Eco-friendly paint, paint to reduce heat inside the home, anti-bacterial paint to get rid of lizards and pests, roof paint to prevent direct heat of sun from getting inside, scratch-free paints – now paints are of different types and interesting categories. Let me give you a brief idea of a few such paints available in market.

Poison-less paints

Echo-friendly paint that never harms our nature or health is the most popular star now, in the field of paints. Paints available in foreign countries are insoluble in water and do not contain traces of lead. Such lead-free paints are now available in our markets too. Such paints do not own severe and pungent smell of normal paints.

Love to light colours

Till most recent times, dark and fluorescent colours were used every where, in kitchen, bathroom and even living room. Dark colours can change our mood and make our minds tensed. Now everyone feels that light colours are simply the best; light pink, lemon green, sky blue or simple white or off-white shades.

But people still do experiments with colours for their interior. Painting one wall or pillars with dark shade for highlighting or drawing a border with dark colour are the latest updates. Paintings, designs and borders can be highlighted using dark shades or even contrast shades.

Dark colours cost more. Also it is more expensive to re-paint darker shades if you want to choose light colours now. Giving up dark and bright colours and taking light colours for your interior adds a ‘classic look’ to your rooms.

Giving contrast colour to one complete wall of rooms was the trend a few days back. Now it has changed to highlighting a part of a wall only, using any designer paint. Now designer paints of different colours and patterns of major brands are readily available in the market. Texture finish paints with rough surfaces and well-polished marble finished ones – designer paints are available in two derivatives. Such paints cost up to 75 rupees per square feet. 

To paint kids’ room, paints with cartoon characters and stencils are available. Kids themselves can paint according to their creativity using painting kits available. Normally it falls in the range 1000 – 2000 rupees. Scratch-free paints, odourless paints and antibacterial paints are latest updates.

Extra care for outer walls

Outer walls are exposed to sun and rain and hence need extra protection to withstand climatic variations. Avoid fissures and cracks, reduce heat inside home, protect home from UV rays, protection against fungus – promises of leading brands of exterior paints are many. Choose those which meet your needs and fit your pockets.

Decorative paints are also available in exterior paints. A single wall or pillar can be painted with glitter. Metallic shades of almost all colours are available in market. Exterior texture paints are also available. But it’s a headache to maintain exterior texture paints. Almost all exterior paints are washable and they can be cleaned using soap water and sponge.

Painting – latest trends

Now variety colours are available – from orange to lavender and blue to magenta. Though a bit expensive, silver and golden colours can be chosen to paint sculptures and pillars. Earlier we can’t live in a newly painted home for 2 or 3 months. But now odourless paints solve that problem too and its price starts from 260 rupees. Kids’ paints to draw pictures and cartoons, texture paints and designer exterior paints fall under this category.

How to choose good shades and workers

All defects and mistakes of construction work are cleverly concealed using painting work. Also, good finishing adds extra beauty to the physical appearance of your home. So give the painting work to experts. Trends are changing day by day. So, give work to those who know about latest techniques and paints available in market. Now, leading paint companies have come forward to give shades to your homes. With the help of photo computing they give colours to models and ask you to choose your favourites. They are well-aware of the latest painting styles too.

Choose paints according to your personality. If you are choosing paints according to fashion trends you may need to change colour once the fashion is updated by a new version. You can choose colours according to the usage of rooms also. Bright decorations of your kid’s room walls and ceilings will never fit your dining hall. If your room is too small, paint one wall with dark colour. When someone enters the room, this dark colour catches his eyes easily; it’s psychological. If a particular room receives enough sunlight you can use dark colour paints. Sunlight makes the colour more intense and attractive.

Some painting tips

• Primer helps in the finish of paints. Primer and putty help to diminish small damages, rust, scratches and similar problems of your walls.
• Five things should be noted while painting. Clean the surface well before painting. Once the surface is free of fungus and dust, you get good finish. Once putty is coated your wall gets enough power to resist fungus, rain, UV rays of sunlight and similar damages. It covers the pores of your walls too. Then primary coat and secondary coat of paint is applied on surface.
• Newly plastered wall should be dried well. Then only it should be painted. It takes at least 90 days, but prevents moist patches from appearing.
• If fissures are present in your wall, it should be cleaned well and applied putty and primer. Then only you should apply primary coat of paint. Now paints with elasticity are also available.
• Before painting the surface should be cleaned well. You should never increase the thickness of putty or paints. First coat of paint should be dried well before the application of second coat. These things should be noted while painting your walls.