Many people struggle each day with the debate about whether they should do their next painting job themselves or just hire a painter. The problem with this struggle is that everyone is different and the optimal solution for one person may be grossly inappropriate for someone else. However, if you take the time to carefully consider all of your options as well as the pros and cons for each, you are certain to make the correct decision for your needs.

You are first going to need to decide how well you can honestly paint. There are some people who are fabulous with a paintbrush the first time they pick it up and others who cannot paint well at all. If you are someone who is skilled at painting and have the time to paint, then by all means feel free to have fun. However, if you are one of the many who is unable to paint decently and you are looking for clean and professional results you are going to have to accept that a professional may be your best option.

While the idea of allowing a professional to do the painting may seem best overall, it is important to understand that it is a very expensive process. Another disadvantage is the fact that you are having to work around someone else's schedule and also need to look into references and carefully screen potential painting crews to ensure you hire someone who is able to deliver the results that you want. Quickly hiring the first crew that can breathe is a bad decision and your painting job will reflect that.

If you are looking to have a project over a weekend and you enjoy painting then you may find that you are going to miss out on a lot of fun if you hire someone to do the painting for you. Many families even decide to take it up a few notches and turn painting into a family project that everyone is able to help with. If this is something that you are interested in it can be a lot of fun with some music, and a fun attitude right from the start. However, if you are working with very small children those painters may come in handy after all.

One of the biggest reasons in recent years for using a professional is not even so much the quality of the painting, but the amount of time that you can save by having someone else do the work. The majority of people know and understand that they simply cannot do everything that they want to do themselves, so the job is then to select someone to handle the painting while you take care of other aspects of your life. Choosing a good quality painter can save you a lot of time and allow you to enjoy spending time with your family, or even taking a bit of time just for yourself. As you can see, the decision over whether to hire a professional painter tends to be very personal with each family reaching a different decision.…

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Spring has sprung and everyone is looking to spruce up their landscaping and do a little work to the exterior of their home. While contemplating a fresh spring look for our home, my husband and I discovered that our trim is in need of a fresh coat of paint. We live in Michigan and the winters can wreak havoc on a paint job.

Now the question is what color to paint the trim, and what color to paint the door and entrance area since we are sure to stick with the same color for the body. I don’t want to go with the same colors from last time, I want to do something new. So once again, we have to make color decisions. Here are some steps to follow when trying to decide on exterior paint colors.

1. What color is your roof and/or brick or mortar? These items are pretty much permanent parts of your home; consequently, you’ll need to choose house colors that compliment other colors in your exterior. For example, my yard is enclosed by a black rod iron fence. Any colors I choose need to compliment not just the black, but the rod iron style as well. My roof is a warm brown, again, the colors will need to compliment the roof.
2. What is the architectural design and/or style of your home? I live in a neighborhood of historical homes and it seems that the trend is now to go with multiple colors. The three story homes especially look fabulous with 3-5 complimentary accent colors. I’ve seen some of the smaller homes try to go with this trend, and it doesn’t work as well. With a smaller home you should stick with fewer colors. It’s not a must, or a rule, but it might be helpful to consider the style of home and the period in which the home was built. Victorian homes tend to carry more vibrant colors, while cottage style homes usually fare better with more soft/natural colors. Again, you can break this rule, but you are probably safer sticking with it.
3. Where do you live? To be honest, when I picked the body paint of my home it was springtime. I didn’t think about how the house would look in the snow. In the spring/summer the lavender hue is very soft and subtle. At times in the snow, it can look a little more purple then I want it to look. You also need to consider the community in which you live. Let’s face it, every region of the country, and every part of the world for that matter has a design style. Some neighborhoods are really conservative and others more fun and risque. Although it’s okay to “dare to be different”, you don’t want to clash with the rest of the neighborhood, or stick out like a sore thumb.
4. What color is your home now? This is not a big factor when it comes to the trim, but it can be for the body of the house. Remember, drastic changes will mean more preparation. If you don’t mind – go for it, but you can be sure that going from a dark green house to a white house is going to take a lot more prep work then going from a dark green to a dark grey house.
5. Look at color samples outside, not inside. Try and look at them at different times of the day and on sunny as well as cloudy days.
6. Use on-line computer software to take a look at what your home might look like with your paint selections. Many different sites offer this service including – Benjamin Moore Paints, American Traditions and Sherwin-Williams. They are fun to work with. Unfortunately, they give you only six or so home styles to choose from, but you’ll get the idea.
7. Consider the inside of your home. Can you imagine visiting a home that is white, trimmed in grey, then going on the inside of that home and seeing rooms in hues of orange, yellow, purple, green and blues? Be sure to complete the theme in and outside of your home.
8. Get inspiration. I like to let nature help me, because it is absolutely beautiful. Do you live in a cottage? Well gain inspiration from the beach or from the lake. If you live in a more woodsy area, gain inspiration from the trees, or even from the animals that lurk around. Look at the color of a beautiful fawn, the fawn color with the soft white might be a beautiful color scheme for the exterior of your home. Or consider flowers and gain inspiration from them. You might also want to go through magazines and gain inspiration from homes you see that you like.

It used to be that everyone had a white, off-white or grey home with colorful trim. Those days are gone and as our personality is seen in the interior of our home, it should also be reflective in the exterior of our homes.…

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The idea of painting with Earthworms may sound gross, but it's actually very cool. Obviously, this project is not for the squeamish, but your children will absolutely love it. I know what you're thinking, and the answer is no, the worms won't get hurt.

The idea came to me one evening when I was digging in my back yard trying to plant a Rose bush. I stumbled upon a host of Earthworms just wiggling around. "Hum," I thought to myself, I wonder if my preschool class would enjoy painting with them?

Since I am not one of those people who gets freaked out by the sight of worms, I got a clean jar, punched a few small holes in the top and scooped up the worms, dirt included and took them to class the next day.

I was a little concerned at first. I was sure that bringing the worms into the classroom would send the children into a frenzy. To my surprise, They were actually intrigued and very receptive to the idea of painting with the wiggly little creatures.

This is a great project for parents to do with their kids at home. It's a fun and creative way to spend quality time with your little ones.

Before you begin this project, make sure that you talk to the kids about gentle handling of the worms. You might feel awful if you look at their paper and they have smashed worms mixed in with their paint.

Materials needed:

Earthworms (maybe two per child. More if you like.)
White art paper
Non-toxic washable paint of any color. (Make sure that you choose paint that is designed with children in mind.)

Steps:

1. Rinse the dirt off of the worms with cool water. (Not too cold.)
2. Let the children blob the paint color(s) of their choice on the paper. (Not too much.)
3. Place the Earthworms in the center of the paint.
4. Let the worms wiggle and crawl around the paper. As the worms move across the paper, the paint will drag and create wonderful works of art. Steps two and three can be repeated as often as you would like to create the desired effect.

After this project is complete, you can rinse the Earthworms off with cool water and release them outside in a nice cool, dirty spot.

Your children will get a sense of pride when they see their painting displayed on the refrigerator, or framed and hanging on the wall of their room.…

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DIY Decorating with an Artistic Touch

Using special effects for a unique and creative wall treatment is a truly rewarding design project. Following are a couple of examples of what you can do. Both are interesting, and give a touch of drama and excitement to a room.

Depending on the look, each project has a few different required tools or materials. Another requirement is patience.

DIY Texturing

If you like a rich texture, there are a few different ways to do it. You can include sawdust as an aggregate for a coarse grain. For a finer texture, adding a little play sand does the trick. Mix the texture material with flat latex paint, and roller it on as usual.

For adding dimension to a textured look, a few tubes of burnt umber acrylic paint will help give dimension to the finished work.

After the textured layer is dry, go into it with a burnt umber, tinted paint wash. Water down the acrylic using one tube of acrylic paint to a quart of water. For this project, find a softer brush designed for holding a wet mix, or simply use a sponge.

Apply lightly confining the work area to three-foot sections at a time. Keep a large rag handy so you can reduce the intensity of the tint if necessary. This step is a detail of the finished design, so make the most of your desired lightening and highlighting effects.

DIY Rubbed Back Plaster

Go for quaint and charming with this look. This is an easy method that involves the layering of paint washes on top of white latex. The technique for this feature involves waiting for each phase to dry, then doing a light sanding between the layers.

To get the desired effect, this project usually works best with colors in the soft pastel range. Sophisticated green, blue, gray, or yellow are the best color choices for this method. By the time the layers are applied, dried, and sanded the finish is full of interesting and rich color variations.

Repeat the paint wash, let it dry, then alternate between each application of the color wash with the sanding. Once you have the desired look, you may wish to apply a sealer.

Slightly more advanced techniques are at this address:

DIY Ready, Set, go

Creative wall treatments and artistic DIY painting effects reward you with a home interior of your own personal touch while providing a most enjoyable environment expressed through color and design.…

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Finger painting with preschoolers can be a very fun thing to do, but when these little ones eat the paint, it becomes a very big problem. Even though preschool paints are not toxic, a parent normally wonders about this often. I know of a preschool paint which is entirely toxic and it will not matter how much these preschoolers eat.

Pudding, which can easily be made and is certainly non- toxic, makes a wonderful paint for preschoolers, look at all the colors of paint you have when you use a box of Jell-o instant pudding. Finger painting with preschoolers will an excellent activity, to encourage their minds and allows them to have natural fun.

Go ahead and mix up a box or two of Jell-o instant pudding, and lay a piece of white printer paper in front of your child. Finger painting with preschoolers can begin by adding a spoonful of pudding to the paper and showing them how to do it but running your finger thru the pudding yourself.

Make swirls, circles, or squares, so them how it is done, they will soon get the idea of how to finger paint with the Jell-o instant pudding. Finger painting with preschoolers just took on a completely new meaning, and they can eat the paint, which is natural for them to do.

Preschoolers love to play with their food, so this appears natural to them and is the perfect activity for one and a half year olds right up to first graders; yes, all ages of the preschoolers can have fun with this one. Finger painting with preschoolers is also a great skill building activity.

This is great hand and eye coordination, fine motor skills, cognitive developing and just about everything else, but above all it helps them to become creative and gives a good basic start to the world of crafts. Finger painting with preschoolers gets messy.

Preschoolers will get messy that is for sure, but they have so much fun with it as one can imagine, so make sure to paint with pudding on a floor that is washable, in clothes, which are washable. Finger painting with preschoolers will be messy but clean up is a breeze with regular mopping of the floor, a sponge on surfaces, and a washing machine for the clothes.

This idea comes from one activity that happened many years ago when I just had my daughter and she was about one and a half and was involved in a preschooler playtime group on post over in South Korea. Finger painting with preschoolers, many preschoolers was a mommy and me activity that the children and their moms seemed to all enjoy.

Nancy the playgroup director had two daughters Chelsea and Abigail and together with any other moms and preschoolers, we gathered for fun group activities on a weekly basis. Amber and I both very much enjoyed the finger painting with preschoolers' activities more then the other activities.

When we did the finger painting with preschoolers' activity, we used the huge gym on post, and the entire gym floor would be filled with moms and little ones laying on the floor finger painting with jell-o brand instant pudding. Each mom cleaned up her child's mess, and we had a story and snack time as the paintings died enough to take them home.

When we came home to Pennsylvania, Amber and I still enjoyed this finger painting with preschoolers, so we began the tradition her with her cousins whom I used to baby sit. We all had fun, and I did not need to worry about toxic paints.…

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Exterior painting is a great way to refresh a house from the outside. However, there are some common exterior painting mistakes to avoid. In this article, I describe the five most common exterior painting mistakes and how to avoid them.

Why Exterior Painting Mistakes Matter
It's important to make as few exterior painting mistakes as possible. Having to repaint due to mistakes is a waste of time, money, and painting supplies. Beyond that, doing a bad job of painting a house makes the house look bad and lowers the potential resale value. Doing a good job when painting the outside of a house can mean that you won't have to repaint your house for several more years and can be a good selling point if you decide to sell your home. The exterior of your home is the first impression that your home makes on guests. Even if you don't plan ever to sell your home, a nice exterior finish will help your house make a great first impression and will be something you can be proud of.

Exterior Painting Mistake #1 – Bad Paint Choices
Picking an exterior paint that is an ugly color, a color that does not "fit" with other nearby houses, or simply low-quality is an easy mistake to make, yet it is very easily avoided. See what the other houses in your neighborhood are painted like, pick a color that you like and that will go well with your house, and buy paint that is guaranteed to last for a long time. This will improve the appearance of your house, the potential resale value of the house, and will reduce the frequency with which you need to repaint. Remember to use a quality primer as well as a quality paint.

Exterior Painting Mistake #2 – Not Doing Adequate Preparation
Surfaces have to be prepared before most painting. This is no different when doing exterior painting. If your house is dirty, you should pressure wash it and also remove any remnants of old paint chips. You may have to "rough up" the surface with a wash of trisodium phosphate before applying a primer. Remember to tape off things like windows or any areas that you don't want to cover with paint. Not doing the above could cause paint not to adhere well to your house, while accidentally getting paint on a window could force you to begin another project.

Exterior Painting Mistake #3 – Ignoring The Weather
Many weather-related problems can happen while doing exterior painting. A sudden downpour could completely invalidate a day's labor, while hot, direct sunlight can cause paint peeling. If you can, try to pick a time when the weather will be cool and dry, with no chance of rain.

Exterior Painting Mistake #4 – Using Bad Technique
"Bad technique" can encompass a lot of things with regard to exterior painting. For example, painting only in one direction, using inappropriate brushes or rollers, or using so much paint that the paint clumps and runs. Before you begin to do any exterior painting, make sure that you know how to paint to avoid clumping and running and to ensure that the paint is spread evenly.

Exterior Painting Mistake #5 – Not Enlisting Help
Painting a house is not a task to be taken lightly. A house to be painted will need at least one coat of primer and two coats of paint. Doing this alone would take a great amount of time. However, having the assistance of three or four friends or family members reduces the time and effort that doing exterior painting takes on a person. If people help you to paint your house, you should repay them, of course.

In short, get a neutral, quality paint (and quality primer), make sure everything is clean and well-prepared, pay attention to the weather forecast, paint using proper technique, and get people to help you. If you do all of this, your exterior painting should be smooth sailing. Have any further tips for exterior painting? Feel free to share your suggestions in the form of a comment. Thank you for reading!…

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I'm not a hairdresser, but I love to play like one sometimes. I have experimented over the years with my hair, and I found a really good way to have highlights and lowlights in my hair without going to a hair professional. You have to start off with a really good base color that complements your complexion. I have to be careful about the color I put on my head, because it will turn black on me. Even blond coloring will turn black on me, but auburn colors work well on my head.

I discovered hair painting when I had applied light brown on my head and it turned black. I have a rosy complexion, so this color was just way too severe on me. So the next day I went to town and I purchased a light auburn touch up kit from Nice n Easy. Instead of re-coloring my hair I decided to paint auburn lights into my hair. Nice n Easy worked like a charm!

I was very careful about picking up strips of hair and combing the coloring through it. I didn't use foil or anything to keep the hair separated from the base hair color; it just wasn't needed. In the back of my head, where I couldn't see, I had my daughter pick out small strips of hair and she painted them.

When the coloring was on my hair for the allotted time directed on the box, I washed it out of my head and shampooed my hair. With my hair wet I saw some difference, but not a whole lot because my hair was wet. When I dried my hair it looked awesome! The base color that was once way too dark for my face was toned down by the auburn lowlights.

This wasn't just a fluke hair coloring project that turned out good once, but it turned out well every time I did it. One of my friends liked my hair so much; she asked if I could do hers. She had light brown hair, so I painted her hair with golden blond highlights. You just paint it on with the applicator in the box, but I found I liked a child's toothbrush better. I keep that toothbrush just for hair painting. The touch up kits are not meant to be used in this way, they are meant to cover up roots that are showing, but I found that it is a great way to make highlights or lowlights in your hair.

I have also painted medium brown (which turns dark on me) on auburn hair. Any way I painted my hair it always came out fantastic. I have done this for several friends now and they keep coming back to get me to do it again. Hair painting is quite easy to do, just choose a shade that will contrast your base color and compliment your complexion.

If you are someone that likes to do your own hair, and you like to experiment with color, you might try this. If you don't like it you can always re-color it. I have always liked mine.

Note: I am not a hairdresser, nor do I get paid to do hair by any of my friends. I am merely sharing with you what worked for me and my friends.…

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Another in my faux finish painting series is the dragging technique. This technique will create a streaked effect that looks and feels like elegant wallpaper. It is very important to choose your paint colors carefully. Your base coat is going to be the stripes in your new wall. I recommend using a lighter color as your base coat and a darker color as your top coat. Some suggestions would be a gold shade for the base coat and a rich brown for your top coat; or a silvery blue for the base coat and burgundy for the top coat. Either of these will lend the elegant look you are going for.

This is a fun project to do but if you are doing it alone then you must move quickly when doing the top coat or the paint will set and not give you the effect you desire.

For this project you will need the following things: low tack tape, paint tray, paint roller, disposable latex gloves, a dry brush or other combing device (such as a broom), paper towels, and 2 colors of either flat or satin paint. Semi-gloss paint is not a good choice for this technique.

Start with prepping your walls. Repair any damage done such as holes or cracks with spackling, then lightly sand. Next, tape off areas that you don't want painted; like the baseboards, crown molding, door jams and window seals and frames.

Paint the entire room in your base coat and let it dry for 2-4 hours. I usually let it dry overnight. Doing this ensures that the base coat is completely dry. Factors such as room temperature and humidity will affect the drying time of paint. Therefore, waiting till the next day is always a safe bet.

Brush on the top coat in a 3 foot wide section going from top to bottom. The top coat should be dragged immediately. Start at the top and pull the broom or combing device down to the bottom. This must be done without lifting the device from the surface. Immediately after dragging the first set; clean the broom or combing device on a paper towel and continue dragging the section. Overlap this one a little bit with the first dragging so that there are no breaks in it.

It's much easier if you can get a partner to do the dragging as you do the rolling. This will ensure that the work goes smoothly without you having to rush before the top coat sets.

Now you have a beautifully painted wall that, without close inspection, appears as elegant wallpaper.…

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The idea of completely remodeling your home is rather exciting. After all, you are looking forward to creating a completely new look for your home, and the sheer anticipating of waiting on all of the work to be done is rather exciting. Yet there are sometimes problems with ensuring that all of the work is organized in a logical manner that works out best. After all, scheduling work in the wrong order can cause delays, as well as problems in your freshly painted walls being damaged or your fresh floors being damaged. Ensuring you avoid these problems is essential to having the best experience possible.

Typically, it is best to schedule painting on a day when the temperatures are not very cold. This will allow the paint to dry much faster. If possible, you should try to schedule painting on a day that has very little if any humidity and is at least a warm temperature of 70 degrees Fahrenheit or warmer. This provides the optimal circumstances for paint to dry and will allow it to dry much faster with fewer complications.

Once you have the best temperatures possible to work with you can feel free to move onto determining exactly where in the process to schedule the painters. Typically, the best advice is to hire a general contractor who will be responsible for coordinating everyone to ensure that all of the appropriate tasks are followed. However, if you are doing this part yourself you are not completely without hope. The first step is ensure that all work to the walls is finished before scheduling the painters. This will allow you to ensure that the painters are not trying to paint walls that are not completed yet.

You should in an ideal world schedule the painters as the very last group of contractors to come into your home. If you take the time to put the painters last, you will not have to worry about dust or debris that is in the air floating around getting stuck in the paint and causing a strange appearance, nor will you have to worry about other crews accidently bumping into the wet paint and causing problems. However, worst case scenario you could also schedule the painters to come a few days before the floors were finished.

If possible doing floors before painting is best since the painters can easily cover the floors, but the floor crew cannot easily cover the walls. It is sometimes not always possible to have work done in the perfect order, but if possible you should strive for this order to ensure that your finished home looks the best possible. With some coordination ahead of time, you should not have many difficulties in working to organize all of your contractors, this leaves you with more time to ensure you have selected the best paint colors for your needs, as well as keep the entire project running as smoothly as possible.…

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To some people, it looks like an ordinary picture that could be done by a Kindergartener. To others, it looks like an inviting, bright painting. To the more cultured type, it would immediately be recognized as a painting by famed abstract artist, Mark Rothko. And to one art connoisseur on May 16th, the painting, White Center, looked like an essential piece to his collection.

Mark Rothko painted White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender Rose) in 1950. This painting set the precedent for this artist's work. Rothko's artwork that followed was consistent with his style of numerous variations of color and tone. Painted during Rothko's most productive period, it measures at 81 inches by 55.5 inches. The background is a mix of red, pink and orange. Three broad bands of yellow, white and lavender paint dominate this background. These colors are divided by thin strokes of green stripes. Don't be fooled by its chaotic sound. Rothko carefully organizes the colors into an optimistic arrangement.

White Center first garnered headlines earlier in April when David Rockefeller decided to sell the painting he first bought in 1960 for $10,000. Auction sites, Christine's and Sotheby's, began an intense bidding war until the painting eventually went to Sotheby's. Oliver Barker of the auction house described the painting as a masterpiece. Excited by their new acquisition, Barker reported that the auction house had never shown such a promising contemporary art lot in its history.

Because sending paintings to auction can be risky, Sotheby's offered to guarantee a minimum price that Rockefeller would receive, no matter how much the painting received in the sale. While Sotheby's refuses to reveal the amount of the minimum payment, sources say the auction house guaranteed Rockefeller, one of the richest men in America, at least $46 million. Rockefeller, already valued at almost $2.5 billion, did not need to worry about being stiffed with a low auction price. White Center became the most expensive contemporary work to sell at an auction after fetching $72.8 million.

Those in the auction industry continue to look for reasons why the painting left several records in the dust. Some believe Rockefeller's impressive credentials drove the painting's price so high. It hung in his office at the Chase Manhattan Bank. Furthermore, Rockefeller is recognized as a great collector of modern art. Sotheby's also promoted the painting through advertising, international tours, and allowing potential buyers to hang it in their homes temporarily.

The eventual buyer, who requested to remain anonymous, was described as a small, bearded man. He held off five others during the bidding war.…

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