Michael Holigan: Welcome to Your New House. You know, it seems like every house has them. Big, open, white walls. And while they look fresh and new when you first move in, the question comes up, what am I going to do with these big, white walls?
Al Carrell: Get set for some really great ideas that will literally transform a room that has a big, boring, white wall. As a matter of fact, our whole show today is devoted to unique ideas that will make that room more inviting and more appealing.
M.H.: That's right. If you're looking for a way to give a room a whole new outlook on life, let's give your white wall a wake up call. On our first plain, white wall, we'll be using a technique called ragging on, which simply means you apply the paint with a rag. To use the ragging on method, buy a ragging mitt from your local design center. Expect to pay about $15. Simply dip your mitt into the paint, blot it on a sheet of cardboard or newspaper to remove the excess paint, and just apply the paint to the wall, rotating your wrist as you go to keep the pattern random. How many colors can you use on one wall?
Heather Mason: Probably as many as you want to. It's just kind of up to what your style of your house is, and what your intention of your final output is.
M.H.: What type of paint do you use for a wall?
H.M.: Today we used glazes. We used four parts glaze to one part latex paint. You can use latex paint, it tends to dry a little bit quicker, the glazes will stay wet a little bit longer and tend to blend a little bit better together.
M.H.: Because the glaze is more translucent than latex paint, you can blend them to obtain the exact look you want.
H.M.: We wanted to have a little bit of accent color, so it kind of blends together, and the black is very strong, and we didn't want quite such a strong accent, so we brought in a third of the black and two thirds of the gray side by side and stuck the mitt in.
M.H.: If you make a mistake, or one area is darker than the other, simply go back over with more paint. It's an easy way to dress up that plain wall with only a couple of cans of paint and glaze. If you don't have a mitt, you can just use an old household rag. It will give your room a totally different look, it can be done in just a few hours, and will cost less than $50 for a standard wall. Maybe a full wall of color is not what you want. One hot trend that is sweeping the country is the move toward stenciling or applying patterns to your wall. One of the applications is called design press.
H.M.: You're going to start with your palette, which we're just going to use a Styrofoam plate, and you don't need that much paint, because it will dry as you're moving along. Okay, we've got brown, some tan, some pearl, and what you want to do, and here's your brush.
M.H.: Okay.
H.M.: And I'll give you your own press to work with me.
M.H.: All right.
H.M.: We're going to take our palette and just use dirty brushes, we'll just move from color to color. You just simply brush the paint right on to your piece.
M.H.: One thing you should do first is practice your pressing on poster board before you try the walls. Looks great, let's go to the wall.
H.M.: All right.
M.H.: Because leaves grow in every direction, you can design your own pattern as you go along. The design press patterns only cost between $15 and $25. So it is an inexpensive way to change your wall. You can also use your design presses on furniture, T-shirts, or whatever you would normally paint. This could be an afternoon project, or a weekend project, depending on how many patterns you apply.
H.M.: Right in here we've got a real deep crater, just where the texture of the wall is. We're going to add just a simple little highlight right up in the burgundy areas. And I'm just tapping it in and then I just tap it in with my finger.
M.H.: Now that we've pressed enough leaves, how do we add our vines?
H.M.: Well, we're just going to use our markers. We're going to pull it in, it's a brush marker, so if you want a wide line you just do it more on the side, and just pull it around where ever you're seeing the leaves, where they connect, just, you know, you're going to just do your little squiggles.
M.H.: Just sort of a connect the dot kind of thing?
H.M.: Uh-huh. You want to pull all these little leaves into the big vine and then you may want to make your big vine a little bit thicker. And you're just going to pull that out that way.
M.H.: There's really no right or wrong way to wake up your white walls. With just a little paint, some inexpensive tools and a whole lot of your own personality, your white walls are bound to be transformed into works of art. Now coming up later, more ways to wake up your white walls.
Episode 31 1996 - 97 Season
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