Category: Inspiration
A Dining Room That’s Cozy and Bright
October 10, 2022
The holidays are right around the corner, and that means your dining room is about to see a lot of traffic. Whether you’re hosting friends, family, or both, your dining room should be a place where everyone feels welcome, cozy, and right at home, and with so many opportunities to use this room at this time of year, why not give it a chance to shine?
Home renovations during the holidays can be stressful, which is why we recommend starting any project a few months ahead of time. Adding an accent wall can really liven up a room and create a focal point within your home that draws people in, and it’s easy to achieve with the right primer. We hope our renovation inspires you to give your dining room a bit more personality and charm.
As with any room makeover involving fresh paint, we started by preparing our accent wall. We chose KILZ 2® All-Purpose Primer for this project thanks to its ability to seal surfaces, block stains, and hide previous color. We like that this primer is mildew resistant, as kitchen humidity can sometimes penetrate nearby rooms, such as dining spaces. This multi-surface primer is a favorite for time-sensitive projects you’re hoping to complete before the holidays, because it dries fast, adheres beautifully, and has a very mild odor. While not recommended for flooring,
Once primed, we chose a rich, marine blue for our accent wall—Tribute Oceans Deep TB-60—and started painting, taking care to cover the base board below with painter’s tape. Taking a wall from light to dark is a great way to change the tone and feel within a room, which is what we did here. You can highlight desired areas and draw focus away from others. It can be a good idea to place a darker-shade accent wall next to a window to create contrast and play with the effects of the natural light. Again, using a primer before you begin painting is a great way to ensure any color you choose looks its best and brightest, especially if you’re painting over an existing color.
After our paint finished drying, we put the final touches on our dining room. Because this room is a gathering place, we didn’t want to overwhelm the space with too much décor that could get in the way of company or serving food. We opted for gold fixtures and accents, as well as white chairs and drapery to brighten and complement the dark wood of the larger furniture and our lovely accent wall. Overall, we’ve achieved a room that is elegant enough for holiday parties, while still being casual and comfortable enough for nightly dinners with just the family.
If you are choosing to take on a dining room renovation this holiday season, make sure you give yourself plenty of time to complete it—at least a month or so prior. Be sure to research the right primer for the job if painting, and keep it simple when it comes to décor. You can always bring more decorations into the mix for parties, but you want to make sure the space stays cozy and casual enough for year-round meals. Whatever type of domestic sprucing you tackle this year, we hope this project inspires you to create more spaces inside your home for togetherness.
Always remember to refer to our website kilz.com or product back labels for additional information on which primer is right for your project and detailed instructions on how to apply our products. Check out our Coverage Calculator to understand your estimated paint needs for your upcoming project.
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A DIY Bathroom You Can’t Wait to Show Off
August 31, 2022While your bathroom isn’t exactly a gathering place like most of the other rooms in your house, it’s one of the most visited. If that’s not reason enough to make it as comfortable and pleasant as possible, our bathroom inspiration makeover will give you just the push you need to elevate yours with style and functionality in mind.
If you’ve ever visited a bathroom outside your home and been impressed by its aesthetic, you know this is a room with great potential to shine. And while our bathroom renovation is modest and family friendly, it has its own unique flair as well. Our simple, yet chic, farmhouse-inspired look is basic enough to work inside any home, but with a few thoughtful details, it’s also distinguished and refined.
After the initial labor—removing the drywall, fixtures, bathtub, etc.—we were able to prime the old, brown walls before applying a fresh coat of paint. Because of the moisture-prone nature of a bathroom, the ideal choice for this job was KILZ® Mold and Mildew Primer. This water-based primer-sealer-stain blocker is specially designed for residential surfaces in high humidity, moisture, and temperature environments.
Taking our bathroom walls from dark to light, was a breeze thanks to our primer’s ability to hide the previous color. It offers excellent adhesion and provides a solid anchor for paints. The EPA-registered active ingredient in this primer creates a mold and mildew-resistant film, specially formulated to protect the primed surfaces from these issues so you can paint with confidence.
Once dry, painting the walls with a bright, yet neutral white, could not have been simpler. The paint went on smooth and blemish-free, and thanks to our primer, no traces of the previous, dull, brown paint could poke through. Natural light from the window made it easy to build upon the brightness in this space with finishing touches from the fixtures, tile, lighting, and décor. Lastly, the sliding glass shower door creates clean lines, beautiful transparency, and an overall modern feel.
To update an older bathroom, you’ll want to first consider the scope of the project. For example, our renovation included a newly-tiled shower, brand new flooring, updated lighting and fixtures, and a modern vanity. We chose to accentuate brightness by adding decorative accents to complement the color palette, however, you may choose a look that’s vibrant and colorful or something more bold and dramatic. Working out the details is where you get to put on your designer hat and let your creativity shine.
At the end of the day, the perfect primer is essential to achieving a beautiful result, which is why we can’t recommend KILZ products enough for jobs like these. We hope this bathroom makeover inspires you to assemble your group, or embark solo, and create something special in one the most-visited areas of your home.
Always remember to refer to our website kilz.com or product back labels for additional information on which primer is right for your project and detailed instructions on how to apply our products. Check out our Coverage Calculator to understand your estimated paint needs for your upcoming project.
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MAGNOLIA HOME: TURN YOUR BEDROOM INTO A SERENE ESCAPE
August 1, 2022Our bedrooms should reflect our own personal style. Choices in accents and décor, bedding, or furniture can immediately change the feel of the space you lay your head. Bedrooms serve as the place we escape to relax and rejuvenate after a long day, so making your bedroom a haven for yourself is important. Color can play a big part of the overall vibe of your bedroom and choosing a serene color that will complement your personal style will help you feel at home.
“When you can ground a room in an understated neutral, it allows you to get creative and personalize the space with furniture, textiles, and accents that stand out.” – Joanna Gaines
This bedroom extenuates a sophisticated style, while bringing in natural materials to soften the modern décor. The walls and ceilings are bathed in a featured color from the Magnolia Home by Joanna Gaines® paint line, Blanched, a warm beige destined to bring serenity to any space. The neutral color allows for the stained accent wall to be the wow factor.
Adding in other materials is a great way to add depth and texture. The wooden accent wall is colored in Magnolia Home by Joanna Gaines’s Interior Wood Stain in an earthy yet warm tone, Woodsy Escape. The interior stain is available in twelve curated colors to enhance the natural beauty of your interior wood surfaces.
Complementing the space with gold accents, like those on the sconces and nightstand hardware, clean bedding, and textured nightstands, bring modern and natural elements together seamlessly, evoking a relaxing and serene bedroom for you to unwind and rejuvenate.
Inspired by this serene bedroom and looking for complementary colors for your own space? The curated palette below offers shades that complement and coordinate with Blanched.
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Creating a Family Room that Brings People Together
August 1, 2022Ready to breathe new life into the heart of your home this year? Start your family room renovation before the holiday chaos, and enjoy a space that feels cozy and bright all year long. Your family room should invite people in, feel comfortable, and encourage togetherness, and with the right template, you can create a room that’s not only gorgeous, but also practical, warm, and perfect for gathering with loved ones.
With so many family room designs to choose from, it’s up to you to find the perfect one. We were inspired by a modern farmhouse look, which we achieved with soft white paint, dark accents, and carefully styled décor. Taking our room from light to dark required that we first primed the walls for a better paint application, so we chose KILZ 2® All-Purpose Primer, which simplified the job thanks to its multipurpose formula.
It’s fast drying, water-based, and able to be used on multiple surfaces—such as plaster, drywall, wood, and brick. Great at blocking stains, it also has excellent adhesion, and is mildew resistant with a very mild odor. KILZ 2® All-Purpose Primer helps lessen the number of coats of paint required—a perfect solution for making over your family room quickly and professionally with minimal disruption to your life.
Once primed and dried, we got to work painting our accent walls and cubbies with BEHR® Interior Paint in Carbon N520-7. We also added this color to the inner window framing, to add a bit of depth, and to the beams across the ceiling to further complete the farmhouse look.
For contrast, we used BEHR® Interior Paint in two shades of white to brighten up the rest of the space. For the walls, we chose Shoelace OR-W13, and Ultra Pure White® for the trim and ceiling. The dark accents work to draw focus to the back wall—housing the fireplace and TV—and allowed us to situate the furniture in a way that creates a natural gathering space inside the room. From here, it was time to get creative and have fun with the décor.
Choosing a neutral color palette was an easy decision because it worked well with the existing brick detail and created an added layer of warmth. We wanted the room to feel relaxed and cozy, yet modern and sophisticated, which our beige couch and area rug help achieve. We brightened up the cubbies with a few wicker baskets, ceramic bowls, and vases, and sprinkled in a bit of greenery around the room. Our wooden coffee table pulls focus to the room’s center, while hints of blue and gray in the pillows and throw help to create a finished farmhouse look.
As always, we hope you find this room transformation inspiring. It’s easy to start any project—big or small— with the help of any KILZ® Primer. Whether you choose to embark on this project with friends or family, or go at it alone, once completed, your beautiful, new family room will reward you with memories for years to come. With a bit of time and effort, it’s easy to give your loved ones the gift of togetherness this year.
Always remember to refer to our website kilz.com or product back labels for additional information on which primer is right for your project and detailed instructions on how to apply our products. Check out our Coverage Calculator to understand your estimated paint needs for your upcoming project.
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Patio Transformation to Kick Off the Summer
July 11, 2022A tired deck is hardly an inviting place to kick off the warm-weather season with friends and family. So don’t let another summer go by without transforming your outdoor living space into something fresh and vibrant. Cracks and splinters, stains, and mildew are sure signs your deck is ready for a new finish.
Follow along for step-by-step instructions to transform your deck into a beautiful space for you to enjoy all summer long.
Cleaning & Preparation: Before applying a new finish on your deck, be sure clean it to remove any trace of the old finish, stains, and mildew. After all, you don’t want tough stains like that old BBQ sauce Uncle Jim spilled last Labor Day to be there forever.
• Step 1: Use a wood stain and finish stripper to remove remnants of an old coating and follow it with a wood cleaner and brightener to neutralize the wood.
• Step 2: Rinse the surface thoroughly with a garden hose or a pressure washer. Pro tip, use the broadest spray pattern while keeping the nozzle at least 24-inches away from the surface.
• Step 3: Allow the area to dry for 24 hours, and sand the surface to remove any remaining stray fibers.
Application: Use KILZ® Over Armor® Textured or KILZ Over Armor Smooth Coating to take your deck to the next level. The solid color coating was designed to cover cracks, hide other imperfections, and provide a textured, non-slip or smooth surface. It’s the perfect choice for breathing new life into old, weathered wood and transforming your deck into a stunning outdoor space that brings the family together making it the envy of the neighborhood.
• Step 4: Stir KILZ Over Armor Coating and intermix cans of the same color to ensure color uniformity
• Step 5: Using the newly mixed coating, fill in any cracks or holes. Next, apply the first coat using a ½” nap roller
• Step 6: Let dry 4-6 hours, then apply second coat. Allow 24 hours before subjecting to light traffic and allow 72 hours before subjecting to full cure
Available in several nature-inspired colors, this deck features Slate Gray. This deep hue blends well with the home’s light gray vinyl siding, black shutters, and white vinyl deck railing. In addition, the neutral gray tone of this area is the perfect canvas for new colorful accessories.
New furnishings can always add a pop of color and give you a chance to add your own personal style. Navy seat cushions, summery striped throw pillows, and a potted rose bush add vibrancy. But, of course, you can always change out décor pending your mood or season.
Don’t just paint the deck. Transform the space into a relaxing, fun environment to share with your world.
Features of KILZ® Over Armor Textured Coating
• Use on wood, composite, or concrete
• Suitable for horizontal or vertical surfaces
• Bridges gaps up to ¼”
• Conceals splinters
• Provides a slip-resistant finish
• It fully cures in 72 hours
• Cleans up with water
Always remember to refer to our website kilz.com or product back labels for additional information on which primer is right for your project and detailed instructions on how to apply our products. Check out our Coverage Calculator to understand your estimated paint needs for your upcoming project.
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MAGNOLIA HOME: ADDING STYLE WITH MODERN KITCHEN CABINETS
May 26, 2022Kitchens are so often the place that friends & family spend the most amount of time together. Whether it’s cooking, eating, sharing stories, or making new memories, the kitchen is truly the heart of any home. A distinctive and modern kitchen cabinet color is always a great way to create a stunning kitchen that all your guests will love.
“I love the contrast of a sophisticated green paired with an off-white. These colors work together to give this kitchen depth and visual interest without it feeling overwhelming.” – Joanna Gaines
In this kitchen, the stylish monochromatic cabinets elevate the space while also providing a calming and sophisticated backdrop for any personalized decor. The cabinets are coated in a featured color from the Magnolia Home by Joanna Gaines® paint line, Locally Grown, which is a deep hunter green dusted with olive tones. When paired with metallic hardware, the darker undertones contrast beautifully and draw attention to the rich color.
Adding in other modern features and textures can change the look and feel of your kitchen. The wooden open shelving provides a great space to display some of your favorite items and décor elements, such as ceramic dishes, glassware, and greenery. Natural wood materials and a simple stacked white tile backsplash offer an air of whimsy but simultaneously capture a modern style. These finishes will continue to highlight a chic kitchen cabinet color, like Locally Grown, and breathe life into your kitchen for years to come.
Other ways to bring in more natural tones are through your ceiling and flooring material selections. Choose a color or stain for your 5th and 6th walls (Floor & Ceiling) that complement your refreshed kitchen cabinets. Add a pop of white on your countertops and you will have a kitchen that is sure to stun.
Inspired by this modern kitchen and looking for complimentary colors for your own space? The curated palette below offers shades that complement and coordinate with Locally Grown.
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A Home Office Designed for Focus and Productivity
April 12, 2022Working from home requires your full attention and focus, but with so many things around the house competing for your attention, it may feel impossible to tackle even the smallest items on your to-do list. Feeling overwhelmed may even be the reason you’ve put off designing a functional home office, but there’s no time like the present to get to work.
Your home office should be a dedicated workspace where you can distance yourself from distraction, confidently attend those virtual meetings, and really be productive. We hope this room makeover motivates you to finally get started creating a practical space in your home where you can go when you need to get things done.
Whether you’re renovating an old office or creating a space from scratch, it’s important to form a vision from the start. Our goal was to transform an outdated office from dark and stuffy to modern, bright, and airy, and because we knew we wanted fresh paint to help accomplish this, our first step was to find the best primer for the job. We chose KILZ Restoration® Interior Primer for a few reasons. Because we wanted to refresh a built-in shelving unit, as well as walls, we chose a multi-surface primer formulated for use on wood, drywall, plaster, brick and more. Since some older rooms can have their share of imperfections, we also love that this primer conceals tough stains and odors like a charm.
Before getting started, we prepped the room by cleaning all the surfaces we planned to prime. This is an important step, as smooth and clean surfaces ensure a perfect primer application and even better coat of paint. Sometimes old surfaces need quick sanding or scrub down, so if this applies to you, make sure everything is clean and dry before you begin priming. For rooms that may have suffered damage (smoke, fire, water, mold), you’ll need to address these problems beforehand, however, KILZ Restoration® Interior Primer is ideal for jobs of this kind thanks to its odor and stain blocking formula and thick consistency, which is great for filling in small cracks and splitting.
Because of the nature of the shelving unit in our home office, we chose to prime using both a brush for all those nooks and crannies and a roller for larger surface areas, like the walls. Once we evenly applied primer to all our surfaces, we let it dry—which can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours, depending on the number of coats used and humidity in the room—and then prepared to paint. We wanted to create a statement with color, which is why we chose BEHR® Caribe PPU13-01 for the shelves, and BEHR® Ultra Pure White for the walls. This paint combo makes the walls appear brighter in contrast with the vibrant teal shelves, creating a sophisticated-casual vibe that is clean and current, and primed for productivity.
There’s already great light in this room thanks to its extra-large window, but our fresh white walls reflect the sunlight and considerably helped to brighten up the room. We chose a modern, asymmetrical desk to replace the more substantial, yet outdated one, and we added a light gray rug underneath to further cheer up the space. Other inspired, minimalist touches are seen in the standing lamp and shelving décor. This clean, contemporary vibe creates an atmosphere where you are free to focus for hours on end.
We’re so pleased with how this room came together, and how beautifully our paint came to life on two different surfaces. Achieving these clean and vibrant colors with a smooth matte finish would have been a much larger task had we not made the effort to prime first. Keep this in mind the next time you’re ready to tackle a room makeover, so that your DIY project turns out just as skilled as the pros and gets you excited for the next one.
Always remember to refer to our website kilz.com or product back labels for additional information on which primer is right for your project and detailed instructions on how to apply our products. Check out our Coverage Calculator to understand your estimated paint needs for your upcoming project.
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Priming Your Bedroom for Rest and Relaxation
March 16, 2022If you’ve been putting off starting a new project, you’re not alone. Winter’s increasingly shorter days can make us feel like there’s never enough time to start something new, let alone finish it. But with the arrival of spring and daylight savings, now’s the time to shift your mindset, pick up that paint brush, and get to work. We’re ready to put an end to putting things off and excited to share with you our professional tips for transforming your primary bedroom into the ultimate oasis.
As with any renovation involving a fresh coat of paint, this process starts with a primer best suited to the job. In this instance, we chose KILZ 2® All-Purpose Interior and Exterior Primer for its fast-drying, multi-surface, and stain-blocking technology, as well as its excellent adhesion, mildew resistance—great for humidity-prone homes—and sealing properties. Its ability to hide stains from rust, marker, water, and grease makes it a top choice among DIYers, and an ideal product for painting over any existing color you might have on your walls or cabinets.
For the theme of our relaxing bedroom makeover, we chose ‘minimalist serenity,’ a purposeful contrast to the chaos often lurking outside our homes. To effectively renew the space, we painted the walls and window seat with Tribute Eggshell Ultra Bright White TB-01. This bright white paint achieves a peaceful elegance that’s, at the same time, cozy and welcoming.
To make the transformation from gray to vibrant white paint as seamless as possible, we were careful to prime thoroughly beforehand, lessening the need for multiple coats and allowing our color to shine its truest. For time and convenience, we chose to use specialty paint applicators for wall corners and window edges.
Once our walls were dry, we focused on elements of décor that would elevate the space. Our whimsical interior comes to life with subtle pops of warmth in the throw pillows, blankets, accent mirrors, and lamp bases, as well as neutral-toned furniture, which grounds the space. The black, four-poster, canopy bed frame is a beautiful accent piece and serves as the focal point of the room. An adjacent window seat provides a cozy sitting nook, and a perfect place for unwinding with a book or cup of tea before bedtime.
Transforming an ordinary bedroom into a personal haven is easy to do with the right tools and intention. For a room that feels clean, bright, and tranquil, we recommend neutral tones paired with minimalist décor, but your taste may vary. Gorgeous color that catches your eye and draws you into the space is the first step in achieving a room’s vibe, which is why it is so important to prime up top and cut out any surprises where extra time or money are concerned.
We hope our bedroom renewal motivates you to start on a makeover of your own. Once you see just how simple KILZ 2® All-Purpose Interior and Exterior Primer makes it to lay the foundation for your project, you can have confidence to start and finish quickly. And with that extra time on your hands, you can begin tackling even more things on your to-do list.
Always remember to refer to our website kilz.com or product back labels for additional information on which primer is right for your project and detailed instructions on how to apply our products. Check out our Coverage Calculator to understand your estimated paint needs for your upcoming project.
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MAGNOLIA HOME: A BOLD AND MOODY BATHROOM
March 16, 2022A bold color will always give your bathroom a special and unique ambiance to transform your space into a place you never want to leave. In this moody bathroom featuring Magnolia Home by Joanna Gaines® paint, this distinguished color, Locally Grown, creates a sense of relaxation while allowing you to show off your own personal style.
“A deep green like this creates a moody atmosphere, giving a hardworking space a sense of retreat.” – Joanna Gaines
In this bathroom, the pitched ceilings offer a large canvas for color to anchor the vanity, fixtures, and décor. Taking the color all the way up onto the ceiling elevates this bathroom to new modern and refined heights, encapsulating the room with a fresh vibe. The featured color from the Magnolia Home by Joanna Gaines® paint line, Locally Grown, is a deep and sophisticated hunter green that is dusted with olive tones to enhance your everyday space.
The simple yet upscale finishes, such as vertical sconces, a square mirror, bronze fixtures, and natural window treatments round out the space and compliment this bold color. Additionally, incorporating a bright white tub and classic marble-look porcelain flooring create contrast with the green-hued tile and dark green paint. Selecting a bold color for a familiar and commonly used space does not have to be intimidating. When paired with elegant and timeless décor, the space is sure to wow.
A natural wood vanity with modern hardware adds a softness to the moody atmosphere. For a similar look, Magnolia Home by Joanna Gaines offers a selection of interior wood stains to enhance the look and color of your interior wood surfaces, allowing you to choose the right stain color to match your style and compliment your paint color and other finishes.
Inspired by this bold and moody bathroom and looking for complimentary colors for your own space? The curated palette below offers shades that complement and coordinate with Locally Grown.
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