If you follow us on Social Media you'll know that as well as taking care of that side of marketing and Managing Decor Handled, including Designing and Manufacturing products, I have 4 children. At the time I'm writing this my daughter is 10 years old, twin sons are 7 years old and youngest son, the one we call "DHJunior", is about to turn 5 next month and start School.
I know how busy School Holiday's are for families but also how easy it is to run out of activities and start to get bored close to the end. Like most parents I also like to embrace the New Year with an organised Household (which lets be honest usually goes out the window by about March), which means getting the Kids bedrooms in Order and preparing for the School year.
We've had this DIY paint your own Wall Handles idea up our Sleeves for a while and what better time to share it than now. It's all pretty simple with some Tips we've got below and we are even running a 48hour promotion from January 12th-14th 2018 to make it a bit cheaper on your wallets as well - http://www.decorhandled.co.nz/...
Why DIY?
There are so many advantages of DIY painting. The most common reason is the desire to have everything matching. If you want your Wall Handles to blend into your rooms colour scheme using paint you already have left over from decorating then these are perfect.
You could also want to create a fun space for kids using spots, stripes, or characters. A way to express your creative flares in smaller statement pieces. You could paint some to match Artwork in your room or Front Entry as well, or even match colours in some of those special pieces of jewellery that are too pretty to be kept inside a box.
I have found the advantage of letting our kids paint their own means they actually want to use them. That's right, no more School Bag dumped on the floor right below the wall hook, and no more Dressing Gown lying in the Hallway. Kids put so much love into what they do, they are proud and take ownership of these things, and in turn it means they put them to use.
- Decor Handled Natural Wall Handles (Hooks) - either Removable or Screw In. If it is for a School Bag to hang on you will need a Screw In Handle
- Paint - we personally love Resene Paints for our products (this is not sponsored by them) and their Test Pots are a perfect size, but you can use any brand
- Paint Brush or Foam Roller
- Painters Tape (optional) - again we personally love the Blue 3M Scotch Tape, but any brand will work
- Paper and Pencil (optional)
- Egg carton (optional but does make it easier when painting the Screw In Handles)
Tip 1:
Egg cartons are perfect for sticking the Screw In Wall Handles screw into, or sitting the Removable Wall Handles block into the centre. It keeps them upright and easy to paint.
Tip 2:
It's a great idea to get Children to trace around the shape first and draw up several plans of what they want to paint. It's exciting and overwhelming for them to be let loose with paint so having a good design in mind before they start helps to ease frustrations they may experience later on.
It also means you have an idea of what they are trying to achieve so can help them with it, or if you're like me can somewhat steer them in a direction that will match their room and not clash to drastically.
Tip 3:
Painter's Tape is good to mask off clean straight lines. If you have time and patience doing around the outside of the shape can also be helpful if you want clean edges free of paint runs.
Tip 4:
Small Foam Art Rollers can be purchased from Paint Shops, Stationery Shops and most Hardware stores as well. They give a smoother finish to the product than a Paint Brush which leaves lines. Its a good idea to always do two coats of paint as well.
Tip 5:
The end of your Paint Brush is just as useful at the tip, it's perfect for making spots!
Look for other household items that you could use as well, such as Forks which can create perfect zigzags. Below my daughter has carefully used the point of a Screw to form Hearts and I helped with making crosses.
Tip 6:
Mix colours on the product, with the lighter colour towards the outer, if you can't decide between which colours to use. It's fun to add texture when doing this by blotting the Paint Brush instead of sweeping it and blends the two colours well without mixing them.
Below we have used Resene Blue Chalk (Pale Purple) on the outer, and Resene Paper Doll (Pink) in the centre.
Tip 7:
Forward planning. Try to think about where you are going to hang them and what will be hung from them.
Removable Wall Hooks have a Block on the back which need an Adhesive Interlocking Strip, this makes it very easy to move around if you change your mind on it's placement later on.
Screw In Wall Hooks can hold more weight, ideal for School Bags and heavier items.
I hope you've enjoyed reading about our DIY Project idea and give it ago. I know you will love your Decor Handled products as much as I do. Please share your progress and finished DIY Wall Handles with us by tagging #decorhandled on Social Media, myself and the rest of the team would love to see what you get up to!
Julie xx