Archive for Home and Garden
Garden Safety – The Basics
Posted by: | CommentsGardens are one of life’s joys, bringing pleasure throughout the year. But they are also full of accidents waiting to happen, if you work in a cavalier or unthinking manner and do not take the trouble to observe some basic rules. Eyes: When using chain saws, electrical hedge-trimmers and strimmers, wear protective goggles. Also, fit safety caps to the tops of bamboo canes to prevent them damaging eyes as you bend over.
Hands: There are gloves to protect your hands, whatever the job being tackled. Where there are cats in a garden it is advisable to wear gloves when cultivating the soil or putting in plants.
Feet: Use stout, non-slip boots when using a hover-type lawn mower.
Knees: Use knee-pads to protect knees when kneeling or cutting logs. Kneelers help to protect knees, as well as making it easier for elderly people to kneel. Electricity in the garden: Always use cables and fittings suitable for outdoor use. Additionally, use a circuit-breaker. Garden tools: Almost every garden tool could be considered a weapon, from a garden knife to a spade. Therefore, great care should always be taken when using them. There are many unpleasant accidents waiting to befall the careless gardener, from a fork through the foot to burning a hand.
Bulb Planters for Patio Scent
Posted by: | CommentsBulb planters resemble large pots and are also known as multiple planters or strawberry pots. They feature cupped planting pockets in their sides and are ideal containers for spring-flowering bulbs. They are available in ornate plastic, fibreglass and terracotta.
The honey-like, sweet, miniature and bulbous Crocus chrysanthus creates a spectacular display, with its rich golden-yellow flowers that appear during late winter and early spring. There are also forms in other colors.
When planting these bulbs in autumn, check that drainage holes in the base are open. Cover these with pieces of broken clay pots (crocks), then fill to level with the lowest cup with well-drained, loam-based compost. Put two or three bulbs in the hole and ensure they are well-covered with compost. Fill with further compost and continue to plant the bulbs. At the top, plant bulbs 5cm (2in) apart. Water the compost and place in a sheltered corner.
Painting Techniques – Dragging, Stippling and Combing
Posted by: | CommentsDragging, stippling and combing are all variations, in a sense, of sponging and ragging. The main difference is that the patterns are rather more visible, creating a slightly textured effect to the surface. The degree of pattern and texture depends on the kind of tools used, and the choice is a wide one. Precisely because the patterns are more noticeable, it is harder to keep them even over very large surfaces, and this kind of texturing is mostly best done on smaller areas. The more noticeable the pattern, the more skill and confidence are required. It is a once-and-for-all job – you cannot go over it, as you can sponging or ragging, to correct any mistakes.
An oil-based base coat and oil-based glaze are normally used as these give the best results and definition, but acrylic-based paints can also be used, although you will need to work more quickly.
Dragging is an excellent finish for cupboards or doors if you use an oil-based glaze, as it gives a good sheen but the color is more diffused than with a plain color, and looks very elegant.
Dragging
This is done by dragging a soft, long-bristled brush (known as a flogging brush) vertically through the glaze (also applied in vertical lines) to produce fine lines in the surface. This is far easier to do if one person applies the glaze and the other drags it off.
Stippling
Stippling, in which the paint surface is broken up evenly and lightly by a fine-bristled brush, creates an attractive finish which is very lightly textured. Professional decorators use a very expensive stippling brush but you can succeed with an ordinary scrubbing brush, although the paint dots will be larger and less even.
This technique can only be done with an oil-based base coat and oil-based glaze, because it needs to stay wet enough for you to break up the recently painted surface with the brush.
It is quite tiring to work, and you will find it better if you just use your wrist to apply the stippling brush to the glaze, fairly lightly and quickly. Again it will be easier for you if you can work with a partner, one of you applying the glaze while the other stipples it.
You tend to get the best results by using a slightly paler base coat than the glaze, so that the former glows through the latter.
If you want to give character and depth to architectural features, or perhaps to a raised paper like anaglypta or lincrusta, you can employ this technique. The aim is to get a deeper, darker layer of paint in the crevices and grooves of any feature by stippling the paint on first, and then wiping off the areas that are raised.
You need an oil-based glaze, ideally in a darker shade of the base coat.
Combing
This is really an exaggerated form of dragging with a more distinct patterning. Instead of the fine vertical lines created by a stiff bristle brush used in dragging, a variety of differently toothed combs can be used. These can either be bought specially or you can make them yourself by cutting notches in pieces of cardboard or plastic to the width and density required.
With combing, the pattern is not necessarily vertical. You can try different patterns, including basketweave (a mixture of horizontal and vertical stripes in alternating squares) or moire curved, or criss-crossed patterns.
The base coat is applied in the usual way and a glaze applied over it. This is stippled or cheeseclothed lightly to break it up before being combed through.
Paint Techniques – Stone Effects
Posted by: | CommentsIt might well appeal to you to create a baronial-style bathroom, for example, with imitation stone walls. Imitating stone is not particularly difficult, especially if you choose a fairly small area such as a bathroom. However, it will make your work easier if the areas you are tackling are clear of bathroom fittings, so consider adding some kind of dado or tiling above any fittings and use this technique for clear areas of walling.
There are as many different types of stone as there are types of marble, but you do not necessarily have to aim for perfect verisimilitude. The aim is to create a pleasingly realistic stone-like effect. It helps to make it look more authentic if you try to reproduce the texture as well as the color.
Creating A Sandstone Effect
You will need to paint the wall first with a coat of white emulsion, unless the wall is already white, in which case just wash it down. The base coat does not need to be applied particularly carefully because the base color for the sandstone effect is a pale beige eggshell that is stippled over the top.
You can go for a more realistic effect by painting in the mortar lines between the ‘stones’ or you can simply give a stone-like appearance to the wall.
To create the sandstone effect, first mark the stone shapes (using a spirit-level and plumb-line) in pencil on the white emulsion base, remembering to draw the blocks in the same way that bricks are laid, with the joints staggered. Then stipple on a thick coat of pale beige emulsion paint roughly, painting almost up to the drawn pencil lines. If you paint each stone separately, you will get minor variations in texture that will give it a more realistic effect. When this coat is dry, brush on a transparent oil glaze colored with a little burnt umber artists’ oil paint, allow this to dry for a few minutes and then wipe it off with a cloth.
After the glaze has dried, brush on some diluted white eggshell paint roughly. When this has dried, you can sand the surface down to reveal the pale beige emulsion underneath, creating a suitably rough, uneven texture to the finished surface. Finally, draw in the mortar joints, freehand, in pale grey emulsion, using a paintbrush. If you are using this effect in a bathroom, then varnish the finished surface to make sure it is waterproof.
Painting Techniques – Ragging
Posted by: | CommentsRagging on and ragging off are exactly the same techniques in principle as sponging on and off, but you use a rag instead of a sponge. The effect is more varied and is probably rather easier, since inconsistencies in application techniques show up less. You normally use an oil-based glaze for the ragging on or ragging off coat.
The rags themselves are normally ordinary cotton cloths, but you can achieve different results using different types of fabric. A cloth that is hard and not very porous, like cotton, will achieve a more defined mark. Softer cloth, like cheesecloth or muslin, will produce, unsurprisingly, a softer result that looks a bit more like sponging.
Rag-rolling, as the name implies, is another version of ragging, only using a rolled, rather than a bunched, rag. The effect is slightly softer and less bitty-looking, but also slightly more laborious, and you have to pay more attention to the marks you are making with the rolled rag. Like most techniques, the more you do it, the better you get at it. A bathroom would be a good place for a first attempt, since the area to be covered is usually fairly small. The only unfortunate aspect is that when you are lying in the bath, you have little else to focus on except the paint technique on the wall in front of you, which may make you rather critical of your efforts!
Ragging Variations
There are a number of variations on ragging, which are worked in exactly the same way but using different media to create the marks in the glaze. Frottage is the name given to the technique that uses newspaper, and there is another variation in which polythene bags are scrumpled up to create the marks. In both cases, you need to renew the paper or bags being used frequently, so ensure you have a good supply before you start.
Newspaper makes a softer mark in the paint than rags, and polythene bags a rather sharper-looking one. Your choice depends on the kind of finish you want to achieve.
Frottage
If you want a deliberately rough-textured finish that looks like aged plaster, you can opt for frottage – a technique in which newspaper is used to create irregular marks in the paint.
This is a good technique for a novice because it is not the aim to produce a perfect finish, and frottage therefore covers a multitude of sins. You can work it perfectly easily with a water-based paint that has been roughly applied with a brush, on to which you then apply newspaper, pressing it gently into the wet paint and then removing it to create the pattern.
The skill comes in getting the paint to the right consistency so that you can create an attractive, but irregular, pattern.
You can use an oil-based paint, but be aware that the paper will absorb quite a lot of it.
Paint Techniques – Color-washing and Liming Wood
Posted by: | CommentsAlthough some professional decorators may raise their eyebrows at the thought of using L water-based paint on wood, it is perfectly possible to do so provided you use one of the modern vinyl-based emulsion paints, and do not make the wood too wet.
You will need to remove any trace of previous varnish or wax; and ensure that any wood that has been chemically stripped down is first neutralized with a solution of vinegar and water (one part vinegar to 20 parts water).
One of the advantages of color-washing wood is that it provides a range of colors while allowing the natural beauty of the wood to shine through. It is the ideal choice for wood that has a naturally raised grain, such as chestnut, pine or oak.
For floors, and any areas that need to have a hard-wearing surface, the finished effect should be sealed. Sand the wood lightly after color-washing, apply a sanding sealer and then varnish it.
Alternatively, lime the wood after colorwashing it.
Liming
Although not strictly a paint technique, liming is often used in conjunction with color-washing to change the character of wooden furniture, and for floors or panelling. It was used originally to protect wood from attacks by woodworm, as the slaked lime used in the paste was a powerful deterrent. Unfortunately, it also did considerable damage to those applying the paste! However, today’s liming wax is a much more innocuous mixture of white pigment and wax, which produces the same visually attractive result without any of the inherent dangers.
Liming gives a bleached appearance to the wood, as the liming paste adheres to the wood in the crannies between the grain lines. It is a wonderful means of transforming heavy, rather plain dark oak furniture or those highly varnished pieces from the 1940s into something infinitely more attractive. Oak, ash and elm, which all have a strong grain pattern, are ideal candidates for liming. Pine can also be limed, but needs to be brushed with a wire brush to make the grain lines stand out more.
You can buy liming wax at any good paint supplier, but, if you prefer, you can make your own out of beeswax polish and white pigment. Before you can apply the liming wax, you will need to strip any existing varnish or paint off the piece of furniture, using one of the specially formulated paint strippers now on the market. You may then need to go over the surface of the wood with a copper brush to bring up the grain as much as possible.
If you wish, you can also color-wash the wood first using a coat of watered-down emulsion paint. Watered-down blues, greens and greys make particularly good base coats for the liming process, creating a Scandinavian-style finish.
If you want to varnish the finished surface, you will need to use a water-based liming paste, made from a mixture of white pigment, water and a little glue, rather than using liming wax, over which you cannot apply varnish.
Fashions in Bedroom Decoration
Posted by: | CommentsBedrooms, or bedchambers as they were once called, are a relatively modern concept. In the early part of the Middle Ages even the wealthy did not have separate bedrooms. All the members of the household lived and slept in one room, heated by a central fire which had no chimney – just a hole in the roof.
With the architectural advance of the built chimney, it became possible to divide the living space into separate rooms, and the concept of the bedroom was born. The room contained little else besides the bed, which, in the houses of the well-to-do, was often a sumptuous affair. The four-poster, however, had an entirely practical purpose in those days. The supports afforded a place from which thick drapes could be hung to keep out the cold. The richer people were, the more elaborate the drapery, as a visit to a museum such as the Victoria and Albert in London quickly reveals, with some remarkable examples complete with ornate gold embroidery and crewelwork or fantastic beasts and birds. In humbler homes, people had to make do with simple board beds and straw mattresses in alcoves, with perhaps a curtain hung across to provide some privacy. Otherwise master, mistress, children and servants shared the same sleeping quarters.
By the seventeenth century the bedroom had become a major feature of the house, reaching its apogee a century later when it was used as a room for entertaining as well as for sleeping. Ladies in the eighteenth century received visitors in the bedroom, holding court from luxurious four-posters. In France, the decoration of the bedroom during this period was in the true rococo style, with swags, ribbons and bows proliferating, the walls hung with expensive silks imported from China.
Advances in the glass-making industry in the same century meant that windows became larger, and pull-up curtains were introduced which allowed the light to be let in or excluded at will. Simpler versions of today’s festoon and Austrian blinds, they were operated by being pulled up in their entirety on a simple cord and pulley system.
With the advent of the industrial revolution, and the rise in the merchant classes, it became the vogue to display new-found wealth as overtly as possible. A decorative style was spawned in which ornament was all. Bedrooms became cluttered, stuffed with richly upholstered daybeds and chairs, pictures and plants on jardinieres. The cotton mills were churning out vast quantities of fine cotton cloth, both patterned and plain. Advances in textile printing techniques, pioneered in France in the Toile de Jouy factories south-west of Paris, brought patterned fabrics to within the reach of a larger swathe of the population.
The social changes caused by the First World War, with votes and more varied employment for women, and far fewer domestic servants, brought the romanticism of the late nineteenth century to an end. A new mood swept through design and architecture: concrete, glass and plastic became the favoured materials, and design became functional, minimalist and severe. Central heating became more usual, fireplaces were removed, kitchens streamlined, gadgets proliferated. By the middle of the twentieth century, abstract patterns, strong colors and simple outlines were the order of the day, and clutter, ornament and decoration were firmly out of fashion.
In the last decade, there has been a swing back to a more natural, romantic look, and ethnic influences have also become increasingly evident, design drawing on a variety of cultures and sources for inspiration. In decorating terms, this has led to a greater desire to ‘personalize’ interiors, with hand-painted finishes, much greater use of pattern and warmer, richer colors, as decorative paint techniques are the ideal medium in which to express this return to individuality, color and expression.
Design Ideas for Bathroom Walls and Floor
Posted by: | CommentsWalls
Most people prefer to cover the areas surrounding the bath and basin with tiles because they provide a suitably waterproof surface. Although all the wall surface can be tiled, it presents a rather clinical appearance which is not to everyone’s taste. Half-tiling the walls is a good compromise.
If, like me, you prefer rather more sympathetic-looking bathrooms, then stencilling provides an effective method of ‘personalizing’ a rather austere bathroom.
Color also plays a big part in the atmosphere you create. Traditionally, people opt for cool colors in bathrooms, with the associations these have with water. Although this is pleasant in hot climates, it is not such an attractive proposition in the grip of an arctic winter. Warmer terracottas, yellows and apricots, especially contrasting with white bathroom fittings, seem to offer a cosier, more relaxed environment. Deep rich colors can also be used very successfully in bathrooms, especially when combined with imitation dark wood-graining on bath panels, cupboards, skirtings and doors.
Pattern is something to be a little careful about in bathrooms. In small areas, it can be overwhelming and too many ready-made bathroom accessories have patterns comprising hackneyed sea or water imagery -shells, ducks or boats being the most popular. Go for something a bit different in the way of pattern if you do want to keep to the ‘water’ theme. Maybe a decoupage Roman bath-style frieze, with imitation sandstone walls. Be careful how you mix pattern, and do not mix the imagery.
The main aim in the bathroom is to ensure that the paintwork is water-resistant, and if you do not want the paint to crack or peel, you will probably have to give any paint effect you choose a couple of coats of matt, polyurethane varnish to waterproof and seal it.
Floors
Although ceramic tiles are the most practical solution for the bathroom floor, they are not particularly welcoming or warm to the feet. Parquet or wood boards are much warmer; they can be bleached by liming, or stained in various patterns, or painted with floor paints, and then sealed with several coats of varnish for durability.
Bathroom floors, being fairly small, are ideal places to experiment with perhaps a stencilled border pattern on the floor. You can use wood stains for this purpose, which now come in a range of colors as well as traditional wood colors, or any of the products normally used for stencilling, preferably in fairly soft colors that tone well with the color of the boards or are diluted sufficiently to allow the wood color to show through. Whatever medium you use, the floor will have to be properly sealed afterwards with sufficient coats of varnish to make it water-resistant and wearproof.
Cork is also warm but wears quickly, and tends to lift if a lot of water is splashed over it. Heavy-duty linoleum is also warmer than ceramic tiles, and some very good colors and patterns can now be found. Existing cork and linoleum can be painted and sealed to give them a new lease of life.
Advanced Painting Techniques – Tricks of Illusion
Posted by: | CommentsOne of the great virtues of paint effects is that they can be used to imitate, extremely successfully, materials that cost a great deal more. Among the tricks of illusion in the paint decorator’s repertoire are imitation marble and imitation woods, such as mahogany, walnut or pine, as well as imitation stone effects.
It has to be said, however, that these are not beginners’ techniques. Only those with the confidence that comes from experience can produce really successful results, although you do not necessarily have to practise on large areas.
Considerable artistic ability is shown in this skilful example of trompe-l’oeil. The choice of colors adds to the illusion by emphasizing the perspective.
Marble is one of the most traditional materials for a bathroom but it is extremely expensive. You can create an aura of sumptuous luxury by imitating it or fine woods, such as maple or satinwood that were popular in furniture design in the 1930s.
A more elaborate form of imitation, trompe-l’oeil (which means, literally, tricking the eye) demands even greater skill and should not really be attempted by anyone who does not have a reasonably strong artistic bent, unless you are just aiming for very simple effects, and have at least some facility with a paintbrush.
Imitation Wood Effects
Among the simpler imitation wood effects that you can create with paint are bois clair, pine and mahogany. The aim is to reproduce, as clearly as you can, the actual knots and grain marks of the natural woods.
If you are trying to match an existing piece of furniture, then your job is made easier because you can study its graining pattern and try to copy it.
Usually, the base coat is slightly lighter in color than the glaze that is applied over it, with which you create the graining pattern. Depending on the type of wood, it may help if the base is one which has already been sponged or stippled, to produce a mottled finish before the fine graining lines are made with a brush.
To get an authentic finish takes practice, time and patience, but quite acceptable results can be achieved by relative novices provided they work systematically. Do not attempt very large areas while learning these techniques, and practise first on a piece of board until you obtain a successful combination of colors and marks.