Fireplace makeover

Baby it’s cold outside! So what’s better than a fireplace!? I apologize for the bad
pun but seriously, fireplaces are amazing in the winter time. It’s just an objectively
great feature to have in your home… unless it’s ugly. Unfortunately, it is very
possible that your fireplace might be ugly or maybe it just doesn’t go with your
aesthetic. Let’s face it, fireplaces often show the decade the house was built more
than any other piece of architecture, and sometimes… those decades sense
of interior style are garbage.

Decals! You can legitimately use decals. You’re going to have to put in a lot of
thought to make sure that the design your going for, goes on right but if done
right decals on tile could look amazing. Besides the mental energy it’s a pretty
simple project. It’s also a super cheap way of doing a high impact upgrade to
your fireplace.

Another DIY upgrade you can make to your fireplace that should be simple and
relatively cheap is painting it! You can paint just about any surface, not sure that
you should (don’t paint marble or granite, I’ll disown you), but you can! Tile, just
takes a little bit of forethought, a little bit of primer, and some acrylic paint and
you’ll have a brand new look. You can paint brick. You can do a wash over the
brick in any color you please to give the room a modern trendy look.
Continuing the color onto the walls, up to the ceiling can also add height to the
room! So that’s a really cool treatment that could enhance your entire space.
Uneven or stacked stone would probably look wired but you can knock yourself
out trying.

One other thing you can do to brick is dye it! This isn’t quite as easy as painting
but it looks more natural, like it was the bricks original color. You can go from a
classic brick red color to something softer like grey or vice versa.

Don’t have a fireplace? That’s to bad. You can check out our article on installing
your own fireplace. However, if you’re just looking for the aesthetic you can also
get a fireplace façade! Pick up a faux fireplace and make it interesting. Fill it to
the brim with logs or books or other interesting things. Go wild! It’s not a
permanent part of the house anyways.

Interior painting tips

So, it is time to break out the rollers and paint chips. There’s a thousand and one reasons that might cause you to need to paint or repaint some of the walls in your house. Maybe you just moved in and the color of the walls are not quite to your liking. Maybe you're tired of your old colors or want to add an accent wall. Maybe, you’re just covering up some old water damage. Either way it’s time to paint. Here are some tips that I hope will keep this process from being a chore.

Do your prep! We’re not off to a good start. Prep work, as essential as it is, is undeniably a chore. You just want to get the process done but you’re stuck with a bunch of extra steps. Hopefully doing this prep work will save you time in the long run by eliminating the cause of unnecessary problems that you’d have to struggle to fix later. First, patch up any holes. The look of any holes will be exacerbated by painting. Remember to sand the spots you’ve filled

in so that it matches the rest of the wall. Not sanding will also make the damaged spots stand out more.  

Next, clean your walls.  Just a quick once over will do. Run over the walls with a broom and then a quickly rub down the walls with a microfiber cloth to get rid of the last of the dirt. Having clean walls prepares the surface for painting and prevents premature peeling. Finally, primer, Primer, PRIMER! The step everyone wants to skip. You may want to take another sitting just to do this. You could get a two-in-one paint and see how that works out for you (I’m not a paint expert you tell me). Either way primer is a must if you’re looking for longevity, it makes the color of the new paint color show up better. This is especially true if your covering up a darker color. Primer just generally makes the whole thing look nicer.

Trim! You’re going to want to use as few paint strokes as possible when going over the trim. The fewer strokes you can use while painting trim the smoother the end result will look.  Load up the brush with paint to avoid skips in paint that you’d have to go back over and use long strokes. Overlap the previous stroke a little to avoid missed spots that you’d have to go back over with shorter stokes.

Brushes

To keep brushes from going dry when you need to walk away by using ziplock bags or plastic wrap. Plastic will hold in the moisture for several hours if you need to walk away. If your using a ziplock, cut a whole in the bottom, open the bag put the brush in handle first through the while you made, and zip it up.  

In order to keep brushes prepared between coats of paint you can keep your brushes, handle up in water. This keeps your brushes from getting hard and while cleaning off the excess paint from the brushes. I wouldn’t suggest you mix colors.

Exterior Painting Tips!

One of the most unfortunate parts of exterior maintenance of a house is keeping the paint looking nice. NOBODY wants to pay someone to repaint or have to repaint the outside of their house themselves. Paying for it would be expensive while doing it yourself would be difficult and time consuming. Besides, how do you know it’s going to last if you do it yourself, how do you know you’re doing it right. Well here are some tips on how to make the process a little easier and make sure your not doing it again next summer.

Choose when you paint and what side of the house your painting on! Summer is coming to a distinct end here in the south, it’s already over in more northern states. So, your going to want to get this done before the cold really sets in. If it’s still warm where you are there could be nothing more heinous than doing hard work in direct sunlight. Paint on the dark side of the house. Wait until shadow is cast on the side of the house you need to work on and do your best to keep up with the shade. If it’s already getting chilly where you are you might want to follow the warmth and paint on the bright side of the house. Put on some sunscreen because direct sunlight for extended periods of time isn’t good for anybody’s skin but staying in the sun will keep you from getting chilled.

Do your prep! Prep work is an essential part of painting if you want it to last. You may want to pick a completely separate day for this in order to break up some of the work and jump right into the painting process when your ready.

First, strip off chipping paint. Get something with a sharp edge, something like a putty knife. If you’ve gone through the painting process before and there are several layers of paint already on the house, you can also pressure wash flaking paint off. If you’re dealing with something that’s more delicate than paint thinner on a rage will do the job getting the old paint off.

Next, remove and replace anything old and rotting. A new layer of paint won’t fix things that are fundamentally unsound. Replace window sills, slats on the shutters, siding, etc.

Finally, primer, Primer, PRIMER! The step everyone wants to skip. You may want to take another day just to do this. You could get a two-in-one paint and see how that works out for you (I’m not a paint expert you tell me). Either way primer is a must if you’re looking for longevity and it’s just a step that makes the whole thing look nicer.

Putting You into Your Home STEP THREE: Details

When you’re trying to personalize your space it’s good to know the big picture, nail down the aesthetic you’re looking for and use that image to anchor you to your idea. Having one central idea in mind and expanding from there is important. However, what really pulls your vision together into one cohesive whole, are the details. When you first move into a house many of the elements of the house are generic, that was probably by design. The goal is to make a house as bland as possible, so potential buyers would have an easier time imagining what they want in that space. Meaning everything is generic.

The first thing that is often bland or generic and easily changed is the walls or the paint/wallpaper on them. After you’ve finished visualizing what you want, you should choose your paint scheme. You can look at the first article in this series about the painting your space to make it yours or our “choosing your paint” series. The next generic things you can replace are the doors, especially the front and exterior doors. For personal rooms, it may be

cute to paint the doors. It could be a nice transition from the design schemes from the communal spaces into personal spaces. Changing doors can really customize the presentation of the entire space, so imagine what you can do with exterior doors. Nice or painted shutters would also have a similar effect. Also, consider replacing the garage door. It’s on the front of the house, it says almost as much about the house as the front door. According to Remodeling Magazine replacing the front door ranked high on cost recuperation, so if you have the money it would definitely be worth it.

Next, Flowers! Usually, homes for sale try to present a nice landscape to entice buyers inside. However, that landscape is often just a tidy average suburban house sort of presentation. Don’t get me wrong plants are nice. Inside they provide fresh air and color… they do that outside too, but yeah, they’re nice! Plants outside the house are a great opportunity to prep visitors for the general aesthetic inside the house. You need to plan this out strategically, plants can easily get expensive and arranging flower beds is no walk in the park. Know what colors you want, remember that plants need a specific amount of sunlight and shade, know what season your plants thrive in. You’re going to need to do research. Also, consider getting plant boxes. They can be a lovely addition to a house and the pop of color would draw the eye further up the house.

Then there’s lighting. We have articles extensively going over lighting and the how to curate the lighting in your home. Check out the second article in this series and our article “Choosing Your Light Fixtures”. Light fixtures are often one of the most generic things in a house and changing the lighting is one of the best ways to personalize a space.

Finally, Home accessories. I know how vague that is, that can mean a lot of things. When I say home accessories I mean things like the metal balls you can put in glass bowls to decorate a table. I mean candles and the types of candle holders you might want. I’m talking about wall art and tabletop sculptures. These pieces should be more thematic than most other items in the house. This brings us back to visualization, it’s one of the reasons it’s a good idea to have actual visual references to go back to.

Delana Cotton servers the north east Atlanta region that includes Dacula, Winder, Lawrenceville, Buford, Snellville, Conyers and surrounding areas. Delana treats every transaction as if she were you, the buyer or seller. If you have a real estate transaction on the horizon, meet Delana for a no pressure chat over coffee.

Choosing your Paint: Sheen/Finish

So… paint sheen… is it really important? Yes, actually it’s very important. There are a number of important visual and functional ramifications to picking the wrong sheen. The wrong paint finish can throw-off the effect of an entire room.

	Pro’s	Con’s
High-Sheen/ Glossy	- Glossy sheen formulas are easier to keep clean. Glossy sheens produce the toughest, most stain-resistant and smooth finishes. - To achieve a 3-D feel, consider using gloss paint on the trim in a room that has otherwise been painted with a low-lustre or flat paint. Also consider using gloss finishes to help architectural features pop – such as entry doors or trim around ornate glass work. - Brighten naturally dark rooms by reflecting light and magnifying.	- Glossy sheens add vibrancy and bounce more light. This can add a spasmodic and blinding effect. It creates excessive glare. - Spaces with glossier paint finishes, depending on the color, are harder to relax in.
Semi-Gloss, Low-lustre/ Satin, or Eggshell.	- All of these finishes have a sheen that is between Glossy and Matte paints and are listed in order from glossiest to dullest. - These finishes present warmer than and provide a greater appearance of depth than flat paints. - More resistant to stains than flat paint. - Like High-gloss paint they reflect more light and brighten a darker space.	- Don’t have as much of a dramatic effect as either High-Gloss or Matte finishes. - Semi-gloss can have the same effects of Glossy paint in the wrong lighting,
Flat/Matte	- Can create beautiful effects! - Can conceal surface blemishes better than paint with more reflective properties. Smooths out walls that are dented or rough. - Great for downplaying and receding surfaces, such as ceilings or other surfaces you want to downplay.	Conversely, high paint-pigment levels, along with coarse pigment granules, create duller, rougher and less resilient finishes. Unfortunately, stains are often difficult to remove from flat finishes. Unlike paints with higher sheen, a non-reflective, flat paint finish has a porous texture, which can trap dirt and result in burnishing when scrubbed or rubbed

Delana Cotton servers the northeast Atlanta region that includes Dacula, Winder, Lawrenceville, Buford, Snellville, Conyers and surrounding areas. Delana treats every transaction as if she were you, the buyer or seller. If you have a real estate transaction on the horizon, meet Delana for a no pressure chat over coffee. 

Choosing your Paint: Colors

Choosing colors for your home is a big task. There is so much to think about when picking a color pallet for a room, theme, cohesion, the general ambiance of the space. So where do you even start?

Before you choose your color palate you need to visualize your space. Figure out what you want, which may be something that is easier said than done. I suggest you check out our other article “Putting You into Your Home STEP ONE: Painting” for more advice about this step. After you find out how you want your room to feel when you walk into the space then you can begin to choose your color pallet.

First you need a color wheel! Don’t worry you don’t actually have to go out and find one, I mean you can if you want to but google images exists. The colors that sit next to each other on the color wheel in combination with each other are more soothing. So you might want to use that technique in rooms that you want to be peaceful or restful. Keep in mind that vibrant colors pump up energy and can be annoying, consult “Choosing your Paint: Go Soft, Dark, or Vibrant” for help choosing shades/tones.

Next consult your closet. Hopefully once you paint you’ll be looking at these colors for a long time, thus you need to choose colors you know you’ll like. The best place to find those are in your wardrobe! I’m assuming that unless you hate yourself, you probably only wear colors you are drawn to. How do those clothing items make you feel? Use that as a basis to create the proper tone for the rooms you’re your putting together. For example, your going to paint your home office and you want the room to feel soothing and help you focus, but you also want to feel energized. Do you feel calm in that green shirt you like? Does the yellow button down make you feel perkier than usual? Maybe incorporate those colors,

Remember to use the 60-30-10 rule. The 60-30-10 rule is a rule of design for colors, 60% one main color, 30% secondary color, 10% accent color. You don’t need to follow this rule strictly but it’s a good place to start to maintain balance in the space. Not all of these colors need to be present on the walls, you can incorporate it using furniture, throw pillows, etc.

Gray is a safe color. Gray is a neutral color that adapts to whatever color you put it with. It looks good with most other colors and goes from being warm to cool relatively easily. Thus, an extremely useful transition color.

Delana Cotton servers the northeast Atlanta region that includes Dacula, Winder, Lawrenceville, Buford, Snellville, Conyers and surrounding areas. Delana treats every transaction as if she were you, the buyer or seller. If you have a real estate transaction on the horizon, meet Delana for a no pressure chat over coffee. 

Putting You into Your Home STEP ONE: Painting

You bought a house! Congratulations, you’re almost done but now it’s time to make the space your own. Everything you’ve done up until now has lead to this step of the process and if planned properly this step should be the fun part. Once you’ve had deep cleaned your new home, cleaning the place of any debris from the construction or the previous owner move out, it’s time for you to paint. Personally, I suggest that you do this step before all of your stuff is moved in. It will be easier for you to do it in this order, fewer things to maneuver around and protect from paint.

The first step here is visualization. Figure out what you want, which may be something that is easier said than done. I suggest you look at magazines, use internet blogs and resources like Pinterest, even watch some HGTV… don’t go overboard with that last one.  The point is the first thing you need is a goal. Unfortunately for those of you who are not artistically inclined, this part is more art than science. What colors do you like? What is your design aesthetic? These are all things you need figure out before you pick up a paint chip.

Next, make a little chart or map with each room of the house and write down the notes for each room. Who is that room for? What are they going to do in there? Allocate a feeling for each room, use adjectives; how do you want to feel when you walk through the door? How do you want the house to feel as a whole? Draws lines between the rooms you want to be cohesive, write little notes on how and why you’d like them to flow together.

For more information, check out our "Choosing your Paint" series

Delana Cotton servers the north east Atlanta region that includes Dacula, Winder, Lawrenceville, Buford, Snellville, Conyers and surrounding areas. Delana treats every transaction as if she were you, the buyer or seller. If you have a real estate transaction on the horizon, meet Delana for a no pressure chat over coffee.

Choosing your Paint: Go Soft, Dark, or Vibrant

An important part of choosing your paint colors is choosing the tone of your colors. A large part of setting the mood of a space is choosing between the softness, depth, and vibrancy of your colors. So jumping right in:

Soft – Soft colors reflect light and brighten a space. The more light there is in a space the bigger the space looks.  This can be achieved by using lighter colors. Scientifically light colors bounce more light off its surface, meaning there’s more light being cast into the surrounding space. Brighter lighter spaces also have the benefit of being more inviting. If you want people to linger, you want the space to feel open and bright. It’s also a bonus that bright and light spaces are good for your mental health.

Caution: Ultra-light colors do tend to wash out. If you want an off-white color that subtly ties into the color of another room with the same undertone getting a very light version of that color will work beautifully. However, this is more a subconscious tie-in, at first glance the room will look white. If you want a hint of whatever color you’re going to want to go a little more saturated unless the rest of the rooms color scheme will make the very subtle color pop.

Dark – Darker spaces have the effect of feeling and looking smaller. Dark colors absorb light, thus casting less light into the surrounding space. Which can make a room feel close and cozy. Not everyone wants every room to be sunny and bright. Deeper, richer colors can be soothing, relaxing, and homey. Also, when you have a larger room or an open floor plan darker colors are good for making rooms feel fuller and occupied instead of being vast and intimidating.

Vibrant – Bright, vibrant colors are the hardest to work with. These colors are exciting and good for creativity, so they’re good in small doses. However, in large quantities they can be overwhelming fast. Vibrant colors give you energy which is great in a work space but in high doses can make people jittery and irritable. Also, if the color is too bright when light bounces off of it the color can mess with your senses.

Painting Your Home for Sale

So, it’s time for you to move. Your home has served you as well as it could but now it’s time to move on. In order to honor the place, you have called home it’s up to you to make sure it goes to the best seller possible. Unfortunately, that means it’s time to take out some of the personalization. This might feel like your stripping it of its personality, but I assure you that is not the goal. We’re simply minimizing things that could distract prospective home buyers from the houses features. We want the house’s base architectural charms to shine through so that other people can envision making a place for themselves in their new home, just as you did before them.

Do’s	Don’ts
Keep it Simple: It’s easier for people to imagine adding things on so a space then subtracting things from it. This means simple, soft colors and simple wall treatments. There is nothing that entices people looking to buy just about anything more, than lack of complication. The simpler a process is the less likely you are to lose a prospective buyer simply because they gave up or have a lack of imagination.	Complicate: It may seem like a good idea to HGTV and Home décor magazines for the newest trends. However, this just adds a different, specific personality to the walls that some buyers may have a hard time seeing around. Trendy painting techniques can be fun and interesting, but it may just force buyers to use more mental energy trying to imagine the house without it.
Let in the Light: The more light there is in a space the bigger the space looks.  This can be achieved by using lighter colors. Scientifically light colors bounce more light off its surface, meaning there’s more light being cast into the surrounding space. Brighter lighter spaces also have the benefit of being more inviting. If you want people to linger, especially prospective buyers you want the space to feel open and bright.	Close off the Space: Darker spaces have the effect of feeling and looking smaller. Dark colors absorb light, thus casting less light into the surrounding space. It’s harder to imagine filling a small space without the space feeling cluttered. So when preparing a space for other people's eyes it’s better to give off the impression of abundant space than limited space.
Keep It Cohesive: The colors you choose for the walls should tie the individual spaces in to each other. You’re going to want the house to feel like a whole, interconnected, harmonious space than a series of spaces tied together by doorways. People will want to separate and divvy up the spaces themselves, that will be easier if they first see it as a whole they can separate if they please then a series of spaces they’ll have to try to tie together.	Section-off Space: This is part of keeping spaces open and inviting. It’s off putting for a buyer to walk from one room into another room and have that room feel completely different. It feels like they would be buying into a bunch of separate spaces instead of one, singular house.

Delana Cotton servers the northeast Atlanta region that includes Dacula, Winder, Lawrenceville, Buford, Snellville, Conyers and surrounding areas. Delana treats every transaction as if she were you, the buyer or seller. If you have a real estate transaction on the horizon, meet Delana for a no pressure chat over coffee.