Yak Yak Yak: Paint effects

I  sat at home recently and realised that I needed a little colour in my life. Not colour in the sense of wild nights out and flamboyant friends, no, I have plenty of that thank you very much. No I wanted colour as in colour.
My home is lovely, really lovely but I inherited walls in a palette of colours that could only be described as drab, pale washed-out hints of tints of nothingness. Well I’m not that kind of a person am I, there’s nothing pale or washed-out about me, so I embarked on a plan to re-invent my home.
I live underground, estate agents might like to call it lower ground floor but we all know that it’s a basement. A very nice basement it is but one has to take into account that at times it can lack light.
That lack of light was working against me as I wanted bold colours, I wanted bright cyclamen pink and fiery orange, I wanted a charcoal grey that was close buddies with black. What to do?
Well a trip to a local DIY emporium solved the problem as I found exactly the colours that I wanted in the Valspar range at a very sensible price. I bought them and went home knowing that it was only half a problem solved, but how would I apply that colour. Well to start I applied them with a set of Valspar brushes that I am very impressed with, three colours in and they still clean up perfectly each time without losing any of their bristles.
When it came to the walls I had to make a decision, yes I wanted the colours but I also wanted the light. It suddenly came to me, use the colours as statements in the transitional spaces between rooms. I now have a stunning orange hall, all surfaces! And I have a vibrant pink lobby between three other rooms that pulses with a vibrant energy that puts a smile on my face. The charcoal grey wall adds a depth to my living room and makes the huge marbled slate fireplace less imposing. Result!