Give your living room the modern touch

Treat yourself to two of this year's hottest lifestyle trends, with help from International paint. Firstly, you can latch on to the lush painted furniture look. Banish pine and give up the limed oak look, the trend is now for fabulous colours and glossy finishes. The second trend is for detailing, so indulge your passion for patterns and lots of attractive accessories. The art is to keep colours controlled - work with a simple palette but then be bold in your execution.

The simplest of budget furniture can be transformed into the most luxurious looking items with help of Furniture and Cupboard paint. It's so easy to use that the temptation is to paint everything within reach. But the secret is it's tough and hardwearing too, so you know it will stay looking good for years to come.

In the pink In the pink In the pink

Design detail is back on the catwalk - which translates to the revival of pattern back in your home. Wallpaper is one way of achieving the look but stencils (the stylish ones) are also a great way of translating the high street style into your home.

Stencilling may seem at little last decade, but in fact it's making a sophisticated return to the scene. Patterns are big on the fashion catwalks so we want them in our home as well. Cue the fashion stencils for today. No longer small geometric borders, the modern fashion stencils are big, bold and strong. With help from Furniture and Cupboard paint, they are a really cost effective way of totally updating the look of your furniture.

If you're revamping your living room, don't let an old radiator ruin the look. Don't be tempted to paint radiators with anything other than a specialist paint like Quick Drying Radiator Enamel. As radiators heat and cool they expand and contract. This is a tricky surface for paint to work on so you need one that is designed for the job. A radiator paint or enamel is recommended because it also helps combat static - which attracts dust and can quickly spoil the look of a newly decorated radiator.

So the walls are wonderful, the furniture's fabulous, the radiator's ravishing and the accessories are artistically in tune. But the floor is a disaster! New floorboards can look brash and old boards just look tired. Luckily, both can be brought bang up to date with the help of Quick Drying Floor Paint. Hardwearing and long lasting, this is the classic paint for transforming floorboards into the gleaming, glossy highlight of your new design scheme.

Nowadays, many of us are going to be living with our new home décor rather than decorating to sell on. Not only does this give us the freedom to design a scheme to suit our taste, it also means we want it to last. So it's worthwhile taking a little extra time in the preparation before you get into the artistic elements! Check your walls and ceilings for any signs of damp. These could be from old leaks. Once these have been fixed, the old stains can linger and reappear. The answer is to use Anti-Damp Paint. It will even go on while the area is drying out and contains fungicide to protect against mould growth. It can be then be over-coated with the stylish emulsion of your choice with no worries about future breakthrough from the old mark.

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