Tired of plain, boring walls? Faux finishes are a great way to jazz up your space with little cost or effort. Here are a few of the most popular finishes.

Sponging: Of all faux finish techniques, sponging is the easiest, even children can do a somewhat messy reproduction of this technique. In order to sponge, you must first paint the entire area one base color. After this coat dries, then you can take a sponge or even a plastic bag, dip it in paint, and apply the paint randomly to the walls. Although this is a random process, you want to be careful not to get any one area of the wall extremely dark or leave it extremely light or your eye will be drawn to that spot immediately. Sponging is very easy, and for all supplies usually costs between $50-$100, which may also include classes if you want to learn from the professionals.

Combing: Combing is a little more difficult. When combing, you use a squeegee with teeth to comb through the top layer of paint. As with sponging, you want to have a bottom layer so that when you comb there will be a matching layer beneath it. Using a combing technique is also very inexpensive, and you can use the squeegee to make wavy, zigzags, and other designs on the wall.

Glazing: Glazing is actually the product that you put over your first coat of paint. In order to glaze your walls correctly, you should take a class. You may be able to find a home improvement store that offers glazing classes or you may need to talk to a local interior decorator about classes, although these will likely be very expensive. Glazing places a transparent coat over the base coat of paint, making the wall look a bit shiny and transparent. You can use as many coats of glaze as you want to get the desired look.

Trompe-L’oeil: Trompe-L’oeil is French for “fool the eye.” This finish fools the eye into thinking that the wall has a marble or granite finish. This is probably the most difficult finish to accomplish on your own. For creating the marble finish, you use a technique very much like sponging, but this one takes a bit more talent. Visit local stores to see if they have classes or tips on achieving this style.

These are the four primary types of faux finishes. The first two are fairly easy, while the latter two are significantly harder. Before attempting any of these, plan well so that you can estimate the cost, and visit your local hardware or design store for classes or helpful hints. Having a buddy to take classes with you or practice with you will make the experience more fun. You can even do one room in your house and then decorate a room in your buddy’s house; the fun never ends

Oil paintings have always brought elegance and ambience to home decor. Many people buy original oil paintings as part of their hobby. But then those who can’t afford original art can certainly find a great alternative. Yes, an inexpensive alternative!

Acquiring original expensive paintings doesn’t fit everyone’s budget. So what’s the alternative if you would still want to own a handmade masterpiece in your office or home? The solution is an oil painting reproduction piece that can be purchased at a fraction of the original price. These oil paintings are near to exact replicas of the original ones. Now, you have to remember that these replicas might fall short on your expectations but then they are much more fabulous then those lifeless prints.

So how do they do it? Oil painting reproduction techniques are very complicated and many consider it an art form by itself. The process of reproducing great art must be handled only by experienced and expert artists who can jot down entire paintings of your choice in a superior quality oil painting form on a bare museum grade canvas. Paintings on canvas are stretched to fit across wooden frames. A gesso ground layer is applied to remove any acidic properties of the oil paints used. Next thing is to apply the pigments and mix it up with the oils like linseed, walnut, safflower, poppy seed and many more. The different ratios between oils and pigments generate lots of different effects on the canvas.

You can have almost any art reproduction done. The elegance of oil paintings is very much in style. These handmade masterpieces add lots of color and class either to your living room or office where you can hang wall art oil paintings. Some people would buy these paintings for decorating, others for collecting and few as an investment. But nevertheless, reproduction oil paintings are available in different shapes and sizes and are considered to hold the passion of the originals. For colors and texture that no print could ever reproduce, check out reproduced handmade oil paintings.

Reproduction oil paintings have made it possible to have a handmade Van Gogh or Picasso hanging in your home. Such exuberant masterpieces are now available at an affordable price for home decorating or even for your office adding a brisk look and a treasured feel.