What Kind of Sponge to Use

While a synthetic sponge (the kind you clean your house with) can be used, a natural, sea sponge usually provides the most attractive patterns. Sea sponges can be purchase at most hardware stores and come in a variety of sizes and types. You can even get a few to bring a little more variety to your sponge painting project.

Paints to Use

While you can sponge paint with any kind of paint, glaze paints are recommended. Glaze paints are a great way to bring out subtle details in your existing base colour or to highlight other design elements of a room. There are literally thousands of glaze colours that can be used. You can go with a very thin coat of glaze for subtle looks, or get daring and try thicker, or varied colours of glazed coats.

Technique

To get a feel for sponge painting you can use the glaze on a piece of poster board or paper. Experiment with the amount of paint used, the positioning of the sponge, and pressure applied. Each of these will have an effect on how the final job will look. Once you have your technique down, start on the walls and have fun.

Sponge painting is fast and easy to do. You don’t need a lot of paint and the sponges are inexpensive. Sponge painting a living room is a nice weekend project. Once you see the final results, you may want to tackle some of your other rooms. Sponge painting also has the added benefit of covering up wall imperfections. You’ll be stunned when you see what a great look this painting technique achieves.

Get Ideas At The Fabric Store

The first thing you should do is put the project in the back of your mind, as much as you can. Go to the fabric store with no preconceived notions. Don’t look for ideas, let the ideas find you. Begin browsing and see what catches your eye. You can even cloak your efforts by telling yourself that you are shopping for a fabric for a new pillowcase, or some smaller project. Let your subconscious work with the surroundings of the store until you find something that makes you say, “Aha!”

When a particular colour or pattern catches your, eye ask yourself these questions:

1. Do I like the pattern, the texture, or the colours?
2. Where would I use this idea – furniture, curtains, paint, etc?
3. Can I build a theme around this idea?

After you have answered those questions, write down the answers. You may want to buy a small piece of the fabric to keep you motivated. Or, if you’ve decided to use that fabric for throw rugs or furniture coverings, go ahead and buy what you need. Then head to the hardware store and get paints and any extras that you need to get moving. Don’t sit around and mull over your decision, just run with the creative momentum. Start your work and incorporate your new ideas. You are guaranteed to have a room with a fresh, interesting design. Best of all, you will have beat the cursed ‘designer’s block’.

• Red: Maintaining health, strength, physical energy, sex, passion, courage, protection. This colour is widely used in defensive magic. It is the colour of the element of fire. Red is associated with blood (and thus, life and death), birth, volcanoes, and intense emotions.
• Pink: Love, friendship, compassion, relaxation. Pink is symbolic of calm emotions and of emotional unions. It’s less powerful then red.
• Orange: The colour of general attraction and energy. Orange is a lesser aspect of red.
• Yellow: Intellect, confidence, divination, communication, eloquence, travel, movement. Yellow is the colour of the element of Air and is the colour of royalty.
• Green: Money, prosperity, employment, fertility, healing, growth. Green is the colour of the element of the Earth and symbolizes our planet’s fertility (it’s the colour of chlorophyll) as well as life itself.
• Blue: Healing, peace, patience, happiness. Blue is the colour of the element of Water. It is a symbol of the ocean, sleep, twilight, and the sky.
• Purple: Power, healing severe disease, spirituality, meditation, religion. Purple was once a European symbol of royalty; today it symbolizes the divine.
• White: Protection, purification, all purposes. It is the Symbol of the Moon, freshness, snow, cold, and potential. Adds to spiritual strength, breaks curses or crossed conditions, represents faith, truth and sincerity.
• Black: Banishing negativity, absorbing negativity. It symbolizes outer space and the universe. Black is the absence of colours. In some cultures, black represented fertility (as in quite fruitful black earth); in others, wisdom. In our culture it has been curiously linked with evil, due to religious associations.
• Brown: Animals. Brown represents soil and, to a lesser degree, fertility of the Earth.

So what is the best colour for your home? Here is your chance to express your own taste and style and see which colours work within your life!

Have you ever tried looking at the small details in your house? A lot of factors should be considered when choosing the kind of colours that you need in your home. Depending on what you want to focus on, you can select various colours to be painted on your walls, ceilings, windows, columns, dividers and decks. However, take note that using too many colours can be distracting to the eyes. Most interior designers will tell you to stick to one colour family when painting your house. Be aware of using contrasting colours that can clash the look of your house. If you think blue is perfect for you, try using lighter or darker tone of blue for an accent instead of having a completely opposite, dissimilar colour.

The right home colour for you does not necessarily go by any rules. The bottom line is that you can express your taste and personality through these colours.