Colour Wheel
Eastern and western facing rooms have changing light. For an eastern window, the morning light is 'warm' and changes to a 'cold' light as the sun moves around the house. In westerns facing rooms, this is reversed with the 'cold' light in the ... [... more]
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See More Decorating Books.
Learn the different painting techniques for gloss and emulsion paint and for using brushes, rollers and paint pads. You'll also discover the best method for hanging wallpaper, including how to deal with corners and awkward spaces, as well as ... [... more]
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Colour
Ceiling seems too high Paint ceiling in a dark colour from warm half of the wheel - e.g. bright red. Dark cool colours (deep blue or green) can also be effective. Continue this colour partly down the walls to picture-rail height, possibly adding ... [... more]
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Preparing For Putting Up Cornice/Coving
Put up a string line between corner marks and use rule to check the distance along the line between line and corner to check for variation. With most coving, variations up to about 3 mm can be accommodated by the adhesive, but if the distance ... [... more]
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Paint Finishes,
Make sure the surface is clean and free of dust at each stage of the work: after burning off or rubbing down and before applying primer, undercoat and top coat. Clean the surface with a tacky (resin- impregnated) rag or a clean, lint-free one ... [... more]
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Preparing Surfaces For Ceramic Wall Tiles
Use a length of straight timber to check the surface to be tiled for dips and bumps - the flatter the area, the better. Hold the timber against the wall horizontally, vertically and diagonally to gauge the wall in all directions. Small dips can ... [... more]
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Downlights
Transformers for low voltage downlights come in different electrical sizes (sometimes referred to as 'so many va' - simply the total of volts multiplied by amps - and this is the same as watts) so a 100 va transformer can handle 5 x 20 watt low ... [... more]
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Grouting Wall Tiles
Work in areas of about one square metre (or sq yard) at a time, otherwise you may find that the grout becomes unworkable before you finish the filling and sponging. But having said that, keep moving onto new areas on a wall so that the whole wall ... [... more]
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Preparing Walls And Ceilings
However, vinyl, washable or wipeable wallpapers do need to be removed; if in doubt, try painting a small area and see how well it adheres after allowing it to dry. Removing wallpaper is described on our 'wallpaper stripping' page. Make sure that ... [... more]
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Painting Flush Wooden Doors
If the door surround is to be painted at the same time (it is often better to paint the door surround at the same time as the skirting board), start by painting above the door, then at the hinge side and finally the lock side of the door. Use a ... [... more]
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Advertising
Text adverts can be one or more lines long, the important thing is the number of characters, the standard is 25 characters - the link to the URL of your choice can be part or all of the text displayed. Text adverts are normally in the side bar ... [... more]
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Contact
This Web site is here to help you with do it yourself and household topics, and so that we are able to meet your needs, we welcome comments on any of our sections - carpentry, decorating, information, electrics, general building, outdoors and ... [... more]
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