Brushes are the standard tools for painters.
Taking everyday items and repurposing them as painting tools saves time and money, while invoking original designs. For home decorating, the applications for using items found around the home for wall treatments are only limited by the items available. An artist uses tools that are outside of the paint box to create distinctive paint effects. By this method, the artist forms her own technique and style that is difficult to reproduce with standard tools.
Water Pistol
Water pistols can be filled with any liquid.
Cheap and disposable, toy water pistols can be purchased at any department or dollar store. Select more than one gun to paint with multiple colors. Fill with vibrant colors and let adults and children spray colors across a light-colored wall or on a canvas. This method creates playful treatments on walls for a kid's bedroom, bathroom or play room.
Cookie Cutters
Cookie cutters are made of metal or plastic, and come in a wide variety of shapes.
Most kitchens have a few cookie cutters in basic shapes, such as circles, stars, moons and triangles. Cookie cutters also come in seasonal shapes, nature-themed designs, letters and numbers, as well as transportation-based cutouts. Dip a cookie cutter in paint and apply to the surface to create uniform shapes on walls for borders or to lay outlines for intrinsic designs. Zany wall treatments include vertical stripes made out of stars or nature scenes using trees, flowers, animal and insect cookie cutters. The ideas are limited only by the shapes of cookie cutters available to the painter. Cookie cutters can be purchased in bulk from kitchen supply retailers.
Kitchen and Bathroom Brushes
Kitchen and bathroom brushes used for cleaning and cooking are inexpensive and found in most department stores. Clean used brushes well before using for painting. According to ArtTalk.com, household brushes come in a wide variety of sizes, bristle types and textures. Use any of these brushes to paint lines, ripples or waves, smudge paints or make hash marks across the wall or canvas.
