9 Tips to Control Your Paper at Home

Written by Barbara Myers


9 Tips to Control Your Paper at Home

1. To reduce paper piles at home, walk straight fromrepparttar mail box torepparttar 131059 trash can or recycling bin. Dispose ofrepparttar 131060 junk mail. Opening it wastes time. Just pitch it in.

2. Set up a file or basket for each member of your household. Sort mail, school papers to sign, reading materials and even notes to each other.

3. Allow newspapers to remain inrepparttar 131061 house only for a specific number of days. Atrepparttar 131062 end of that period (one to six days), dispose of them, read or not.

4. Tear interesting articles out of magazines to read later. Put them in a "to read" file or basket. Dispose ofrepparttar 131063 bulky magazine.

5. Make a home for any piece of paper that doesn't have one. Avoiding piles means making a decision, NOW, on each piece of paper.

Faux Painting Finishes

Written by Kathleen Wilson


Faux and Decorative Painting Sponge painting

Sponge painting is great because it is easy, fast, requires little paint and materials, and did I mention it was easy? It can be used on walls, furniture, and accessories, and can give instant facelift to dull objects.

Don’t let anyone convince you that you have to go buy an expensive sea sponge to do this. I’ve used plastic grocery bags, cloth diapers, even old clothing…(Ok, now it’s called ragging, same technique, more subtle look.) But you can use a plain old kitchen sponge, and here’srepparttar secret….tear away allrepparttar 131057 hard edges ofrepparttar 131058 sponge, even tear chunks fromrepparttar 131059 center to give it an irregular appearance.

Now choose your paint, and sponge! Remember to sponge sparingly at first, you can always add more later. Also, dabrepparttar 131060 paint off on your plate first, you only need a little paint onrepparttar 131061 sponge, or it will be too gloppy. Practice first on a paper bag, and remember to changerepparttar 131062 direction of your hand occasionally,repparttar 131063 idea is not to get a pattern going.

Try combining sponge painting with stenciling or decorative painting, tape off a border and use it just there, you can even sponge paint over glassware withrepparttar 131064 new glass paints available at your craft store.

Marbelizing

There is a very simple technique to marbleizing that is popular inrepparttar 131065 home decorating world today, and you won’t believe how easy it is until you try it. Simply choose two to four colors of paint withinrepparttar 131066 same color scheme, one light, one medium, one dark.

Using a regular paintbrush, diprepparttar 131067 brush into allrepparttar 131068 colors. Now simply pouncerepparttar 131069 paintbrush overrepparttar 131070 surface to get a mottled effect. It might help to keep a picture of a piece of marble nearby to refer to. Userepparttar 131071 different colors to add shading, or tone down an area you think is too bright. When finished withrepparttar 131072 surface, take a small artists liner brush, dip it into eitherrepparttar 131073 lightest or darkest color you used, (thin with a little water, if necessary) and paint veins by draggingrepparttar 131074 brush overrepparttar 131075 surface, wiggling it as you go. Don’t go overboard onrepparttar 131076 veining. Remember also to bringrepparttar 131077 veins overrepparttar 131078 edges for a realistic finish. I think sealing it with a gloss clearcoat or polyurethane givesrepparttar 131079 most authentic look of polished marble.

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