Month: May 2017

Top tips to boost home value with the help of expert London painters and decorators. If you’re thinking about selling your home in the next year or two, you’ll naturally be hoping to get as much money for it as possible. That means you may need to come up with some creative ways to spruce up your living space and make it attractive to buyers – after all, it’s a very competitive market, with so many people looking for their ‘dream home’. You need to turn your home into the kind of place where other people can see themselves spending their future.

Add Value To Your Property Before You Sell

There are a multitude of ways you can add some value to a property before you sell it – whether that means calling in a London painter and decorator, or going the whole hog and extending your property. Here are some of our top tips to boost your home’s value before you put it on the market.

Step one: the outside of the property

The property’s exterior and the garden space is the first thing a potential buyer will see of your home – and we all know that first impressions count. If your property looks a little run-down or shabby from the outside, it’s important to address this issue. If you have a brick home with missing gaps, fill them in, or render over them to create a clean and fresh look. If your home has been painted, give it another coat to freshen it up and make it look brand new. You should also pay attention to things like your driveway and paving, as well as the front garden. Plant some simple flowers to brighten it up, and make sure the lawn is mown before each viewing!

Step two: interior basics

Inside the home, you should be looking to give all door frames, window frames, skirting boards and bannisters a new coat of paint. This gives the entire place a ‘finished’ look, and if you’re using the same colour for all of them, it ties the home together. If you’re not sure whether you can do the job, call in a London home painter and decorator to get the job done to a very high standard.

Step three: walls and floors

You should also seek to freshen up the walls and flooring before you put a property on the market. Many estate agents will suggest restoring your interiors to a neutral shade before you try to sell – it acts as more of a ‘blank canvas’ for potential buyers. If you’ve used bright, vibrant colours or avant-garde shades in any of your rooms, it may be time to paint over them with a few coats of paint in a neutral tone, that won’t be likely to put anyone off. Of course, you still need some personality in the home, so a few splashes of colour here and there are fine, but try to look at the property with an objective eye and imagine you’re viewing it as a buyer.

If you have carpets, they should be professionally deep cleaned, and if you have laminate flooring, lino or stone floors, you should make sure they’re sparkling and fresh before each viewing.

Step four: fitting and fixture upgrades

This tip mostly applies to your bathroom and kitchen. These are the two rooms which can typically add the most value to a property, so you may as well take advantage of this fact. Consider upgrading your taps to something more sleek and stylish, and consider things like new tiling or countertops to give the place a bit of a revamp. If you have the renovation funds available, you could turn your bathroom into a wet room, or even extend your kitchen to make it a more communal space – open-plan kitchen-diners are very on trend right now. If you’re on a tighter budget, carry out smaller jobs like replacing tile grout, or painting kitchen cupboard doors a different colour.

Step five: cleaning and organizing

As we’ve mentioned, your home needs to be as blank a canvas as possible when showing it to potential buyers. That doesn’t mean you should pack away all of your belongings – in fact, you should leave some personal items around to show the buyer that this is a happy family home and help them see themselves living there. But clutter of all types needs to be tidied away – and be careful where you put it! If you have large wardrobes, cupboards and other storage spaces in the home, it’s likely that buyers will want to have a look in them to gauge their size. The last thing you want is for them to open a cupboard and see a mountain of junk stashed away in there! Consider hiring a self-storage space for most of your belongings, at least until you can move them into a new property.

Step six: finishing touches

Lastly, there are a few extra finishing touches you can carry out to make your home more inviting and welcoming to potential buyers. Upgrade or clean your light switches and fixtures – perhaps consider installing dimmers or spotlights, if you have the funds available. Lighting is important when selling a home, and when positioned correctly, they can give the illusion of space.

Carry out additional DIY tasks that you might have been putting off. Oil the squeaky kitchen door, fix the handle that you’ve been meaning to get round to, mend shelves that won’t be coming with you, and give the entire place a good dusting.

If you need help with any home painting or decorating tasks, get in touch with Cloud Painting today – our team are on hand to help with London painting and decorating projects of all kinds, whether it’s domestic or commercial.

Discover how to choose the right paint colours for your home with home decorating tips from top London painters and decorators. Your home is where you spend the vast majority of your time – it’s where you sit down for dinner most evenings, it’s where you curl up on the sofa with a film, it’s where you put your head down to sleep each night, and it’s where you spend time with your family. Homes are deeply personal spaces – every detail and possession says a little something about the person who lives there – and when you spend so much time in this building, it’s important that your home represents who you are.

Make The Space Your Own With Your Choice Of Colours

As top London painters and decorators, we know that choosing the right colours for your home goes a long way towards making the place feel like yours. Colours can have a huge effect on how we feel when we walk into a room – it can stimulate us, it can make us feel warm and cosy, it can give the sense of light and space. From the welcoming colours of the entrance hall to the hues that make the lounge feel so comfortable and the bathroom feel so fresh, it’s important to get the colour scheme of the whole place just right.

If you’re planning a home overhaul, or perhaps you’re moving into a new property in the near future, here are some top tips to help you choose the right colours for your home.

Start with a mood board

When you’re planning your interiors, a mood board can help you bring together ideas, inspiration and other interiors that you like the look of. Pinterest is a great tool for doing this – you can take a peek at other colour combinations and ideas and see which ones might work best in your particular space.

Think about base colours

It’s very rare that you can decide on the colour of a room without thinking about other factors. What colour are the floors or carpets? Do you have an existing piece of statement furniture that you’ll need to work around? For a bathroom or kitchen, are there already fittings and appliances of a certain colour? You’ll need to bear all these things in mind before you make a decision.

Look at a colour wheel or chart

Colour wheels and charts are great for showing you which tones and shades will work best together. There are a number of ways you can select colours or hues which will complement each other:

• Tonal – this is where you select just one colour and use different variants of it throughout the room. The colour charts you see when choosing paint can help with this, showing you all the colours of a certain tone.
• Harmonious – this is when you choose colours that are quite near each other on a colour wheel. As the name might suggest, this creates a space which is harmonious and restful.
• Complementary – this is a more daring option, which involves choosing colours that are opposite each other on the colour wheel. If you’re more adventurous with your interior design and not limited in having to match paint with furniture or flooring, this might be a better option.

Think about rooms and moods

This is where you can start to inject some personality into your colour decisions. You know best what you use each room for, so you can decide which ‘mood’ will suit each space best. For example, some people like their bathrooms to be a zen, spa-like environment, choosing peaceful shades of blue to make a relaxing retreat. Other people prefer their bathrooms to invigorate them, opting instead for bright, zesty colours that are fresh and energizing.

For another example, some people do a lot of entertaining at home, and want their dining room to feel smart, formal, and fit to receive lots of guests. Navy, burgundy and dark woods create a great formal dining space. Others prefer a more casual area for their family to tuck into evening meals, choosing brighter colours that make for a more relaxed and informal area.

Bedrooms give you a chance to really make the space your own. Keep it cool and contemporary with layered neutral tones, or go for rich opulence with deep, darker colours offset with metallic highlights.

One tip from interior design experts is to choose warm and welcoming colours for areas like your living space and your entrance hall. You should also make use of natural light as much possible, in every room of the house.

Other tips

• Always pick up some paint samples and bring them home to test. Colour charts and wheels will only show you so much, and the light in your home might be totally different to the light in a shop. Paint a small square on your wall to check it’s the shade you want.
• If you can’t find the colour that you had in mind, don’t compromise – after all, you’ll be looking at these walls every day! Many London home painters and decorators have a paint-mixing service, and some of the big paint brands offer a colour match option too.
• If this is your first time painting a room or renovating a home, don’t hesitate to bring in the experts. Professional painters and decorators will have the kit and the expertise to create a perfect finish in every room.
• You can create the illusion of space very easily with colour. Lighter colours always feel more spacious – darker wall colours will make it feel like a wall is closer to you, which is great for cosy rooms or large spaces, but might not work in a small study or bedroom, for example. You can also use darker shades at the end of hallways and landings to avoid a ‘tunnel-like’ sense.
• To create a sense of consistency throughout your home, keep all door frames, skirting boards and other woodwork the same colour – a neutral colour which works with all other shades you’ve chosen.

For more information about expert painters and decorators in London, get in touch with the Cloud Painting team today.

We look at the benefits of hiring office painters and decorators in London. Discover the reasons to spruce up your workspace regularly and why hiring office decorators is a top investment If you run a business that operates out of an office, you’ll be aware that keeping it in prime condition is vital for the continued success of your company. Making sure your office space is clean, fresh and professional has a multitude of benefits – not just for the staff that work there, but for any visitors or guests you may have during working hours.

Tips From Expert Office Decorators To Get The Job Done Right

A vital part of office upkeep is making sure the walls are painted regularly. Here are some reasons why you should consider painting your office walls more regularly – and some tips from our expert office painters and decorators in London for choosing paint colours and getting the job done.

The benefits of a clean, fresh office

First, we’re going to take a look at the benefits of having a clean and fresh office. Did you know that having an organised, streamlined workspace can actually boost productivity? Studies show that working in a space which is tidy, neat and fresh can boost motivation and reduce stress among staff. A study by Staples also found that 94% of employees report feeling more productive in a clean workspace, while more than three-quarters said that the work they produced was of a higher quality when they were in a clean environment.

If you have an office with paint peeling off the walls, or dingy discoloured paint surrounding your employees, the place is going to feel messy, unorganised and unclean. Simply giving your office a lick of fresh paint can brighten up the place and make it feel cleaner, which could end up boosting your employees’ productivity.

Keeping up appearances

If you regularly conduct meetings with clients in your office space, you’ll know exactly how important it is to keep up appearances and make a great first impression on your visitors. For example – if you run a small accountancy firm and you’re welcoming clients into your working environment, they might be put off if they see that you’re operating from a premises which is not well kept.

If your visitors and potential clients walk into an office and see peeling paint or uneven patches on the walls, it’s not going to generate a positive and professional first impression. They might even take their custom elsewhere if they believe you’re running an unprofessional operation.

Repainting your walls at least one per year can help to keep up appearances and make sure that your guests aren’t put off when they arrive at your offices.

Your office is part of your brand

Branding is a crucial part of any business’ success in this day and age – and your office forms a key part of your brand. You need to ensure that your office, its colour scheme and its furnishings actually represent the identity of your business.

For example, if you run a small law firm, which needs to convey a formal and professional image at all times, it might be inappropriate to paint your office walls in bright, funky colours. On the other hand, if you run a trendy tech startup, your office needs to reflect that innovation, and going for plain old white might not fit the bill.

This is why you should consider regularly repainting your office – to ensure that the colours in your workspace are consistent with the brand you’re trying to build.

Choosing a paint colour for your office

So we’ve established that painting your office is important. Now we need to decide what colour you’re going to use the next time you have your workspace repainted.

Colour has been known to affect behaviour in a number of ways. In babies, it’s widely known that you shouldn’t paint a nursery yellow, because it can overstimulate them. Colour psychology is also used in branding to invoke certain feelings – blue is associated with trust, green is associated with peace and the environment, yellow is associated with youth and energy, and so on. These are things to consider when choosing your office paint colour.

Many office have crisp, clean, white walls – it’s simple and it’s effective. But a study from the University of Texas has suggested that white walls could be counterproductive for office workers. In a productivity study, workers were split into three groups and had to complete tasks in there different rooms: a red room, a white room, and an aqua room. While some people were able to ‘block out’ the effects of colour, all groups made more errors when they worked in the white room.

In other studies on worker preference, many have suggested they like to work in a blue, or blue-green environment. These colours are calming without being boring, and they communicate trust and innovation.

Some people choose grey as a neutral colour – but one colour psychology consultant from London said that grey lacks energy and could even foster a lack of confidence. If you’re going to use grey, you should offset it with a more energetic colour, like yellow or orange.

So what are the best colours to choose when repainting your office? Here are our recommendations:

• Blue – you can’t go wrong with blue. It’s a conservative colour, associated with honesty and trust, which is why it’s used by many banks and financial institutions in their branding.
• Green – green is associated with serenity, growth and security. Darker shades of green are also used to indicate prestige, which is useful if you’re trying to attract high-end clients.
• Burgundy – not as distracting as red, burgundy is a formal colour, perfect for more corporate businesses trying to project an image of control and responsibility.

If you’re not confident enough to paint your entire office one of these colours, choose a ‘feature wall’ in your space and balance it out with tonal beiges, nudes or greys, for a look that is professional without being overwhelming.

For more information about our office painting from our commercial painters and decorators in London, get in touch with the team today.

Get tips and advice on easy ways to revamp your office from experienced office painters and decorators in London. Every week, millions of people across the UK and beyond spend a huge chunk of their live in an office space. It’s not unusual for many of these people to spend more than 40-50 hours per week here, working hard to ensure they’re making their clients, customers and superiors happy.

Make Your Office Comfortable, Professional And Attractive

With so much time spent in the office, it’s important to make sure that the office space is a nice environment. It should be comfortable, professional, attractive and the kind of place where employees will feel happy about spending up to 9 hours every day. Whether that means bringing in London office painters and decorators, splashing out on new furniture, or simply moving existing furniture around for a better layout, it’s important to inject new life into an office from time to time.

Here are our top tips to revamp your office space and keep employees happy.

Paint the walls

One of the best ways to give your whole office a new lease of life is to paint it from top to bottom. Maybe you’re changing the colour scheme, maybe you’re simply freshening up the existing colour with a fresh coat – whatever you choose, this will help the office feel brighter, lighter and a more comfortable workspace for your staff. If you’re not sure about taking on a painting task of this magnitude, call in experienced commercial London painters and decorators, who can take on the job for you and complete it to a very high standard. Check out our other recent blog on the benefits of repainting your office regularly, as well as some tips to help you choose the right colour for your office space.

Make it more comfortable

An office should never be bare white walls, plain desks and chairs – it should have its own sense of personality and life. Bring some plants into the office space – they’ve been proven to boost productivity, and they’ll keep the place feeling fresh. Add some art or some prints to the walls, as well as the staff noticeboard. Encourage your employees to make their desks feel more personal, with items brought from home. Picture frames with friends and family, as well as their own mugs and maybe even a cushion to sit on can make them feel much more at home. Move away from the idea of an office as a sterile and boring environment – or that’s how your workers will treat it!

New floors

Replacing dull, old office carpet with a slick laminated wood flooring can elevate the space to no end – it’ll make the entire environment feel lighter, airier and more modern. Don’t neglect the floors when it comes to revamping the office! If you can’t afford a whole new floor, or your tenancy agreement doesn’t permit you to change the floor in the office, consider hiring someone to carry out a deep clean regularly, so that your carpets don’t start to become unhygienic or unsightly.

Door frames, window frames and skirting boards

Why not change the colour of the door frames, window frames and skirting boards to make your whole office feel slightly different? If you’ve moved into an office that has white walls, white frames and neutral flooring, giving the frames and the skirting boards a lick of paint and changing their colour can be a cost-effective way to put your own stamp on the place.

Address the lighting

If you have outdated overheard fluorescent lights, not only could they be costing you a fortune in electricity bills, they could also be contributing to an unproductive environment. Replace them for energy-saving bulbs in a ‘daylight’ shade which replicates natural light as much as possible. Natural lighting has been shown to help workers be more productive and creative in the office, so if you want them to do their best work, make sure your office doesn’t feel dark.

Give your employees input

Circulate a survey about the things your employees most want to see in the office. Your staff are the people who spend a lot of their time here – they deserve a say in how the place looks and feels. They might want you to introduce more soft furnishings – a sofa here, an armchair there, to create a small breakout area. They might ask for more vending machines, or for a different layout of their desks or cubicles. Listen to what they say – their views are important!

Rearrange the office space

If you want to make the place feel different and new, experiment with the layout of the desks and workstations. This can change the whole flow and feel of the office – it may even result in heightened productivity. You could try to make the space more open-plan, creating an illusion of spaciousness and light, which won’t go unnoticed by your staff. Create ‘zones’ within your workspace – a zone where staff can meet guests or clients, a zone where they can work on non-computer tasks (signing contracts, brainstorming with colleagues), and obviously a zone for workstations and desks.

Invest in supportive furniture

Ergonomic desks and chairs are fundamental in making your staff feel supported and comfortable. If you have the budget for it, invest in the kind of furniture that will support different postures, to boost the performance of your staff and increase wellness. You could even bring in some standing desks, which are a big trend right now and are a great way to offset the sedentary lifestyle of an office worker.

If you’d like more information about office painting and decorating in London, get in touch with the Cloud Painting team today – we can discuss your needs and book you in for an office revamp as soon as possible. Keep following the blog for more tips!