Faux brickwork is one of the simplest finishes. It is effective indoors and out and can make a dull concrete floor or plain wall into an attractive feature. Many retailers sell reusable brick stencils that make creating a faux brick effect easy and fast for novices and more experienced decorators alike.

Brick Finishes

Brick finishes can complement many styles of decor. They can look trendy and modern, adding warmth and color to a room. Old brickwork has a soft and time-worn quality that is attractive indoors and out. In the garden or on the patio, plain walling or an ugly concrete slab floor can be transformed into an appealing feature of your living space.

Using brick stencils is useful if you want to extend existing brickwork without the effort, expense and mess of actual construction. (And you may not be able to find bricks that match.) Brick stenciling is also an alternative to restoring existing brickwork. Brickwork that has been damaged or previously painted is notoriously difficult to restore but can be rejuvenated with clever use of paint.

Brick Stencils: For and Against

Grape and grapevine motifs stenciled onto walls are a feature of the popular Tuscan style in home decor but can also be an attractive complement to other styles that embrace an old world look. Stencils today come in a wide variety of designs and are reusable. A grape or vine leaf motif could be just the thing to finish off your kitchen decor. If you like relaxing with a glass of wine on your patio, grapes and vine leaves might be the perfect image to choose.

Applying Stencil Motifs

The grapevine motif is ideal for borders that run all around a room and can add a unique finishing touch to your room. Depending on the room, you could use a grapevine motif high up, at picture rail or cornice level. They can also be applied above a skirting board or halfway up a wall, like a dado rail.

You could also consider stenciling your grape motif around features of a room, either because they are too plain or need jazzing up or as a way of directing attention to attractive features. If you have a wine rack, you could highlight it with a grape or vine surround.

The warm, old world look of traditional homes in Tuscany has inspired a popular style of home decor. Stenciled motifs that evoke rural Italy provide charming finishing detail to a room decorated in the Tuscan style.

Whatever room you are seeking to make over, Tuscan-style wall motifs can be wonderfully effective. Kitchens, living rooms and outdoor spaces can all be enhanced with stenciled Tuscan motifs. Their soft, old world look can also look good in bedrooms and even bathrooms.

Contemporary Tuscan-style decor takes its cue from the dwellings of ordinary country dwellers. Tuscan wall decorations are reminiscent of folk art and have a charming home-made quality. They served a similar purpose to wallpaper and included borders, individual motifs and sometimes entire vistas.

Stencils for the Tuscan Look

Traditional motifs in Tuscan mural decoration are inspired by the natural world and the landscapes of the Mediterranean. Olive groves and vineyards may come to mind if you think of the environment of this region. The subtle gray-green of the olive branch motif is typical of the colors that characterize the palette of Tuscan-style decor.

The Tuscan style is popular with home decorators and professional designers alike. Tuscan motifs, used as borders and accents, add the finishing touches to a Tuscan-style room and are easily accomplished using stencils.

Tuscan wall details create a look that is both old world and elegant. Stenciled Tuscan motifs are versatile and are effective in kitchens, dining rooms, living rooms and patios. They can also add unique charm to bedrooms and bathrooms.

Contemporary Tuscan-style decor takes its cue from the dwellings of ordinary country dwellers. Tuscan wall decorations are reminiscent of folk art and have a charming home-made quality. They served a similar purpose to wallpaper and included borders, individual motifs and sometimes entire vistas.

Stencils for the Tuscan Look

Traditional motifs in Tuscan mural decoration are inspired by the natural world and the landscapes of the Mediterranean. Olive groves and vineyards may come to mind if you think of the environment of this region. The subtle gray-green of the olive branch motif is typical of the colors that characterize the palette of Tuscan-style decor.

If you want to give your master bedroom an exotic makeover, paint and color are important tools to achieve your aim. Unfortunately, just painting it red will not turn it into a sensual love nest. Though color is key to creating mood, the ambiance of a room also depends on furnishings, lighting and architecture, not color alone.

Although some decor styles work with different colors, others work with a particular palette. For example, the cozy Tuscan look depends on earthy colors. Substitutions wouldn’t work. Minimalist architecture eschews boldness and noise in favor of neutral colors, uncluttered lines and simple forms. Particular styles invite particular color schemes. Ignoring this can defeat your efforts to create atmosphere with a paint makeover.

Your furniture and decor style may give you inspiration for an appropriate color scheme. Taking your lead from your room instead of trying to make a room fit a color scheme is the sensible route. That doesn’t mean you have to be timid, but breaking the rules of good interior design can produce a jarring effect that is antithetical to ambiance. A color wheel can help you choose contrasting and complementary colors.

Its easy to recognize why vinyl lettering is being utilized so much in home dcor as of late. It offers some very inexpensive options for decorating, and is fully customizable, and is fast to apply. No matter your budget, or your taste in dcor, vinyl lettering offers something for nearly everyone.

While its true that years ago vinyl lettering was primarily used for industrial purposes such as business signage, vehicle wraps, and storefront signage, in the last few years its been available via online retailers for use in home dcor. Many online retailers provide specialized vinyl lettering kits that are moderately adhesive, specifically designed to stick to the walls of your home ” giving you a hand-painted stenciled look without the mess or permanence of paint. Once youve utilized decorative vinyl lettering for home dcor, its simple to see why its one of the fastest growing trends in interior design. Its versatility, price, and ease of use has made it possible for the massed to achieve a look and design that has traditionally been reserved for those with enough money to hire an artist to hand paint the lettering. For those desiring to create a custom painted look without the expense involved in painting ” Your ideal medium has arrived. There are just so many things you can do with vinyl lettering to decorate your home. Lets explore a few of these options.

For painting murals and creating faux finishes on walls, some understanding of paints and their properties and possibilities is essential if you don’t want to make ugly and potentially costly mistakes. If in doubt, you should be able to get good advice from your paint retailer or hardware store.

* Creating murals isn’t just about applying your design. It starts with preparation of your wall surface. You’ll need a special sealer for fresh plaster or concrete and any holes or cracks that you’ve filled will also need sealing before painting over. Once you’ve completed your mural you may need to protect it with a clear glaze that will also give it a shiny finish.

* Make sure that your paint is designed for your purpose, whether that is use inside or outside. Think about the wear it will be subjected to. Murals in kitchens and bathrooms will require a steam and/or water-resistant paint. Don’t be tempted to cut corners and buy cheap, low quality paint.

Walls indoor and out can be given a new look with a painted mural, even if you’re not a skilled artist. Plain outdoor walls, living rooms and kid’s rooms are all ideal places to create murals. You will need to plan carefully and perhaps practice a bit before you start, but with the help of products you can buy today, almost anyone can create a striking mural painting.

Ideas for Murals

Whatever you like to see can become a mural! Landscapes are a popular choice for covering large areas of wall. It could be an enchanted forest for a child’s room or a peaceful vista in a living room. Trompe l’oeil paintings (paintings that deceive the eye into thinking that the image is real) are also popular – for example, faux picture windows that seem to open onto a rural scene, a seascape or even a cityscape.

You can also use murals as the equivalent of hanging pictures. You can choose motifs that match your decor and the architectural style of your home. The old-world look of Tuscany is created partly by the use of painted murals, including views of vineyards and olive groves and decorative grape and foliage motifs.

Amongst the paint finishes used to create an antique or weathered look, the Tuscan finish is extremely popular. It is typically achieved using faux painting techniques, especially color washing, to create the illusion of texture and age. The look can also be recreated by introducing actual texture, with Venetian plastering, for example. Faux finishes that create the appearance of texture on a flat surface are a practical and economical choice for decorators seeking the atmosphere of Italy. As well as texture, the right color palette is also of paramount importance in the Tuscan look.

The Tuscan Look

Tuscan finishes evoke the sunny charm of Italian country villages, simple peasant lifestyles and cozy homes that have been lived in for generations. Central to the look are subtle colors softened with age. The Tuscan homes on which the finish is modeled have an organic feel. Without industrially produced paints and plasters, builders used local materials, mixing their materials in the same way as their fathers and forefathers.

Decorative details are typically stenciled onto walls as borders and have a home-grown, folk-art quality. Tiles and mosaics in complementary colors are also used. The versatile Tuscan paint finish is well-suited to informal living areas, dining rooms, kitchens and patios but can also be effective in more formal rooms.

To add a feeling of infinite space to a room, create a sky on your ceiling. You could go for a dreamy blue vista with softly scudding clouds or even a night sky, complete with the constellation of your choice that will twinkle above you when you drift off to sleep at night.

Step 1: The Sky View for You

Your skyscape will depend on where you want it. You can create an impression of a sky-covered room in different ways. To create height and airiness in a living room you might want to use trompe l’oeil painting, creating a faux skylight on the ceiling that reveals sunny sky and wisps of cloud. A more labor-intensive and more ambitious project involves painting an entire ceiling. You don’t have to stop at the edge of the ceiling and extending it onto your vertical walls can enhance the illusion.

Step 2: Select a Painting Method.