Creative mum transforms home with free painting technique and it cost nothing
- Sarah Powell, 33, used a free hand painting technique for her hallway
- Sarah used leftover paints so the project was totally free
- The entire transformation took less than two hours
If your home desperately needs a refresh, make like this creative mum and transform your walls without blowing the budget.
Sarah Powell, 33, a nursery nurse and mum of one from Nottinghamshire, was keen to transform her hallway with a unique design, but didn’t want to spend a fortune doing so.
She ended up using a clever free painting technique that cost her nothing at all, but totally changed the look of her hallway for the better.
Sarah told money-saving community LatestDeals.co.uk: "We moved into our home last January and started on the task of redecoration. The hallway was covered in woodchip walls and years of paint.
"I painstakingly removed all of the woodchip and then painted the walls in Dulux cotton white paint, which made a huge difference and really opened up the space and made it feel fresh and airy but I still felt there was something missing. It just needed an extra warmth and depth to it.
"I constantly browse on home accounts on Instagram and on Pinterest and came across some designs with dots and stripes that people had painted on their wall, and I came up with the idea to do a diagonal tribal type pattern.
"I had some grey paint leftover from another project I had been doing and decided to go for it. With a small rounded end brush, I began in the top right corner painting on free hand lines and worked my way down and across.
"As I was doing it all completely free hand and without pre-marking it out some of the lines aren’t perfectly straight but I think that adds character to it and makes it unique to me.
"As I started to paint I kept stopping and looking at it and thinking 'do I like it?' and 'should I carry on or not?' but I decided I had to carry on and in the end I love the finished look.
"The total painting time took around an hour and a half to two hours which fitted in perfectly with my daughter's nap time.”
Sarah is over the moon with her unique wall design and says a project like this is affordable and a great distraction during the lockdown.
"The project didn’t cost me anything as I already had the paint and the brush from previous projects, but a small tester pot of paint would have easily been enough to cover it if you don’t have any leftover paints at home," she adds.
"I did paint mine completely free hand but if anyone was wanting a slightly more polished look, then I would recommend marking out the lines between each zig zag with tape to help keep the lines straight.
"I found this a great little lockdown project as I found it therapeutic to do and it has made my hallway space much more inviting!”
Tom Church, co-founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, comments: “Most of us have some leftover paints lying around at home, and lockdown is the perfect time to make great use of them!
“Sarah’s relaxed approach is perfect: when you see an idea you like, prepare and make sure you have the right materials but don’t overthink it. If you don’t have any paints at home, check Facebook Marketplace, Shpock and Freecycle for people who might be decluttering and giving them away for free!"
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