Five Easy, Inexpensive Paint Projects to Quickly Beautify Your Home

When time and money are in short supply, it’s hard to think about big remodeling projects. Debbie Zimmer, color expert with the Paint Quality Institute shares, "With a little imagination and a small outlay for top quality 100% acrylic latex paint, you can quickly make big changes in the appearance of your home’s interior or exterior.” Here are Zimmer’s five ways to economically remodel with paint.

Idea #1: Paint just an accent wall. Instead of painting an entire room, consider painting just one wall in a different color. A so-called accent wall can add visual interest to any space and create an opportunity to introduce another hue into your color scheme.

Idea #2: Paint the area above (or below) a chair rail. If your home is blessed with chair rails, think about repainting just the wall area above or below the rail. The natural break created by the trim provides a convenient boundary for the new paint color.

Idea #3: Paint just the interior windows and trim. Another option is to stick with your wall color, but paint your windows, molding, and trim. This can produce dramatic change in almost any room, but especially in those where the walls are painted in a neutral color like beige or off-white.

Idea #4: Paint the front door. Ask any realtor and he or she will tell you that the front entrance is what creates the first impression about a home. By adding a fresh coat of paint to the door, you can ensure that first impression will be favorable. (Note to those who are selling a home: Repainting the front door may be the best investment you ever make.)

Idea #5: Paint just a few exterior architectural details. Even if you don’t have to paint your home exterior for maintenance reasons, you might want to consider painting a few architectural details for appearance sake. Shutters are one possibility. But if you are lucky enough to own a house with some ornamental fretwork, flaunt it by painting the trim in a strong color that contrasts with the color of your exterior walls.

Whatever interior or exterior home painting project you undertake, Zimmer advises that you use a top quality 100% acrylic latex paint. These paints have superior "hiding” capability when painting over dark colors, they are stain- and mildew-resistant, many function as both primer and paint, and best of all they offer tremendous durability, so your paint job will continue to look great for years to come.

For more ideas or information on interior and exterior painting, visit www.paintquality.com.

Editor’s note: Click here for hi-res downloadable images that accompany the release.

About the Paint Quality Institute (SM)

The Paint Quality Institute (SM) was formed by Rohm and Haas Company (now a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company ("Dow”)) in 1989 to educate people on the advantages of using quality interior and exterior paints and coatings. The Paint Quality Institute's goal is to provide information on the virtues of quality paint as well as color trends and decorating with paint through a variety of vehicles, including television appearances, newspaper and magazine articles, and instructional literature. Please be sure to visit the Paint Quality Institute at www.paintquality.com.

About Dow

Dow combines the power of science and technology with the "Human Element” to passionately innovate what is essential to human progress. The Company connects chemistry and innovation with the principles of sustainability to help address many of the world's most challenging problems such as the need for clean water, renewable energy generation and conservation, and increasing agricultural productivity. Dow's diversified industry-leading portfolio of specialty chemical, advanced materials, agrosciences and plastics businesses delivers a broad range of technology-based products and solutions to customers in approximately 160 countries and in high growth sectors such as electronics, water, energy, coatings and agriculture. In 2009, Dow had annual sales of $45 billion and employed approximately 52,000 people worldwide. The Company's more than 5,000 products are manufactured at 214 sites in 37 countries across the globe. References to "Dow" or the "Company" mean The Dow Chemical Company and its consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise expressly noted. More information about Dow can be found at www.dow.com.