Aids such as a wheelbarrow or rollable mats are of course even better.

With the decorative arrangement of small framed pictures, photographs or other accessories you can loosen up your bedroom walls.

With a few simple tips, you can easily make a wall stencil yourself. Either draw your favorite pattern yourself or print out the motifs: Recurring patterns with flowing transitions can also be mastered by hobbyists.

What you need

In order to put your desired pattern on the wall, you need the right material for the template: In addition to cardboard, thin plastic is suitable if you make the wall stencil yourself. One advantage of the second variant is that it can be recycled: plastic is washable and does not soften due to the color of the wall. You will also need a cutter and a pencil.

Finally, to beautify your wall, you will need paint, a brush, a level, a ruler, and painter’s tape. Tip: You can find special stencil brushes and paints in the hardware store. The brushes have hard, short bristles with which you can more easily reach the fine structures of the stencil. The special paints dry faster than normal wall paint.

Make the wall stencil yourself

Before painting, you must first make the wall stencil yourself. Choose a motif or pattern and draw it on the cardboard or plastic. Tip: If you do not trust yourself to make the drawing by hand, you can simply print out your favorite decor on normal paper beforehand. Cut out the shape with the cutter as a template, place the cut on the actual wall template and trace the outline with the pencil. Then cut out the wall template.

Tip: If you want a recurring pattern, you should bring the same motif next to each other on the template at least three times and cut it out. At the very end, the wall stencil should have four small holes exactly in the four corners, which make it easier to apply patterns seamlessly to the wall.

Use wall template

Making a wall stencil yourself is only the first step, then you start painting. Your wall should already be painted with a base color and dry. Draw the guide line with a pencil and a spirit level. You shouldn’t press too hard on the lines, recommend the decoration experts from “Schöner Wohnen Color”.

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Position the four holes of the wall template exactly on the guidelines and secure the template with the adhesive tape. You then apply the paint with dots so that it does not smear.

If the paint doesn’t cover and you have to paint twice, it can quickly become expensive. Stiftung Warentest tested 46 wall paints and found large differences in opacity.123helpme.me The magazine “Test” also found out: One and the same color is often sold under different brand names – at different prices. We present excerpts from the test result.

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Alpinaweiß covers best

Above all, the paint properties were tested, for example opacity, appearance and surface defects. Eleven colors cover “very good”, five only “sufficient”, writes the May issue of “Test” magazine. Alpinaweiß achieved an overall grade of 1.6 and is therefore the test winner (42 euros per 10 liter bucket). The Schöne-Wohnen colors polar white (40 euros) and spectral white (30 euros) as well as Vectra power white (40 euros) also cover “very good”. The cheapest product in the test, Baufix Crystal Super White (12.50 euros per 10 liters), only covers enough, according to Stiftung Warentest. The do-it-yourselfer may have to paint twice.

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Different names, but same color

What many do not know: Many paint buckets contain the same color, even if they have a different name – for example the house brand of the hardware store. 26 of the 46 colors tested are such so-called equations. For example, behind the Faust Polarweis from the Praktiker hardware store (33 euros) hides the more expensive Vectra Powerweiss (40 euros). The magazine “Test” names the names under which the tested colors are also offered in stores. A lot can be saved there.

Productivity greatly exaggerated

In addition, it was tested how the colors can be processed, i.e. how they are distributed on the ink roller and whether the roller can be easily cleaned after painting. Further checkpoints were health and environmental aspects as well as the declaration. Here, some suppliers tended to exaggerate, for example when it comes to productivity: With the Alpina Ultra, which costs 49 euros, you don’t get 140 square meters as promised, but only manage half of it and have to go to the hardware store again to buy a second bucket. Even with Vectra Profiweiß, the testers only came up with 50 instead of the stated 100 to 130 square meters. These two colors as well as seven other colors were therefore given a deficiency in the declaration.

You can read the detailed test result in the May issue of the “Test” magazine.

Bremervörde (dpa / tmn) – The word gardening lives up to its name – and can put a lot of strain on your back: You often bend down and lift heavy bags of potting soil. The Healthy Back Campaign (AGR) gives tips on how amateur gardeners can prevent pain:

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1. It is best to bend your knees before lifting heavy objects. If you only use the strength of your legs when you get up and push yourself upwards, the back is relieved.

2. It is best to carry heavy loads as close to the body as possible. Aids such as a wheelbarrow or rollable mats are of course even better.

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3. Use the garden hose instead of a watering can – this takes the strain off your back. Tools with ergonomic properties are also helpful here – for example with a telescopic handle or a suitable handle.

4. The AGR advises to make the activities varied and to include enough breaks so that one-sided stress can be avoided.

5. A raised bed at a comfortable working height can be helpful. This avoids a constantly stooped posture, for example when sowing, digging up and harvesting. Working on the floor can also be made more comfortable, for example with a stool or a mat for the knees. Make sure your back is straight.

Masking before painting often takes more time than painting itself. For masking, professionals use special machines to save working time. We’ll show you how you, too, can save time and effort with the right materials and equipment.

Everything about moving

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Use a hand masking device

Masking off before painting is one of the most unpopular tasks when it comes to new furnishings and renovations. Nevertheless, you should be particularly conscientious here – otherwise you will be annoyed about quirks and paint noses every time you look at the wall. For example, you can use a hand masking device to mask quickly and precisely. This device works like a hand-held dispenser for packaging tape. However, when it is unrolled, it connects the adhesive tape directly to the masking paper so that you can mask off in one go.

It is best to seek advice from a hardware store or painter’s shop which masking material and adhesive tape is suitable for this.

Mask off neatly: this is how it works

Before you start, clamp the paper roll and the adhesive tape in the hand-held cover device. Place the device one millimeter above the baseboard at the lower left end of the wall to be painted. While covering the paper, hold it with your left hand and pull the device piece by piece with your right hand along the ledge to the other end of the wall.

When you get there, tear off the paper and press the tape in place. The edge to the ceiling is also covered according to this scheme. Take a strong adhesive tape and stick the cover to the ceiling here as well so that the paper doesn’t get in the way of painting.

Even if you only want to paint one wall, you should also mask the adjacent walls with the hand masking machine: To do this, start in the upper corner of the respective wall and pull the machine to the lower corner.

Protect the floor when painting

You should protect not only adjacent walls, but also the floor from dripping paint when painting: Use double-sided adhesive tape and a painter’s fleece or a tarpaulin. Fasten the double-sided adhesive tape to the underside of the painter’s fleece or tarpaulin and lay the cover out on the floor. Now it can no longer slip and your floor is protected from paint stains. 

Correctly mask off doors, windows and sockets

Mask off window and door frames with painter’s adhesive tape: Apply the adhesive tape two to three millimeters away from the wall surface. It is best to cover a large part of windows and doors with tape, as the brushing movement can easily splash paint on the frames. Apply masking paper or tarpaulin over all window surfaces. Attach the material to the window frame so that the entire glass surface is protected. Use the same principle to cover the door surface.

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Don’t forget to protect the edges of light switches and sockets from the paint: if you have to go quickly, you can tape the plastic parts. Again, do not stick the tape directly to the wall, but apply it two to three millimeters away from the wall. It’ll get neater if you unscrew the socket and switch covers before painting and reattach them after the paint has dried.

The Hornbach hardware store chain mourns the loss of its former CEO and co-founder. Albert Wilhelm Hornbach died on February 20 at the age of 79, as the company has now announced.

Deceased from the world of business

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He joined the family business in 1951 and helped manage the business from 1953. The former CEO of Hornbach Holding AG retired into private life in 2006.

Represented in nine countries

Hornbach operates around 147 stores in nine countries in Europe, 98 of which are in Germany alone. Hornbach Holding AG has almost 16,500 employees across Europe and achieved sales of 3.37 billion euros in the 2013/2014 financial year.

DIY store chains like Praktiker are doing more again in spring (source: imago images) The DIY store chain Praktiker is busy again after a weak start to the year. In April alone, Praktiker implemented so much that the declines from the first quarter were largely offset, said CEO Wolfgang Werner at the annual general meeting in Saarbrücken. Business is also improving at competitor Hornbach.

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Short-time work almost completely eliminated

So far, May has shown a friendly side, said Praktiker boss Werner. “So we got off to a good start in the second quarter, the key quarter of every financial year.” In view of this, short-time work was almost completely eliminated.

No outlook for the full year

Werner did not want to give an exact forecast for the year as a whole. “It’s almost impossible.” He only repeated that Praktiker could still achieve a positive operating result even with a decline in sales. He has more hopes in his home market than in foreign business. Praktiker operates 241 stores of the same name in Germany as well as 76 slightly higher-priced Max Bahr branches. There are also around 100 markets abroad, most of them in Poland and Romania.

Numbers indicate economic recovery

By midday, the share was one of the favorites in the MDAX, up 7.5 percent to EUR 7.05. A trader said: “Many use the Praktiker share as a very cyclical asset to bet on an economic recovery in Germany.” Other stockbrokers also referred to the chart. After the paper failed at a crucial resistance at EUR 6.96, it now seems to be falling.

Hornbach “cautiously optimistic”

With the competition, the signs are also pointing to recovery: Despite the economic crisis, the Hornbach hardware store group is “cautiously optimistic” about the future. In the current 2009/10 financial year (end of February), the company expects a slight increase in consolidated sales, as announced by Hornbach Holding AG. However, Hornbach is assuming significantly lower earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT). In the past year, property sales drove earnings up. Compared to the previous year, EBIT rose by 69.8 percent to 179.1 million euros. / p