HOME IMPROVEMENT

Many homes across the country offer beautiful and intricate examples of period design. Unfortunately, these treasures are often hidden away during “renovation work” when home owners opt for the seemingly “simple” task of painting over the existing feature rather than stripping it back to the original piece.

When it comes to stripping paint and varnishes, there are a myriad of paint stripping products and theories including the use of breakfast porridge. One of the most effective paint and varnish stripping systems on the market is by ‘Peel Away’. While ‘Peelaway 7‘ is more suitable for the removal of modern varnishes and paints, ‘Peelaway 1‘ provides the heavy artillery for surfaces that have up to 30 coats of old lead and other heavy metal based paint products.

Application of Peelaway is quick and easy which is more than can be said for the porridge alternative.

Both Peelaway paint & varnish strippers are supplied as a kit with a special blanket that covers the application and provides a clean, safe and mess free way of containing the stripper and removed products. Scrapers are provided within the kit and Peelaway 1 comes with a product neutraliser.

After testing on new and older paints, it’s clear to see that although porridge has a reputation for being good for the digestive and circulatory systems, it’s clearly not as effective for tackling layers of paint or varnish.

If you’ve always wanted to have a go at restoring a period piece of furniture or a fixture in the home, but have been wary of the sandpaper and scraper approach, ‘Peel Away’ offers the perfect solution. Depending on the type and age of varnish or paint involved, Peel Away paint and varnish removal systems can help to restore metal fireplaces, plaster mouldings, wooden furniture and fixtures to their original detailed glory.

More recently, however, decorative elements for a home – indoors or out – have become more readily available. Many of these decorative concrete ideas used to be reserved for the more expensive homes or exclusive estates. Today, the use of decorative concrete to duplicate these types of artistic decorations is cropping up everywhere.

For instance, 30 years ago, if you wanted a fireplace set into a wall of flagstone rock, the rock had to be brought in and set. If the wall was 12 feet high by 6 feet wide, it involved a lot of flagstone. Today, decorative concrete can be used in conjunction with hand carving to create a wall that looks the same, but at a better price, custom look and feel and a fast and long-lasting process.

You can also learn to do this yourself from professionals who present various workshops through a number of decorative concrete suppliers throughout the country, or you can hire an experienced professional to do some or all of the job for you.

Home being a place where a person spends most of his time and it being the place where a person comes back after a hard day’s work, should be beautifully done. Because of long working hours and buy schedules, people do not have the time to do their own houses. That’s when you want to hire the services of an decorator. Decorator will do the research and homework for you. Before hiring Decorator, it is wise to plan out what exactly you expect from the interior decorator regarding your project and what do you want the interior decorator to do for you.

If you don’t know your style, take help of decorating books, magazines and home catalogs that give an idea of the things you like. It may be candlesticks from one picture, a mat from another picture, the clock in another, and so on. This will give the interior decorator an eye to what you are looking for in your house.

It is important to inform your decorator what the project room is going to be used for. If you have pets, let the decorator know that you have pets. This will help in deciding the type of fabrics used, especially if your pets normally have free access of your home. A good interior decorator will always help to create your color and design scheme by showing you fabric and paint samples, and suggesting surface solutions such as flooring.