Welcome to Painting

Top Interior Design Wall Painting Techniques

If you want to remodel a room in your home but don't want to spend a lot of money, then pick up your paint brush! Simply painting your walls a new color or using a faux technique can drastically alter your room's appearance and mood and it doesn't cost a lot of money. With a little paint and some know-how from books, websites and home improvement stores, you can create effects on your walls that will add color and texture to your rooms. Many of these painting techniques are very easy to learn and simple to accomplish if you are willing to take the time to do so. Others will be more successful with the aid of a class that instructs students on proper technique.

Technique 1: Sponges

Sponging is one of the easiest painting techniques to learn. It requires a base coat of one color that is painted over with another one. The second coat is applied with a sea sponge that is lightly dabbed randomly over the entire wall. Depending on the colors that you use and the way you handle your sponge, the effects that you can enjoy from this painting technique are nearly infinite.

There is really no right or wrong way to sponge paint, but there are a couple of rules of thumb to make your walls most pleasing to the eye. First, keep the touch of the sponge fairly light, so your effect is a subtle one. You also want to maintain an even tone to the walls, without lighter and darker spots in areas. It is a good idea to practice on a board or other sample material before taking the sponge to the walls of your room.

Technique 2: Comb Your Walls

Another painting technique that requires a little more practice is combing. This technique is done with a squeegee that has teeth like a comb. Just like sponging, combing begins with a base coat of one color that is allowed to dry thoroughly. Next, a second color is applied and the comb is drawn through the paint while it is still wet. The effect is a textured appearance that can look like straight lines, zigzags or waves. Painting techniques are usually very inexpensive, since the tools involved are simply two hues of paint and a squeegee comb.

Technique 3: Feathers, Quills, and Stencils

If sponging and combing seem too basic for your artistic flair, there are many other painting techniques that involve multiple colors and additional tools for application. You can use feathers and quills to create realistic-looking marble and stone surfaces. There are techniques that can give you a faux marble or granite look by using special paints in three or more colors and a sea sponge for blending.

You can create a stencil border over your base coat using templates and stencil paint. You can even paint murals and stories across one wall that will serve as a focal point for a room. This technique works especially well in children's areas. There are patterns available for murals as well. Decorating is no longer just about applying paint to walls. With the many faux finishes you can achieve through various painting techniques, you can give any room an artistic flair.

So armed with a paintbrush (and perhaps a sponge and some rags), you can easily and cheaply transform your room from boring to outlandish! Changing the color and texture of your walls by using one or more of the painting techniques described above will drastically change the look and feel of your room. And the best part of faux painting is that if you don't like the results, you can easily paint over it!

South Dakota Art Museum home to famed South Dakotan's work (The Argus Leader)

For the cost of some gas, art lovers have a cool place to explore artwork during the last days of summer. Admission is free to the seven galleries at the South Dakota Art Museum in Brookings, also home to the most Harvey Dunn paintings at one location anywhere in the world. The original paintings include his famous work "The Prairie Is My Garden."

Unique art of Jessie Montes on display at PCC’s Delmar Riney Gallery (The Pratt Tribune)

Delmar Riney Art Gallery at Pratt Community College starts the school year with what director Marsha Shrack describes as the most unique art exhibit she has ever seen.  The exhibit is a two person show with corrugated cardboard sculpture by Jessie Montes and paintings and photographs by Duane West who is Montes’ agent.

Who painted this sheep? (Haaretz Daily)

Poor quality oil paintings featuring the sheep's head made famous by Menashe Kadishman recently filled the display window of a store in Jaffa's flea market.

Stonewall Rebellion Veteran Honored at the Chelsea (The New York Observer)

Gay-rights activist Storme DeLarverie -- who famously punched a cop during the 1969 Stonewall Rebellion -- will be honored tonight during an exhibit of artworks at the famously arty Chelsea Hotel, where Ms. DeLarverie also resides. "The Stonewall Veterans Association is bringing the blue Cadillac for Storme," said event organizer and abstract painter Susan Olmetti, referring to the ...

Celebrated author looks back at life through travel (CNN.com)

CAPE COD, Massachusetts (AP) -- Even seekers of the world need a return address, or two, and Paul Theroux has settled well between the Hawaii home where he raises honeybees and this scenic retreat that allows him room to grow tomatoes, swim, play bocce ball and organize his memories from across the time zones.