Some home painting advice

Summer is a great time to add color to your home, but where do you start?

If you like the look of crown molding but aren't up to the challenge of actually installing it yourself, you can improvise with paint. Paint a wide or narrow strip along the wall where it meets the ceiling. Use a laser-leveling device to make sure it's straight. Add stenciling for a truly unique look. When done properly, this can make a room appear larger because your eye is drawn to the ceiling. Get stencils at any craft store or online.

If you're looking to sell your house in the near future be careful about being too "unique." While you may truly enjoy your dancing purple unicorns (and I'm sure they're just lovely) it may be tough to find a wide audience of buyers for them. (Home Selling Tip: When you decide to put your house on the market just paint over the dancing purple unicorns - potential buyers don't want to have to do it themselves and may pass on your house in favor of one they don't have to paint.)

If you have a very long or large room, paint one wall a warm color that has a base of red, orange or yellow. The wall will appear to advance and make the room look smaller and cozier.

If you want to make a small room appear larger paint one wall with a cool color that has a base of blue, green or purple. The wall will appear to drop back and make the room look larger.

You can bring down a too-high ceiling by painting it a darker color than the walls.

To make a room look bigger or taller paint the walls and the ceiling the same color - if you really want to stretch it out, paint the baseboards the same color as well.

Sponging is popular these days. Paint the walls using your base color and after you let this dry take a natural sea sponge and dip it in water but ring it out so it's just damp. Dip the sponge in the second paint color, blot it on a paper towel and then gently press the sponge against the wall. Try one coat this way and if you want more in the end you can always go back and add it.

Again a word of caution: when using these funky painting techniques do it only if you plan to hold on to the house for a while or don't mind painting over it before you list your house.

I've been in several houses lately where someone applied haphazard sponge painting with some pretty wild colors: purple, red, etc. and I'll be perfectly honest here, it looks bad.

I try to restrain myself from slapping my hands over my eyes and screaming, "My eyes! My eyes!" The buyers however, usually don't restrain themselves and many of them take one look at the room and burst out laughing.

So my best advice, as a real estate agent is, you own your home so have at it in terms of paint color and design but keep in mind that you may need to alter it if/when you decide to list your property. I also advise however, don't go too far with the stark white walls because those can look a little too cold and plain. Before you list your home consider a color that will warm the house up a bit but not cause buyers to fall to the floor, clutching their eyes.

(photo courtesy of http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/)