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Changing the look and feel of your environment can be as simple as changing the color of your walls. The most obvious, basic way to open up a small space is to choose light and bright colors such as creamy tones, icy blues or pale greens. Deeper, warm shades such as mauve, red, navy or brown can create a cozy, intimate feel to a room. If you're really looking for a dramatic change you must go beyond merely painting the walls and consider the options of using painting techniques to enhance your overall room decor.

A popular and attractive idea for those with a little creativity and an artistic bend is stenciling. Stenciling is an easy and relatively inexpensive painting method that involves using templates with interesting designs cut out of them. The stencil is applied to the wall and the cutout area is painted. When the stencil is removed, the shape of the design is painted on the wall. Stencils come in an almost limitless number of patterns from very basic to multi-layered, intricate designs. If you are so inclined, you can even design your own and create pictures or borders on any wall.

Another easy to apply technique often used in painting a room is sponge painting. With a sea sponge and a tray of paint in the color of your choice, you are ready to sponge the paint onto the wall in random fashion or according to some preconceived pattern. The technique here is one of dabbing, not brushing or rubbing. You can use paint the same color as the wall to create a textured effect or use a color that contrasts with the wall to create an interesting look.

Stippling is another interesting technique used to create a gritty, sandy looking effect on the wall. This technique requires a special brush known, not surprisingly, as a stippling brush. A base coat of paint is applied to the wall. After it dries thoroughly, a second coat of paint or glaze is applied and the stippling brush is used to create the sand-like pits and streaks.

A faux painting technique similar to stippling is ragging. The preparation is the same but instead of a stippling brush, a rag, crumpled newspaper or even a plastic bag can be used to drag the top coat of paint or glaze around to create the desired look.

The simple use of paint can change the look of any room, no doubt about it. The more involved use of artistic painting techniques can change the mood of the environment into something exciting, intimate or soothing, depending on your approach.

Learn more about this author, Leann Zotis.
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