in stages.

Insurance

Professional painters and decorators usually have health and safety insurance, so you won’t have to worry about paying any bills if something goes wrong in your home. This can provide you with some peace of mind because events can happen to even the best of us, and it helps you avoid risks for yourself. Many painters and decorators also offer a 6-month warranty because we believe in taking care of our customers even after the job is finished to ensure complete customer satisfaction.

Handle the planning for you

The exciting part is deciding on a colour scheme for painting and decorating. However, the walls and materials must first be prepared. Professional painters and decorators will prepare the walls for you by scraping old paint and gently smoothing the surface with sand paper for best application. They will use primer for the best long-lasting results and will cover furniture with clean dust sheets to keep it clean and safe during the painting process. Typically, after assisting you in selecting the colours, the painter and decorator will go and provide the materials before the job begins.

Work to deadlines

With a lot of experience in this field, painters and decorators can more accurately predict how long it will take to complete a job, what to do to fit into those time frames, and how to respond if there are any unexpected events. If it is discovered that additional services are required, they are most likely to know where you can obtain these.

Already have the needed equipment

Even though this may seem like an obvious reason, hiring a professional painter and decorator will most likely save you money because it is a safe investment because they know what they are doing, and you will not have to buy the tools if you did the job yourself. Even if you buy the tools, you will need some knowledge, and if you only intend to use them for one job, it is worth hiring someone.

Job completion

If you’ve ever done your own painting and decorating, you’re probably familiar with the feeling of joy gradually fading into frustration at the prospect of having so much to do. Hiring professionals is a good alternative to doing things on your own and knowing the results will be satisfying if you have the urge to quit midway or avoid the rush to avoid rushed results.

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