Oudoor Lighting... Obligatory when it comes to the Decortion of your Home

With the barmy summer evenings drawing in and the onset of Autumn..that extra room.. the garden  if you are fortunate enough to have one ... no matter how big or small any outdoor space ..well designed  with the proper lighting, can create a whole new dimension to your home.
It is almost obliatory when it comes to the overall decoration of your Home & Garden,talking about its virtues is just uncalled for . Outdoor lighting helps us in so many ways,it illuminates are pathways,entrances it gives ambience to evening parties

..it makes us feel safe & secure

Wallpaper the Great Impersonator

Why Wallpaper

With so many decorating options, why choose wallpaper?

1. Wallpaper is a great impersonator. It can change the visual appearance of your room in many ways.

Decide what you want to accomplish in each room in your home. How do you want to feel when you go into a particular room? Wallpaper, like a fine set of clothing helps you make the most of your room's strong points, while masking its weaker features.

Wallpaper:

    brightens a dark room
    adds character to a dull room
    warms up a room with no architectural features
    creates a cozy atmosphere
    frames the room's best features
    reveals your personality more than any other wall treatment


In addition, wallpaper featuring certain patterns such as stripes and overall prints to perform optical illusions that make rooms that ordinarily look too long, too boxy or have low ceilings appear more proportionate.

2. Wallpaper makes the greatest impact in your room, in a single-application.

No other decorating product offers so much color, design and coverage to suit any mood, taste and need.

3. Wallpaper is economical.

While many wall treatments may seem inexpensive, you have to consider the long-term care of them. Many of today's wallpaper varieties have a life of seven to ten years. In addition, wallpapers defined as scrubbable may be cleaned with soap, warm water and a gentle sponging ù a must in the active family's busy where every square inch of space is used.

4. Wallpaper is easy to install.

Don't be fooled! Hanging wallpaper is fun and easy - when you follow the manufacturer's instructions that come with each roll of your wallpaper. You also can speak to your local retailer who will be happy to provide helpful hints and tips to make your job easier. Many retailers, in fact, offer wallpaper hanging clinics geared to the first-time hanger. Make it a party. Invite a friend, put on some music and watch your walls come to life!

5. Wallpaper sets a theme.

Use it throughout the house. Today's wallpaper collections are user-friendly, featuring a host of coordinating patterns, borders and color schemes that create a unified design theme throughout your home. Spread some personality in every room!

6. Wallpaper makes the most of your favorite things.

Do you love sailing, golfing, the seashore? Do you collect pipes, dolls, china or impressionistic prints? Frame out a favorite collection or pastime with wallpaper that helps accentuate your favorite things.

7. Wallpaper creates detail where there once was none.

Moved in to a house that has all the personality of a plain white box? Try some wallpaper. Wallpaper is the economical way to add missing architectural elements to your room without hiring a general contractor. Create a chair rail with a wallpaper border. Use a full-wall pattern cut into proportionate shapes to make a paneled effect up a wall leading to a vaulted ceiling. Draw attention to a fireplace focal-point wall by wrapping it with a strong pattern, or create a focal-point wall using the same strong pattern on any blank wall. All it takes is a little imagination.

8. Wallpaper coordinates with the looks you love.

Today's wallpaper designers have captured virtually every fashion statement popular today from fresh country looks to upscale modern motifs.

9. Wallpaper adds value to your home.

    Covers flaws in the wall surface that paint can't.
    Protects the wall surface from marks made by today's busy family.
    Provides certain air of quality and richness not found in uncovered walls.
    An excellent fast-fix for those selling their home. Wallpaper offers a wide range of subtle patterns and colors to neutralize the interior to fit anyone's style.
    Adds value to your most important investment. Retail studies show that a tastefully decorated home can attain a 10 to 15 percent increase in property value.


10. Wallpaper is always IN.

Wallpaper is a timeless decorating product. As new styles emerge, wallpaper designers capture it, define it and present it in a variety of color choices. With its ability to capture any style or color scheme, wallpaper helps you express your personality and style - from contemporary to romantic to country or eclectic!

Treading the Boards..Painted ones

Although it’s relatively uncommon to see painted wood floors today, as clear-coated hardwood has become the preferred option for most homeowners, they were once a staple of interior design. From decorative patterns, some of which mimicked parquetry, to monochromatic schemes, painted wood floors were in widespread use in most  homes by the late 1700s. Popular colors included white, yellow, red, and green. But it wasn’t just about aesthetics—paint also helped protect the wide-plank pine floors of the time.

After taking a backseat to carpet and clear coats for decades, painted floors are now making a comeback, in both historic and contemporary homes.


 Now to painting the floor  “It’s the one time that it’s most critical not to put the paint on thick,”  “This has to do with the chemistry of paint, but thin coats wear much slower than thick coats,” because they dry harder. We also prefer oil-based primers and paints on floors, for long-term durability, although a waterborne enamel or other specialty floor paint would also be a good choice.


PREP the Boards

 scarify the surface with 150-grit sandpaper
• wash the floor with a powdered detergent cleaner to remove all dust and deposits
• allow floor to dry completely (this may take a couple of days)
• apply a primer suitable for your paint type
• allow primer to dry overnight
• lightly sand primer with 220-grit sandpaper
• wipe floor clean with mineral spirits, using tack cloth or a rag
• apply the first, thin coat of paint with a natural-bristle brush (which creates a smooth finish, rather than with a roller, which creates a stippled finish)
• allow paint to dry 24 hours
• apply two more thin coasts, allowing 24 hours between each

First, you need to learn a little brush anatomy. You've heard about icebergs and how the bit that sticks out is just a tiny bit of the whole thing, right? The bristles on a brush are the same way. Most of the length of the bristles goes down into the neck of the metal ferrule. The secret to virtual brush immortality rests in not letting your Paint  get up into that ferrule. If any Paint  at all manages to dry in there, it will stay there forever. If it builds up, it l will force the bristles apart, causing the brush to splay apart. Once this happens the brush is dead,  unfixable. I did not know this rule when I had my first brushes, they were a set of Hamiltons beautiful bristle brushes ,till I got my hands on them..i had spent so much time as an apprentice cleaning out Brushes, pots, rollers, cups, trays all manner of things apprentices had to do ..Oh!! and make  a good Brew..  so I got lazy when it came to my Brushes,till the day I had let my brushes go hard overnight...  I had been going somewhere ..the following morning .... They were dead!!  no amount of reviver would bringing them back from beyond.

"Where is your kit lad" the foreman asked ..err.err! he picked them up looked at me..looked at the brushes and  threw the brushes in the bin.."No Tools No Work" I was  sent  home .... 

When..When is  The Right Time to Paint.

There are certain times of the year when outside painting should not be done if satisfactory results are to be expected. If painting is done too early in the spring, the surface is very apt to be full of frost and moisture and the pores closed through contraction, thus producing uneven absorption. The side of the building exposed to the heat of the sun will expand and the pores open to a greater extent than the protected side of the building. All paints and oils are much heavier in cold than in warm weather, and if applied under a low temperature there is apt to be too heavy a coat over a contracted surface, which will crack through expansion under the summer heat.

Do not paint after a frost or in early spring when frost is leaving the ground, filling every part of the building with dampness. Remember that heat ascends and brings the dampness with it.

Paint should never be applied to extremely hot surfaces. Paint applied under extreme heat sets and dries very rapidly, and under the direct heat of the sun's rays is very apt to blister, especially on old work. Remember that tints absorb while white reflects heat, and when it is too hot to paint with white, remember it is also too hot to paint with tints. This should not be taken as an argument against summer painting, but only as a caution against working on extremely hot surfaces.

In spring painting follow the sun with your work. In summer painting let the sun follow you. Switch your work according to the time of the day.

Do not paint while the plaster is drying out; allow time for it to harden through. Remember there are 80 to 90 gallons of water used in every 100 yards of plastering, most of which must escape some place. If the building is tightly closed or is being dried by heat, the moisture will be largely driven out through the siding, causing the paint to break away, blister or peel.

Do not paint buildings having damp basements without first removing the cellar windows and ventilators so as to have a free circulation of air, thus drying out the under part of the building, otherwise the dampness will go up through the house between the siding and plastered wall and be attracted to the surface through the siding.

Do not paint near fresh mortar beds. The heat, moisture and fumes from the lime will be absorbed by the oil in drying, causing it to flatten out and destroying its life.

Do not paint in sultry weather or in a heavy, wet atmosphere, as the moisture from such conditions penetrates the surface to an extent that it takes several days of good drying weather for the building to again be in condition to receive paint.

Do not paint during or immediately after a heavy fog or dew. In a few hours lumber absorbs more dampness in this kind of weather than from heavy rains. Moisture from heavy fogs and dews penetrates lumber to a greater depth than from any other source. It is especially important to guard against these conditions.

In most sections of the country the season of exterior painting is comparatively short and it is a great temptation for painters who have been obliged to lie idle all winter to start early spring painting. The season of painting can be easily extended and more satisfactory results obtained by using judgment as to the best time of the year to paint a building according to its surroundings. There are very few property owners who would not be willing to extend the time of painting if shown that better and more satisfactory results can be obtained by so doing.

A building exposed to the sun and weather on all sides will dry out much quicker and be in condition to paint much earlier in the spring than one in a confined space where the sides of the building are not exposed to the sun or have no opportunity to dry out before the summer weather arrives.

A building surrounded by vines or dense foliage is in no condition to paint until the heat of the summer has drawn the moisture, not alone from the building but the ground surrounding it. The building may be so densely shaded that it will be paintable only at a time of the year when it would be impossible to apply paint to an exposed surface without danger of its blistering under the extreme heat of the sun.

Under certain conditions, better results will be obtained on a surface which is checked, cracked or shows indications of peeling, by allowing the building to stand through the summer and deteriorate to the full extent, repainting in the Autumn when the old, loose surface can more easily be removed.

Practical Points On Painting

Do not expect the paint to do all the work. It won't.

No paint manufacturer can make one paint which will meet every requirement.

Judgment must he used as to the surface to be painted.

Never use a cheap primer. The priming coat should be of the best. It is the foundation upon which all subsequent coats must be built.

The best paint, if properly applied or applied over a surface not in condition to receive paint, will not give good results.

A successful painter is one who makes a thorough study of the work on hand and knows what is necessary to use in order to produce the best results. If oil or turpentine is needed, he should know when and how much.

Good results can not be obtained on poor Timber

Moisture is the bane of the painter and paint manufacturer. Possibly more trouble can be traced to moisture than to any other cause of paint going wrong.

Paint will blister, peel and scale if the surface painted contains moisture.

Moisture is always present in improperly seasoned or green lumber. It is often present because of defective window casings. leaky down spouts and freshly plastered walls.

It is important that the foundation should have ventilators or windows, so that there will be a free circulation of air underneath the buildings to carry off the dampness. If this precaution is not taken, the dampness will go up through the space between the plastering and siding and the sun and warm air will draw it through to the outside, causing the paint to blister, peel and scale.

Mildew is another serious trouble. This is a vegetable growth and is always a sure indication of dampness.

Do not be in a hurry with the work. Do not apply the paint too heavily.

A well-brushed-out coat of the proper consistency and plenty of time allowed for its hardening through will more than repay in the after effects for the time spent.

There is a difference between paint drying and hardening. Paint may dry in a few hours, but takes days to harden.

Light and air are essential to the proper drying of paint.

With inside painting, do not tightly close the room and expect the paint to dry. It won't.

Good results can not be had on an old surface unless it is put in proper condition to receive paint and the paint prepared and applied according to the condition of the surface.

Paint when struck with frost before it is dry wrinkles and loses its gloss.

Heavy dews on paint not dry also destroy the gloss.

There are certain times of the year when outside painting should not be done if satisfactory results are to be expected.

Do not paint too early in the spring, as the surface is very apt to be full of frost and moisture.

More complaints of peeling can be traced to early spring painting than to painting done at any other time of the year.

All paints and oils are much heavier in cold than in warm weather. If applied in a low temperature, there is apt to be too heavy a coating.

Painting should never be done in extremely hot weather.

Better and more uniform results can be obtained if the full amount of paint required for each coat is mixed at one time.

Prevent the paint from skinning over as much as possible by keeping the mixing keg covered when not in use. The formation of skin robs the paint of its drier.

Paint must be kept of a uniform consistency to give uniform results.


An excess of oil in the middle coat on new work and first coat on old work will retard the hardening and cause the finishing coat to flatten out, also very apt to cause blistering.