Wall ideas for Girls Rooms

There are so many options for bedding for little girls rooms, but what about their walls? You can have sunflowers painted on the walls, like a mural. This sunflower room, has sunflowers dancing around the room. I did this mural about 5 years ago, and the little girl still loves her room. She's about 9 now.
How about an activity room for your little girl? These walls have murals of bumble bees, flowers, chalk board paint in the shape of frames, butterflies and words to go along with the creativity that can take place in this room.
Purple! Purple has been such a popular color room or little girls. In this purple room, this little girl wanted to be all grown up! So to make it fun, I created freehanded stripes, and pok-a-dot swirls. To top off the room, I painted the same polk-a-dots that were on the accent wall, around the room, making it look like a fire fly was zipping around the room!
I have to say this little girls room in pink with painted tulips has been one of my all time favorite rooms! I think the mother had a Pottery Barn quilt, which was so delicate! The tulips that are painted on the walls, almost look like a watercolor, very faint and warm.

Extreme Makeover Home Edition, Baltimore Maryland

There is something to be said for volunteering, and the impact you can have on lives.

The Extreme Makeover Home Edition surprised Boys Hope Girls Hope of Baltimore Maryland!

These 7 wonderful girls; Asia, Ajia, Milan, India, Destine, Lasha, and Shaolin now have a positive, supportive living situation thanks to thousands of Baltimore area residents who vollentereied their time.

Boys Hope Girls Hope helps academically capable and motivated children-in-need meet their full potential and become men and women for others by providing value centered, family-like homes, opportunities and education through college. Read More

Being asked to be involved in this, was an honor. A colleague through the Greater Maryland Decorative Artisans Group, had appointed me and another colleague as co-captains, heading up 15-18 other decorative artists. Our team was in charge of the 3 upstairs bedrooms.

Talk about a roller coaster of events! We were originally slated to start work on Wednesday, but due to weather and delays in the build, Friday at 9pm was our time to shine. Slept in, expecting to pull an all nighter, to an e-mail at 8:30am Friday morning that stated we were expected on site for 10:30am... Oops! I was in VA, and needed to hussle back. Through all the rushing back, we sat around till about 6pm before we could start, but this is the name of the game. I LOVED IT!

I really can't remember much while we were creating our portion. There were painters, painting ceilings above us. Tech guys under the ladders, installing wires and then everyone else piled into the room.

My experience on the Extreme Makeover, Home Edition was incredible. Every volunteer on the site had dedication, drive and passion for these 7 young ladies. Some volunteer's hadn't slept in over 3 days, but were committed to completing their portion of the job. We were all creating a space for opportunities for their future, making a difference that will last a life time.

If anything I would challenge you to volunteering once before the summer is out, I'm certain it'll change your life, and impact another. Go ahead Volunteer one day before the summers out!

House Paint Touch Up Tips

It's spring time and we're all getting our houses in order.

When you go to touch up your walls this spring follow these tips:
-Make sure the paint is at room temperature.
-Look for any separation in the paint, and smell. If this is present, than the paint is bad. Time to get a new quart for touch up.
-Try a magic eraser on walls first. I've had a client us a magic eraser on the ceiling to remove wine stains, and it saved her bundles of money.
-When applying the paint, 'feather' out the paint. Meaning, don't 'dab' it. You want to make sure that there's no distinct line. When it dries, it'll look seamless if you feather it.
-Don't use the roller! That's considered 'dabbed'! It'll look awful, so pick up the brush, instead and feather it out.

How to Paint the Perfect Little Girls Room

With a little imagination, you can create the perfect little girls room with paint in no time.

This themed room is suppose to look like the outside of a doll house. The walls are painted with a pale pink, then with a darker shade of Pink Folk Art Paint, that you can buy at Michael's or Jo-Anne Fabrics, horizontal free formed lines were created to appear as if they were siding on a building. Then with light green Leaves were applied, then tulips were sprinkled in to give a light delicate feel that will get any little girls imagination going long after she's asleep.

To top off this doll house room painting, hang watering cans, and umbrellas from the ceiling.

For a mininal cost, this painted room idea can go along way.

How to Remove Paint off Ladders Video

I'm sure you have a ladder that's covered in paint, or when your working on a project, paint drops on your ladder and you leave the paint to dry... well once you watch this, you'll see why its so important to remove paint off your ladder...

How to Get Paint out of Carpets

Materials:
Baby Wipes
Water Bottle
Razor Blade

We all make mistakes, and get paint on the carpet while painting. The best way to get paint out of carpets while it's still wet, is to use baby wipes. Yes, baby wipes, the same things you use on your precious little bums, will take paint out of your carpets... lets not even think if it can do that, what it could be doing their little bums.

This works great for the little drops and splatters of paint. I find it useful to always have baby wipes handy while painting.

Blotting, and massaging out the paint with baby wipes, then using water to flush out the rest of the paint works the best for getting paint out of the carpet while it's still wet.

If the paint has dried, a great way to get paint out, is to use a razor blade and gentle cut out the paint, then feather out the carpet fibers, and no one will ever notice!

Happy Paint removal!

How to Paint Wallpaper: Save Time & Get it DONE!

Don't remove that old dingy wallpaper of yours if you don't need to! Paint over that wallpaper to give your room a whole new look and feel. It's easier than you would think. Follow these steps:

Materials:
Wallpaper paste/Glue
Caulking
Vinyl Spackling
150 Grit Sandpaper
TSP
Oil primer-Like Sherwin-Williams ProBlock
Latex primer

1.Look over the wallpaper to see what condition it's in. Make sure that there's no lifting, or tears. If there are use the wallpaper paste or glue to paste down lifting spots.

2.Next look at the seams of the wallpaper. Make sure any noticeable gaps you fill in with the Vinyl Spackling. This will give you a great finish when you apply the paint.

3. Caulk the ceiling, base boards and corners. This gives you a polished look, and if there's any lifting in the wallpaper, the caulking will hold it down, and will minimize the seams in the wallpaper.

4. Now sand and rough up the patches. If there's any sort of raised pattern or shean, scuff it up now.

5. Wipe down the walls with TSP, to make sure all dirt and dust is off.

6. Prime the walls with your Oil primer-Like Sherwin-Williams ProBlock. Make sure this layer gets to dry fully. Once it's dried, make sure that the paper is not bubling or lifting. If you'll have any problems, with your finish project, it'll be here in the priming stage.

7. The step you have been waiting for, painting! Go ahead and apply your paint. A flat, eggshell or satin works great to give you the best final project. You can even do a faux finish for a whole new looking room.