Many people are often faced with the design dilemma of changing the look of an entire room without blowing the budget. This means that in effect, major changes in furniture, structural renovations to the home, and any other major overhaul, are out of the question.

However, if there’s one thing that do-it-yourselfers and professional designers agree on, it’s the capacity of fabric in various textures and colors to bring life to a room. Fabric, when incorporated properly, can define the theme for the season or the mood of the room, and can bring life to even the dullest spaces.

Here are some fabulous ideas to incorporate fabric in different places in the home—

Window Treatments

A window positioned anywhere in a room provides a dramatic statement, a focal point, or may even provide an opportunity to bring the outdoors inside the room. With window treatments, fabrics may be used in curtains and window valances.

In order to provide a dramatic statement in a room via the window treatment, you can make use of two extreme types of fabrics—either heavy, rich-colored fabrics, or sheer draperies: or possibly a combination of both. Heavy, rich-colored fabrics make a dramatic statement with their strong colors and eye-catching patterns (like damasks, flower prints, stripes, etc.). Sheer draperies, on the other hand, bring a light, sunny feeling to the room by letting in just enough sunlight, yet allowing for a light and flirty curtain solution.

Used together, putting sheers behind the heavy fabric draperies, provides texture and color contrast. The heavy fabric draperies may be opened in the morning with the use of trimmings and tassels, allowing for sunlight to come through the sheer draperies. To create a more formal feeling, some of the heavy fabric draperies may be incorporated into a window valance.

The Sitting Area

In rooms like the living room and the dining area, the sitting area comprises much of the space. This means that most of the design that can be incorporated into the room must come from the sitting area, if it is to make a visual impact.

For the living room, fabrics are the best solutions to provide either temporary or permanent overhauls for the sofa or couch. Sofas that are badly stained or worn may be taken to a shop for re-upholstery. When re-upholstering the furniture, the extent of damage equates to the amount of repair that the sofa will undergo—some may only need a small amount of repair while others need major repair: such as the foam completely changed or complete over-haul. Re-upholstery entails the permanent change of the outer skin or covering of the sofa using new fabric or a covering material such as faux leather. When choosing the fabric for re-upholstering, choose one that will blend in with various color schemes, as re-upholstery is permanent in nature.

For temporary punches of life, color, or even design themes, slipcovers are the better choice. Slipcovers are available ready-made in department stores, or you may have them custom-made especially for your sofa to assure a snug-fit. Slipcovers will allow for seasonal color changes of the room, and even for mixing and matching the sofa with other furniture or accessories to better suit the décor of the room.

For the dining area, the dining chairs or stools may be fitted with covers and skirts for a more decorative effect or to better continue a color scheme in the room.

Tables Around the House

Fabric table covers serve two important purposes – they bring colors, patterns, and excitement to a room’s design, and protect the table from water or other corrosive materials that come in contact with it. When using fabrics on tables, you may experiment with various lengths - using long fabrics to cover the entire table for a formal effect, shorter fabric to fit the table top exactly to allow for storage under the table, or as a long, thin, table runner to bring drama to a table and emphasis to the table décor.

Fabric is used in these various scenarios is, primarily, to bring color or color themes into the room. The use of fabrics by themselves or in color and pattern combinations allows you to mix and match as you wish. The same colors used over and over again in a room poses no threat when working with fabric, because with fabric, you may use the same color in various shades, patterns, and fabric textures to avoid monotony.

Depending on its use, fabrics can bring unique moods to a room. Heavy, rich-colored and textured fabrics usually bring a more formal, ornate feel to a room, while sheer fabrics used in windows, made to hang over bare walls, or even just thrown over the back of a couch or an ottoman bring a fun, flirty feel to a room.

Used properly, fabrics achieve design changes at a cheaper price and with less effort. Fabrics take the place of added accessories and furniture, create as much impact as a new coat of paint or wallpaper, and allow for versatility of design by mixing and matching, and temporary solutions such as slipcovers at a fraction of the cost of permanent changes.

Many design solutions are made available to consumers in department stores as ready-made answers to design dilemmas. These design solutions though made to make life easier and simpler, at times do not fulfill even the least of our expectations. Sometimes, the greatest fulfillment comes in exploring our own creative tendencies in order to arrive at the answers ourselves.

Walls are one of the biggest challenges - both figuratively and literally - that everyone has to face when designing a room. A huge blank wall may seem daunting, but many brave souls have achieved and conquered, and they aren’t all professionals, they are do-it-yourselfers!

This article will help you create a work of art on your wall that is both beautiful and reflective of who you are.

Murals - both done in freehand or by using stencils - are an ingenious way to solve wall dilemmas. These are great ways to add personality to the wall and at the same time satisfy all of the color requirements or designs you wish to achieve.

Let’s Begin with an Idea

Murals whether done in freehand or stencils must begin with an end in mind. This means finding the design you want to incorporate, the theme you want to portray, and the colors you want to use to create a working roadmap.

Take into consideration the room you are going to put the mural in, as well as the person or persons who will be the primary users of the room. This will help you visualize the saturation of colors that can be used, the kind of colors, as well as the freedom of design.

A theme is a good way to create this roadmap. For children’s rooms, for example, you may use a jungle theme, which will allow the use of varying shades of greens, browns, as well as the tropical hues of the jungle animals; or a beach theme, which will entail the use of blues and light browns reflective of the sand and the sun.

Looking for Designs to Make the Ideas Real

To portray life, you can opt to go to bookstores and look for pieces on stencils and stencil works. Many books have been written on stencils to assist people who want to use stencils when decorating a room. Some of them even include stencil samples per se, which makes life much simpler. If you intend to use stencils that are available in the store or free found in free books, make sure that these are appropriate for the size of the room and the wall where you will use them.

Should the design(s) you want to work with not be available as stencil plates in the art shops or in books, all you need to create your own stencil is a thin plastic strip or acetate film. Draw the design you want on this plastic film in the scale you need, and carefully cut the design out. The pieces you cut out, you may discard; the plate from which you cut the design becomes the stencil you’d create your design.

Making the Design Your Own

At times, you may find no design or scale that fits your purpose. When this happens draw your design on a piece of paper: include the various shades of color you want to incorporate. This will later serve as your guide as you work on your wall

Make a copy of your original design in black and white making sure that the detail is quite clear. Take this to a photocopy center where they can print the copy on a transparency. Again make sure the detail and nuances are evident.

Once you get home, return to your wall with an overhead projector and flash the transparency onto your wall. You now have a template of the design you want on your wall. Position the projector nearer the wall to make the design appear smaller, and farther away to achieve the opposite effect.

You may opt to trace the projected image on the wall with a pencil, or just flash the image on the wall when painting.

Getting Ready to Paint and Stencil

Make sure you have the right materials for stenciling and painting your walls. Acquire a stencil brush that is used specifically for stenciling, or a paint brush that is in the same width as the stripes, lines, or designs you want to incorporate in your design.

Purchase a water-resistant adhesive tape, which you can use to attach and secure the stencil plate to the wall while painting. Water-resistant adhesive tape may also be used to protect areas you don’t want to paint, as well woodwork, glass, etc.

The grandiose appearance of a mural on the wall, especially in a design that’s truly your own, is a reward in itself. Include your family or friends as you work to bring more personality to the work, as well as to avoid getting over tired when working by yourself. Don’t be afraid to use the mistakes made when painting and stenciling as a basis for better designs; some mistakes may be repaired or enhanced to create beautiful designs.

Ever seen a wall finish that is so artistic but it doesn’t look like wallpaper or regular paint? If so, it might just be a faux finish.

Faux finishes are the latest craze in home improvement. Faux finish can be applied to any type of surface including dry wall, metal, glass, ceramic, wood, etc. The preparation for each type of surface varies.

A faux finish lasts longer than wallpaper. Since it is not paper-based, it will never peel off. It can be coated with polyurethane that is available in satin, matte, or semi-gloss for a longer lasting appeal.

There are different techniques that can be done with faux finishing. The condition of the surface to which it will be applied determines the best technique to use to hide any imperfections. With the different techniques possible with faux finishes, a small room can appear larger and more spacious, or a larger room can become cozier.

Faux Finishing Basics

As with any other paint project, the surface to be painted should be well prepared for the work to obtain a long lasting finish. Almost any paint can be applied to any type of surface and be long lasting, only with proper preparation of the surface.

How do you prepare a surface for painting? Simple, just make sure that the surface is well cleaned. Interior surfaces should be cleaned and washed with soap and water: if there is mold or mildew, use a mild bleach solution to get rid of them. For exterior surfaces, some scrubbing with a bristle brush may be required.

Once the surface preparation is done and the surface dried, you can start with the project. There are no rules to follow in doing faux finishes. You have the freedom to do what you to create the desired appearance. There are different techniques that can be applied and instructions available to help you with your first project.

Before you start, you should have all of the necessary tools. The common tools that you will need are the primer, glaze, coating, brushes, rollers, paint tray, water bucket, gloves, rags, soap, water, and technique-specific materials such as a sponge, feather, and wood-graining tools.

Color is also one major consideration in faux finishes. Since you can be as artistic as you would like to get attain the desired effect, you may want to try color blending or other combinations. If decide to try this, make you use only colors within the same color group. You can probably use the same base color with different shades. This will be more pleasing to the eye than combining with contrasting colors.

Before you start applying the finish to the surface itself - experiment first by using a small piece of wood or a scrap of the same surface that you will be placing the finish on. By experimenting, you will be able to see how it will look and decide whether to continue with that finish or try a different one.

There are several techniques that may be done when faux finishing. Here are some examples of the different techniques:

- Color blocking – this is when there are different shades of a base color shaped as big blocks; this technique is ideal for nursery rooms.

- Smooshing – this is a simple marble effect, something like moiré wallpaper.

- Stripe – this uses different variations and shades of one color for a soft effect.

- Shadow Striping – if a striped tone-on-tone technique to make an elegant wall finish.

- Terracotta tile – a durable alternative to terracotta tiles; and only a fraction of the cost of the real thing.

- Fresco – is used for a mottled, parchment look.

- Copper patina –is ideal for kitchen surfaces because it provides a rich texture from the old country.

- Golden glaze – has a soft texture that adds a glimmering touch to a room.

Faux finishes are indeed hot! You have the freedom to choose the design you want by applying your creativity and imagination for a desirable effect. So rather than having just a plain painted wall, why not try this artistic faux finish which also lasts for a long period of time just like a normal paint. It’s faux, it’s practical, its nice!