Tips,Tricks and Special Effects

Make your child's room truly uniqe with some of these creative ideas from Resene!

Super stencils

Add your favourite pictures, designs or shapes to the walls and create themed walls in next to no time. Here's how...

  1. Find or make the stencil you want to use. Stencil pictures can be downloaded here, traced onto light cardboard and cut out to get you started. Tape the stencil to the wall using low tack masking tape.  

2. Once you've got your stencil, dip your brush into your chosen paint colour. Dab the brush on a paper towel to get rid of any extra paint then place your brush at the edge of the stencil opening and apply the paint by dabbing the surface lightly or moving the brush in a circular motion.
  3. Repeat step two until you get the colour intensity you desire.
 

You can also stencil using a roller. Instead of step 2 and 3 above...

  2.  Get a small roller, moisten it with water and squeeze it between paper towels to dry the excess water off leaving a very slightly damp roller.  
  3. Put a small amount of the paint colour you plan to use on a paper plate or in a flat bottomed low-sided container. Roll the roller through the paint and then onto a clean part of the plate or container (or use a separate sheet of paper) to ensure the paint is distributed evenly on the roller. Roll back and forwards across the cut-out area of the stencil. Make sure you roll in several different directions to get the best coverage.
 

Create clouds
Clouds can be a very relaxing finish to any room, making it seem airy and giving something to look at when stuck in bed during the day. To create a cloudy sky, apply a base colour of blue to the full ceiling area and allow to dry. Then use a sponge to lightly apply the white clouds. Dip the sponge in the white paint, then dab onto paper to remove excess paint before applying the sponge to the ceiling. Just add a few clouds at the start and allow to dry - you can always add more clouds later, but it will be much harder to take them away!

See stripes
Stripes can be a neat effect for a room, allowing you to use two (or even more) favourite colours all over the room. 
Paint one colour over the complete area where you wish to create stripes and allow to dry. To create stripes, place low tack masking tape along the edge where you want the stripe to go. Make sure the tape is well pushed down on the edges otherwise the paint will creep underneath it. The best idea is to buy tape that is the same width as the stripes you want to create, as this will make your job easier. Apply as many pieces of tape as you want to create stripes.

Paint the second colour over the exposed area and onto the taped area. Carefully remove the tape before the paint dries.

If you wish to paint wider stripes and can't find wide enough tape, simply place tape down either side of the area where you wish to create stripes and then paint between the two pieces of tape and just slightly onto the taped area. Be careful not to paint beyond the tape. Carefully remove the tape before the paint dries.

Keep busy
Keep little hands busy with Resene arts and crafts activities. Try out the Resene Art Action art & poster, student acrylic and tempera paint range, ideal for kids of all ages. 

Or check out  some of Resene's kids art project ideas  for a fun range of art projects perfect for children. Create pet rocks, personalised covers, colourful wrapping paper and more. 

Try out Resene EzyPaint virtual painting or download your favourite testpot character free. Get testpots of your favourite colours and use them to paint your favourite testpot characters - if you make a mistake you can always print out a new page and start again!

Have fun creating your own colour on any computer - simply visit the create colour section and adjust the red, green and blue values and you can create your very own colour. Print it out on a colour printer and take it into any Resene ColorShop or Reseller for colour matching.
  
Keep safe
Resene have a range of information on the hazards involved in redecorating, including the risks of lead-based paint and solvent odours and how you can minimise these risks when undertaking your next project. For safety tips, see here .

Simply magic
Resene Magnetic Magic is a magnetic base coating that will turn walls into magnetic boards suitable for use with a wide range of magnets. With double the 'attraction' of existing magnetic coatings, this product is loaded with iron oxides for maximum magnetic effect.

Chalk artist
Resene Blackboard Paint is a premium scrubbable 100% acrylic coating for all types of interior and exterior smooth surfaces where a hardwearing blackboard coating is required. It is easy to apply - in fact the hardest paint is keeping would-be chalk artists away long enough to give the paint time to dry before they start covering it up with chalk!

Pixie power
Resene Pixie Dust is an acrylic glitter glaze, a new rainbow twist on existing special effects, making it ideal for feature areas where you want something a little special, a little intriguing and definitely a little of out the ordinary. Perfect when a little space dust or fairy dust is needed. Simply select your basecoat colour, apply as per normal and then apply Resene Pixie Dust as required to create the rainbow shimmer effect. The basecoat colour will show through the Resene Pixie Dust topcoat giving you a very cool shimmer effect over your favourite colour. The most glittering results will be seen over dark and complex hues as these provide the greatest contrast to the shimmering pigments.  

Shimmer space
Similar to Resene Pixie Dust, Resene Pearl Shimmer is an acrylic pearlescent glaze ideal for creating sparkled features. Either apply direct to existing painted areas for a shimmer finish or get your local Resene ColorShop or Reseller staff to add a touch of tinter and create unique two tone effects of solid colour with a shimmery colour topcoat.

Get crackled

Create cool cracked finishes - pick your favourite colours and paint one onto the surface. Allow to dry, paint a coat of Resene Crackle Effect then leave to dry. Apply your second favourite colour and stand back and watch while the Resene Crackle Effect shrinks and cracks to reveal the first colour. Seriously cool!