Written by Sam on March 9, 2022. Posted in Helpful Tips

Make Your Room Look Bigger with These Creative Painting Ideas

Working or moving in a small room can be very uncomfortable. If you are living in a small space, you have no choice but to make use of every space you have. But with a few interior design know-how and tricks, you can make your room look bigger than it actually looks. Many small space owners have adopted a variety of techniques to make their room look bigger and you can also incorporate their ideas with yours.

By adapting colour techniques, using creative lighting, furniture arrangement, and placing mirrors in certain areas, you can successfully make your small room look bigger. Check out these creative ideas to achieve that.

Use Light Colours

One of the secrets of interior designing is to use colours to achieve the desired look. If you want a small space to look bigger, go for light and bright colours. The more the light reflects, the more it gives an illusion that a space is huge.

By painting walls with light and bright colours, you can achieve an open and airy feeling inside your space as it maximises the effect of normal light that goes inside the room. Since light colours are highly reflective, they can maximise the viewing distance making your room look bigger.

You can use lighter colours when painting your walls, trims, and mouldings to make your room bigger than its original edges. With the right colour effect, you can achieve in making your walls look very far.

Be Creative with the Lighting

While it is best to have natural light inside the room, not everyone has the privilege of getting rooms that have very good natural lighting. In this case, you can use creative lighting fixtures to make your room look bigger. Through creative planning, you can achieve in creating light effects that could give an illusion of having more space inside your room.

Keep your room organised

Small spaces can look smaller and cramped if it is messy and unorganised. By cleaning up and arranging the space, you can achieve in making it look bigger than it actually is. Avoid covering your walls with a lot of pictures and small paintings. Instead, you can opt for a single big painting on your wall. Keep the floors neat and clean by eliminating large mattes and carpets. This way, you can create an illusion that the room is bigger than its actual appearance.

Create a focal point

By creating a focal point inside a small room, you can make your room look bigger as you are directing everyone’s attention to that certain part of the room. You can do it by putting eye-catching, smartly arranged furniture on a specific area, be it a table, bed, or any furniture you want to highlight in your room. Then keep other furniture simple or minimal looking.

Install mirrors

A lot of people are not aware that putting mirrors in a small space can make the room appear bigger. Mirrors reflect both natural and artificial light and can make an effective illusion to make the room look bigger. Placing a mirror in the right place, such as near a window, can enhance the brightness of your during the day and even at night.

You can also install mirrors on your walls, or use glassed top tables and mirrored cabinet doors to make your room look more open and spacious.

Consider multifunctional furniture

Using multifunctional furniture can save you space and make your room bigger. Consider using a sofa bed with built-in drawers or decorating your dining area with expandable or folding tables. As much as possible, avoid using bulky furniture and appliances to avoid making your room cramped up.

Following some or all the creative tips mentioned in this blog will help you achieve in making your small room look bigger. If you need help from experts, you may also contact us at Wallace Contracts for a guaranteed reliable and cost-effective solution to your interior decorating needs.

Written by Sam on September 22, 2021. Posted in Helpful Tips

Door Colour and The Property’s Value

During travel restrictions and lockdowns, updating our home’s interior has been the favourite pastime of almost everyone in the past year and a half. Right now, with things starting to go back to normal, people are starting to focus on the outside appearance of their home.

To assist those who are looking to make their homes exterior more appealing, Dulux published the Great British Exterior Trends Report. This initiative of the company aims to help consumers by gathering insight on the latest outdoor design trend in the UK.

As we all know, making improvements to our property’s exterior is one of the easiest ways to make your property more attractive and valuable. Over the last five years, the keyword “house exterior” along with other terms related to property development, has received more than 71,000 Google searches monthly.

As for the overall exterior trend search results, “outdoor wood paint” is at the top with over 12,000 monthly Google searches, followed by uPVC door paint, brick paint, white masonry paint, and more.

When it comes to choosing a paint colour, grey holds its spot as the top colour choice for property owners. White made it to the second spot on the list of the most popular choice for all regions across the country.

However, this Google search data is not in agreement with what people search on Instagram. On IG, the hashtag #pinkhouse currently tops the record with over 279,269 images showing on the app, while #greyhouse has only about 70,000 to show.

This Instagram record may have been greatly dominated by influencers who use pink houses as their background when taking pictures to upload on social media. This trend can have a positive impact on houses with pink doors, as it can generate the interest of multiple consumers, resulting in a higher bidding war that could possibly go up to £20k.

How Trends Affect Property’s Value

Instagram plays a huge role in today’s property aesthetics trend as most people find design inspiration by going through the hashtags on the app. Among the top exterior trends on Instagram is the all-white exterior – an irrefutable fact since white colour has always been visually impressive and is suitable for any type of property.

According to the data analysed by Dulux Weathershield, the colourful exterior wall trend has grown the most over the past few months and is expected to increase further over the next few years. Next to the colourful exterior wall, the garden decking trend is also growing with a 437% search increase expected in 2021. Third on the most popular trend is “front door”, as more and more people are now wanting to make their homes stand out.

Written by Sam on October 8, 2021. Posted in Helpful Tips

Creative Ideas in Decorating Small Areas at Home

Unlike larger spaces, the small areas in our home are often the most challenging to decorate. The limited amount of space often gives us minimal options when it comes to choosing furniture, colour, and other decors. Without careful and detailed consideration, you might end up making the small space feel smaller and closed in.
Are you having a hard time decorating small spaces at home? Check out this article for reliable and practical tips.

Hallways

Since most hallways are dark and narrow, using light and bright colours for decorations would make a perfect choice. This doesn’t mean that you will have to stick to white colours though. Many property owners and decorators use pale aqua colour in painting hallway walls and have successfully created a sense of light and brightness.

Study room

Gone are the days when we always see bold colours as inappropriate for small spaces. These days, decorators use bold colours in small doses to create a great impression on a seemingly small and dull area, like study rooms. Since most walls are painted in white and other pale colours, you can use bold accent colours in some areas of the wall or decorations such as picture rails or shelves. To avoid overwhelming your room with different bold colours, consider using the same colours for the accessories.

Kitchen

While some homeowners have large kitchens, many are struggling with how to decorate their small kitchen areas. While using white paint can definitely give a bright and lighter environment, this does not mean you should use white in all the areas. Adding a few interesting bold and dark colours can make a huge addition to your small kitchen’s aesthetics.

Small bedrooms

Instead of going all white on your small bedroom walls, you can substitute it with soft neutral colours such as pale gray and mink. Like white, these colours can make your space look more spacious. They also add more depth and interest to the room’s aesthetics. You may also paint walls alternatively with white and other neutral colours if you don’t want to use a single colour on all walls.

Bathrooms

If you think that there is no way you can make your small bathroom functional and stylish at the same time, you are definitely wrong. By combining white and soft shades for the walls and ceiling, you can turn your unattractive bathroom into a bright and spacious-looking space. You can also paint your door with vibrant paint colour to add a vibrant pop to your stylish bathroom.

Written by Sam on September 1, 2021. Posted in Helpful Tips

Kinds of Paint Problems and How To Fix Them

Some minor paint problems are easy to deal with and do not require repair as they are barely noticeable. However, other paint issues are too visible and need immediate attention to avoid the situation from worsening. This blog will tackle some of the most common paint problems and how to solve them.

Blistering/Bubbling – This problem can appear on any painted surface, including metal, wood, plaster, and drywall. Heat and moisture are the two common culprits of blistering paints. This can happen when the paint is exposed to intense sunlight or heat or if a newly painted surface is exposed to rain, water, or high humidity.

Solution: Determine whether the cause of the problem is heat or moisture. If it is because of moisture, solve the problem by fixing plumbing problems and increasing ventilation. If heat is at fault, remove blisters and the underlying paint. Prepare the surface and repaint it, making sure that the temperature is 90º F.

Cracks and Flakes – These paint problems usually start from tiny, vein-like lines and grow into huge dry flakes. This is a typical result of insufficient surface preparation or applying a very thin coating. It could also be a result of improper application or years of use.

Solution: If the damage is not yet extensive, you can perform some DIY repair. You can remove all the cracking and flaking paint, clean and prime the surface, then repaint the spots that need repair. Suppose the problem is too extensive and you don’t have the confidence to perform a repair. In that case, you can call a reliable painting contractor to do the work.

Peeling – Both interior and exterior walls can be affected by this problem, and the primary reasons are improper surface preparation and application. It could also be a result of excessive moisture.

For interior surfaces, excessive moisture from the basement and foundation is the most common culprit. But it can also be a result of bad habits in cooking and showering. As for exterior walls, clogged gutters, leaky roofs, and interior moisture can be the reason for peeling paints. Solution: If the problem affects your internal walls, solve the problem by improving your property’s interior ventilation. As for outdoor surfaces, you can have the issue fixed by removing the peeling paint, preparing the surface, and repainting properly.

Chalking usually occurs during the hot, sunny season and is visible mainly on flat, pale-coloured paints. In some cases, chalking is after a long time as exposure to weather changes causes paint pigments to be released in the air. Another more common reason is the use of low-quality or interior paint for an external surface. Over-thinning of paint before the application can also cause this to happen.

Solution: This problem can be easily solved through power washing and treating the surface with a TSP solution. Rinse properly after applying the TSP solution and wait for it to dry thoroughly before applying a new and high-quality paint intended for outdoor surfaces.

Written by Sam on September 30, 2021. Posted in Helpful Tips, Office Refurbishment

Tips in Selecting the Right Paint Colour for Your Commercial Space

Your office environment plays a huge role in your work performance. Aside from the decors, the paint colour affects your mood, which in turn affects your productivity. Since different types of industries and brands use their colour pattern, the colours that boost productivity in certain offices might now work in other offices. The amount of natural light that goes inside, as well as the size and shape of your office also influence the effectiveness of the colour you are going to use.

Does the fact above make it harder for you to decide in selecting your office’s new paint colour? This article will help you out. Below are some of the things to consider when shopping for the right paint colour for office spaces.

Consider your space’s purpose

The colour you choose for your office space can help you achieve your business objectives. This is the reason why you have to determine your space’s purpose first before choosing the colour. Certain colours fit only certain industries and can be incompatible with others.

Are you in the retail industry? Bold and striking colours could be a perfect choice as they can catch customers’ attention. As for businesses with a professional environment like offices, gray, white, and other understated colours will work best.

Consider how much light enters your space

Light has the capability of changing the appearance of some colours, which is why you have to check the amount of natural light that goes inside your office space. If little to no light is coming in, you can consider lighter tones of paint. As for spaces that received a huge amount of natural light, darker tones are the best choice.

Consider the size of your commercial space

Tight spaces need lighter shades of colours to look larger. As for huge spaces, you can make it look warm and comfy by using darker shades.

Consider the room’s temperature

The paint colour also works hand-in-hand with the room’s temperature. If you want to cool down your office space, using lighter tones such as light blue and green can help you achieve this goal. Should you want to warm up your office, either of the colours orange, yellow, and red will make a perfect choice.

Consider getting help from experts

At Wallace Contracts, we can help you make the best decision in choosing your office space’s paint colour. Our specialists have decades of experience in helping businesses and individuals choose the perfect colours for their spaces.

Give us a call to discuss your options with our painting and decorating specialists.