What can you do to make the world more colourful?
Make your home more colourful:
The stool in the kitchen is now redressed. It looks more like a Mustang from the 70's. (Or Nemo?) The orange is the same as the kitchen table and the chairs.
I covered a stool in candy paper. Just glued it, and the three layers of water based laquer.
Our hall is renewed. I filled the old holes and hung the wall with a wall paper I have longed for during the last year. The wall paper is called Mambo Jambo, from InTrade. I put up three shoe shelves and a hanger from IKEA to fit a lot of shoes but not too many jackets. I want the wall paper to be seen. A paint bucket from Jotun is perfect for hats and gloves. The last of the wall paper is on the wardrobes in the hall.
I guess that it's a bad idea to show our room when it's not cleaned, but here it is with all christmas tree lights that we keep up all year.
Our living room is pimped. On one wall i hung wall papers on a twine. I hung christmas tree lights around two frames and between the twines.
The kitchen wall is repainted. I painted a shelf in the same colour as the stripe.
Because I work in a paint shop I have the wonderful luxury of being able to bring home old wallpaper catalogues that would otherwise have been thrown away. I match the nicest and glue them on my wardrobe doors with blu-tack. The wardrobes are painted and will not become ruined by the blu-tack. Easy to remove or exchange when you get bored of it.
I recently finished my kitchen table with a top made out of bottle cap mosaic. I got the idea from a restaurant called Koh Phangan on Bondegatan in Stockholm. The restaurant has (besides incredibly good Thai food and Christmas lighting everywhere) beer cap mosaic on the walls and in the bathrooms. The table has metal legs and a glass top to cover the caps. I glued the outer line of caps to frame everything, but left the rest loose. That way I can remake the design as I please. The table is painted and I managed to paint two picture frames while I was at it.
I discovered that I wasn't that fascinated by my table any longer, so I thought it was time to redo it. The same day I got a big bag of colourful caps from Therése. I exchanged the caps and the table is brand new!:
When my bottle cap table was done I used the rest of the caps on flower pots:
Collect candy paper and glue it on a boring frame or a flower pot. Use water based clear lacquer to seal it:
I was recently repainting my kitchen chairs and found a table cloth that I had inherited from my grandmother that matched very well. First I sanded down the old paint to get a smooth surface, then washed it with paint wash. I definitely recommend using water based paint, both for the sake of the painter and the environment; it also makes it much easier to clean the brushes afterwards:
Repaint furniture, walls, frames
Are you redecorating your home? Choose colourful wallpaper or paint the walls in bright colours. If you are going to do it, do it properly. There is no reason why you should paint all walls in your home white. Of course light is good for us too, but paint one wall turquoise and the other three white and you will notice how you associate it with warm water, sun and swimming. Better than just light, perhaps?
You can paint your wall in crazy, happy colours like this:
Put up posters with a lot of colour. On the one wall, use only one colour. Let all the paintings, pictures, postcards and posters follow the same colour scheme.
On my kitchen table I have collected random candle holders in similar colours. I have also taken two small tins, formerly filled with tomato puree, and made my own candle holders. By collecting things with the same or a similar colour you enhance the effect:
Paint your china and your drinking glasses. Panduro has colour that does not need more than a little fantasy and an oven.
Repaint your flowerpots. Using ordinary wall paint or hobby lacquer works just fine. Do not forget to continue painting it a couple of inches down on the inside. That way, when the soil covers the edge, it will look like it is painted inside and out.
Decorate the interior of your house with coloured christmas lighting all year around. If you only have white bulbs, exchange some of them for coloured ones.
Wallpaper your wardrobes. Are your wardrobes pre-lacqered/spray painted in the factory, then some extra work is required. Wash with paint wash, sand it down slightly and start with a base of paint wash. Are the wardrobes only painted, it is enough with a wash and primer to get a good hold.
Wallpaper boxes, containers and box files.
Spray paint your box files and the shoe boxes you keep old photos in.
Add colour to your house – doors, walls, ceilings, drainpipes, post box, window frames.
Bring home some flowers.
I have repainted my book shelves. They are ordinary Billy shelves from IKEA. With some paint wash and lacquer paint they came out as new:
I used to have all the books and things in my book shelves arranged according to colour:
