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Painting a room or two

Thanks to whoever came along and decided to end the fad of lathering a wall with superglue and blanketing it with some rooster and hay bail pattern. At long last the age of wallpaper in homes is coming to a gradual and overdue end. While some remnants hold on in the form of heavy-duty stain resistant industrial wallpaper, the modern and common thing to do now is to paint.

And painting is essentially the easiest and simplest thing you can do to a wall, barring doing nothing at all. In homes from the very modest to the incredibly expensive, the right combination of paint colors can really complete the look of a home.

A few things to remember and consider when you get started is to pick a color that you are not going to get tired of and which will compliment what you have in your home. While you might be a big fan of the color canary yellow, painting a kitchen that bright and strong of a color can be distracting and even mentally offensive.

Also keep in mind the adjacent rooms and what color they are going to be. It’s common to reuse a color throughout a floor and then choose certain doorways, walls or other elements to add individual showcase colors.

Another consideration is whether or not to use matte or gloss paint. A flat paint is going to give a really nice, classical look to any room and will help diffuse light lessening glare. It is also going to show dirt a lot easier and is going to be a little tougher to keep clean.

Gloss paint, on the other hand, is going to reflect more light, show dirt less and be easier to clean. Many homes today are still using gloss paint, especially in high-traffic areas.

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Repairing and finishing drywall

One of the simplest and easiest things to overlook when considering a repair or install job on drywall is the amount of mess even a small job can create. And most of the mess doesn’t come from the drywall compound going up. Most of the mess comes after the Spackle and putty-knife work is done and the sanding has begun.

That said it’s a good idea to quarantine the area you are going to be working in, if at all possible. Remove whatever smaller decorative and furniture items you can from the area. Whatever is left should be covered either with a sheet or with some other material. You can also use plastic which is available in sheets or rolls at most hardware or home renovation stores.

If you are repairing small gouges in drywall the process is pretty simple. Also available at the hardware store will be a drywall repair compound. It’s usually in a small bucket or pail with a resealable lid. Inside you will find a white pasty substance which will spread on to a wall fairly easily. After you have sanded the damaged area smooth of all rough edges and any pieces sticking out, apply an even coat of compound to the area with a putty knife. Sometimes it’s easier to use a knife with a very broad edge. This gives you more control over the area of the compound and makes it easier to press everything flat.

If you are repairing a larger section requiring a section of drywall to be added, be sure to know where the studs are on the back side of the wall. Using a Fein Multi-master utility power tool, or something similar, it’s easy work to cut along a stud to remove a section of drywall and then simply match the same size section back in.

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Removing the dreaded wallpaper

Whoever ended the old fad of covering a room in flower-printed, textured paper the thickness of shoe leather should be given a medal. And whoever thought of binding the fore-mentioned tarpaulin to interior walls with glue which eventually hardens and fuses the materials together should be strongly admonished at least.

Ask anyone who has considered buying an older home, or who has perhaps take the plunge into older homre restoration. It won’t take them long to walk into some quaint old piece of real estate, take one look at the navy blue and gold wallpaper in the stairwell and let loose a defeated groan.

That lackluster exclamation of despair is born of experience from the last time they were faced with 80-square-feet of rooster and egg wallpaper. Those ancient persons from the middle of the last century no doubt thought they were doing the right thing when they lathered those walls with paste and proceeded to slap up that paper blanket. They wanted the wallpaper to last, and they didn’t want it pealing off or bubbling up.

They probably never considered the homebuyer 50 years later, tasked with scraping, pealing, pinching and cursing the wallpaper down. For years the best method for removing wallpaper was finding an exposed edge and praying for a good pull. A spray bottle with water in it could sometimes help, often reducing the wallpaper to mush after enough spraying and scraping.

Blessed technology, however, has developed a few superior methods. For one; instead of spraying simple, mildly active water on that paper, try using a chemically specific spray you can purchase in most home improvement stores. The stuff inside is designed to work on the glue underneath the paper and will make removal a whole lot easier.

Another option is a paper scorer. The Paper Tiger, for instance, is great for thicker or painted over wallpaper where the spray can’t reach the glue.

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Refinishing wood floors

Having wood floors can be a great asset to a home or even a business. For much of history wooden floors have not only been the practical solution, they have been the preferred solution.

Disallowing for a short period in the 1970s through the 1990s when carpet seemed chic, people have looked for wooden floors. The same is true now, only even more so. Watch any home repair, or real estate shopping show on TV and wooden floors will be a consistently sought-after commodity.

That said, wooden floors offer a few more considerations than some other types of surfacing. For instance, they can be scratched easier than tile, and they show dirt more than wall-to-wall carpeting. Wooden floors are also going to transfer more of the temperature from below than carpeting.

When purchasing an older home the likelihood of wood floors is actually very high, since that was a common building medium for homes through most of the last century. Many people will pull back carpet to find solid wood floors beneath, and they might be tempted to cover them back up when they consider the work involved in making them look good again.

If you do decide to refinish wooden floors in an older home there are a few important things to consider:

  • Treat larger stains and problem areas first.
  • Take up dried paint drops or other solutions with a putty knife.
  • Sand with the grain and only remove to the top layer of wood.
  • If using a radial power sander make to test a small area first to determine the power and roughness of the sand paper to use.
  • Use a color matched wood putty to fill gaps and gouges in the floor.
  • It is better to apply two or three thin coats of finish to a wood floor, letting each coat dry before the next, than it is to apply a heavy single coat of finish.
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Making old furniture look like new

Saving money sometimes can take determination. It’s a skill many homemakers hone over the years and doesn’t come easy to some. Besides pinching pennies where normal expenditures like groceries and utilities are concerned, there are also the major purchases to consider.

It’s no cheap consideration to outfit a formal living room or dining room. And some people can’t settle for mismatched or apparently thoughtless rooms thrown together will all function and little or no form.

With just a little elbow-grease and some time, however, making any room in the house look like it was designed by a professional is possible without the high cost. A lot of the time a certain room might work but doesn’t because the finish on the different pieces of furniture don’t match.

That’s where staining and painting can come in. With so many varieties of color and mat available it’s suddenly possible to make a mismatched room match.

Finishing some wooden items can be a bear. It’s going to end up being a lot easier to just paint everything either uniform color, or perhaps two colors which compliment the room together.

However, for those who are willing to put in the effort the payout of stripping, sanding, staining and varnishing a nice wood item is typically worth it. Just remember when you are using paint stripper to remove paint to use it in a well ventilated area. If you are removing several layers of paint, let the stripper do the work by applying it with a brush or rag (USE GLOVES!) and then letting it sit for a bit. After that a putty knife and some steal wool should do the rest.

It may seem like a lot of work but older, solid furniture items which are brought back to life and reused are often them most cherished.

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Redecorate while recycling, reusing, and reducing

If you are thinking of doing a bit of redecorating in your home, but are concerned about creating more waste, you can be environmentally friendly while giving your living spaces a whole new look.

Here are five tricks to help make the old look new again.

1. Squeaky clean and brand-spanking new

Make your floors and carpets look brand new with a good cleaning. If your budget is too tight to afford a professional cleaning, there are many products you can buy that work as well, with a little more work.

Stripping a hardwood floor of old paint and then varnishing the floor will give it a new look. Use oils from time to time to nourish the wood, and it will look like new for a long time.

For homes with pets and children, there are rug-cleaning products safe to use that get the job done. Do your entire rug periodically, and use the spot cleaners when your furry friends and kids make messes.

2. Spruce up old chairs and love seats

Furniture covers come in all styles and colors. Choose fabrics with different colors and patterns that you can purchase at lower prices at different times of the year. No one will know how long ago you purchased those pieces.

3. Add inexpensive extras

Also available at reasonable prices, are cushions and pillows. They come in all sizes, colors, and styles so finding those that match the covers you used, will give the furniture a whole new look.

4. Tables and chairs

A new coat of paint on dining room sets and coffee tables is all you need to freshen up your old sets for a new look.

5. Throw something over it instead of throwing it away

Use a large soft rug or blanket to cover up your scruffy cozy sofa. You can always wash the covering.

Try to come up with other ways to refurbish what you have, instead of replacing the old with the new, which will be good for the environment.

Filed Under: Restoration Tagged With: ,

Redecorate while recycling, reusing, and reducing

If you are thinking of doing a bit of redecorating in your home, but are concerned about creating more waste, you can be environmentally friendly while giving your living spaces a whole new look.

Here are five tricks to help make the old look new again.

1. Squeaky clean and brand-spanking new

Make your floors and carpets look brand new with a good cleaning. If your budget is too tight to afford a professional cleaning, there are many products you can buy that work as well, with a little more work.

Stripping a hardwood floor of old paint and then varnishing the floor will give it a new look. Use oils from time to time to nourish the wood, and it will look like new for a long time.

For homes with pets and children, there are rug-cleaning products safe to use that get the job done. Do your entire rug periodically, and use the spot cleaners when your furry friends and kids make messes.

2. Spruce up old chairs and love seats

Furniture covers come in all styles and colors. Choose fabrics with different colors and patterns that you can purchase at lower prices at different times of the year. No one will know how long ago you purchased those pieces.

3. Add inexpensive extras

Also available at reasonable prices, are cushions and pillows. They come in all sizes, colors, and styles so finding those that match the covers you used, will give the furniture a whole new look.

4. Tables and chairs

A new coat of paint on dining room sets and coffee tables is all you need to freshen up your old sets for a new look.

5. Throw something over it instead of throwing it away

Use a large soft rug or blanket to cover up your scruffy cozy sofa. You can always wash the covering.

Try to come up with other ways to refurbish what you have, instead of replacing the old with the new, which will be good for the environment.

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