Create Your Own Personal Style!
What does a Navajo blanket have in common with English blue-and-white china, or a 1940s electric fan with a farmer's best straw hat? The connection is one made by homeowners who use history and culture for the essence of their own personal style. Whether it’s the style of cowboy collectibles or old French paperbacks, personal style is about boldly expressing your passions. Inspiration may come from anywhere such as culture, surrounding landscape, or your own memories. A coastal retreat can become a sea born yacht, a sun-drenched Tucson home, a Manhattan loft, or a chateau in Paris. The look is fashionable and flexible, relying more on accessories than architecture. With the turning seasons, fabrics can be changed from floral cottons to wool plaids, and centerpieces from wildflowers to dried grasses. Souvenirs from travels can be mixed with treasured family heirlooms and inexpensive flea market finds. Personal style rethinks castaway objects. Add a drawer to a folding tray table for use as a desk, or drape vintage hand towels as cafe curtains. Collections may abound, but imagination and a strong sense of what your likes are is what creates an artful display showing your own personal style. Like different actors bringing their life experiences to the same role, this seemingly eclectic style brings together strong personalities reflecting on time-honored traditions. There's a yin and yang to this new personal style, meaning that rustic and opulent can stand side by side. Here are a few ways to achieve that mix. Paint can transform flea-market finds and unfinished buys into fashion furnishings. You can also revive dated furniture with fresh colors and themes that reflect your personal style. Smart decorators are turning to painted furniture to transform rooms. Painted furniture is not only stylish and fun, but also affordable. With a few cans of paint and a little practice, you can give slightly tired furniture a new life. And budget-friendly unfinished furniture can grace the most fashionable settings. A piece or two adds charm and personality to any setting, and a room brimming with painted pieces is a classic personal style statement. As you update and energize your furniture with paint and details, you'll discover this decorator secret, every paint-able piece has potential. Enjoy your collections even more by combining them with painted furniture pieces. Whether your passion is for pottery, porcelain, or fabrics, use these motifs and colors in inspired hand painted creations. If you prefer not to hand-paint, echo the colors of your favorite collectibles in the shades and simple painting techniques that you choose for your furniture. Detail the furniture with contrasting colors, and use stenciled or stamped motifs that coordinate with your collection. Painted furniture is especially appealing in bedrooms, the most personal of spaces. A romantic white-on-white theme is both sophisticated and easy to create with varying shades of white paint. Conceal your television and other electronic equipment while creating a decorative focal point with a painted armoire or wardrobe. Such storage pieces are good buys as unfinished furniture. Unlike vintage finds, new armoires are often sized to hold contemporary electronic equipment. Always measure your television and other equipment, then measure new or vintage pieces to ensure adequate interior space before buying. Nurseries and children's bedrooms lend themselves to charm and fancy, which are created easily with painted furniture. Expand your child's horizons with a room inspired by cultures near and far. Rather than focusing strictly on one theme or country, create a backdrop for motifs, colors, and furnishings of diverse countries and continents. As a starting point, think about what countries and cultures are of particular interest to your child, perhaps those found in your family heritage, or a favorite school geography project. As you search for fun and fresh starting points to decorate a girl's room, examine your sewing box for ideas. Instead of focusing on a specific motif or theme, consider trims and embellishments that could spark your imagination and color palette. Help them to create their own personal style. Paint, preparation, and practice are all it takes to accomplish these wonders. Best of all, projects can be as quick and easy or as intricate and creative as you want. You can accomplish chic projects with variations of one color or the simplest decorative painting techniques such as sponging or ragging. You can use fashionable color blocks, such as painting a piece or several pieces in different colors to add your own personal style. Look for existing furnishings that can be updated with paint, hardware, and detailing. When you use vintage pieces, make sure they are in good repair. If the piece has been previously painted, you can sand and repaint in most cases without stripping off old paint. You can also clean up and freshen previously antiqued furniture without having to strip it and start over. In general, furniture requires sanding, wiping with tack cloths or clean damp cloths to remove the dust, and priming to seal the finish. These simple steps ensure clean, paint-ready surfaces for the base coats and topcoats. Some projects, however, incorporate the charm of the natural wood or previously stained wood for variations of the popular aged or antiqued effect. In those cases, directions may omit the primer. Proper surface preparation is still imperative for success. You may prefer to have your paint custom-mixed at your favorite paint store or to use brands that you are familiar with to create the color schemes of your choice. The type of paint and the finish, such as satin-finish interior latex or artist's acrylic, are important. Exterior latex paint is used for some of the porch projects, for example, because of durability. Paint formulation and finish will affect the appearance and longevity of your projects. Note that some projects may require a recommended sealant, such as non-yellowing, water-based polyurethane, or artist-tested sealer for satisfactory results. Whether you use primer, sealant, or paint only, it's extremely important to allow complete drying between coats. For best results, paint in thin coats and never rush drying times. When using spray paints or sealants, always work in a well-ventilated area with lots of fresh air. Shop at crafts and art supply stores as well as home centers and paint stores for the specialty items needed for these projects. To make your project go as smoothly as possible, have the following essentials on hand. * Water or oil-based primer * Fine and medium grit sandpaper * Steel wool in various densities * Tack cloths and clean, lint-free cotton rags * Painter's tape and low-tack adhesive tape * No. 2 lead pencil * Scissors * Carbon, Kraft, and tracing paper * Level ruler combination * Straight edge and tape measure * Stencil plastic and stencil brush * Craft knife and extra blades * Cutting board or cutting mat * Disposable foam plates and cups * Repositionable spray adhesive * 1 and 2 inch paintbrushes * Assorted foam paintbrushes * Plastic mixing bucket and containers * Clear, matte-finish spray sealant * Painter's drop cloth * White chalk * Cellulose sponge * Portable hair dryer Go ahead and let your imagination run free. Remember, this is your personal style and no one elses!!
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