Painting a Bedroom Wall

There are so many useful do- it yourself tools in the market these days, changing your kids bedroom paint can be addicting.  Here are a few rooms to inspire you...

All photos from HGTV.com

Here are a few steps to changing the wall paint of your rooms:

1. Plan and decide on color schemes.  Know what walls you'll want to put each color on.

Color charts can be useful. 

PHOTO FROM ehow.com

2. Sand existing walls to remove any rough and uneven parts.  Your goal would be to make sure your wall is as even as possible. Imagine pointing a flashlight on your wall and looking at it from the side. Are there any shadows and waves?  Try to even these out.

PHOTO FROM corbisimages.com

3. Apply putty on surfaces that remain uneven or recessed to even it out more.  Tape all edges and joints so you don't get them on other areas like floors and cornices.  

The white stuff you see is actually putty. PHOTO FROM inmagine.com

PHOTO FROM dumies.com

4. Mix the base color of paint you want, and apply this evenly with a roller brush following one direction.  Let paint dry lightly between layers.  2-3 layers or coats is all you need.  Paint color will lighten when dry.  

carefully paint edges with a flat brush  PHOTO FROM precisionpaintingplus.net

PHOTO FROM escapeestatehomebuilders.com

5. With a light pencil draw any image or stencil in any design you want.  practice on a sheet of paper so you get scale and proportion right. Imagine the paper is your wall.

You can search the web for design ideas.  Here are some links to planets and the solar system

http://www.muralsbymorgan.com/murals/kids-murals/outer-space-astronaut-mural

6. Paint your sketches to life with different colors and brush sizes to give it depth.  Here is a link to a do it your self mural site

http://www.murals-for-kids-rooms.com/Level%202/DIY/DIY%20services.htm

Have fun, dare to be creative.  Water-based paint is best for cement walls, while oil or enamel will have to be the first coating for wood based walls.  Ask your local home depot, they'll know what to recommend.  Odorless paint is now available in the market.  Leaving a bowl of charcoal or vinegar out will absorb any smell of paint after you are done.  Of course, open your windows and air the room out. 

Wall stickers works just as well if you don't want to have to paint the detailed murals yourself.  More of that in my next blog.