Interior painting is always a fun DIY project for the whole family. Plus, it’s plenty affordable to spruce up the rooms in your home with new paint. You don’t even need a whole lot of experience or training to do it either. To help get you started, follow our top five recommended tips below to start painting your home like a professional.
Make sure to seal off electric outlets and baseboards with painter’s tape before you get your brush wet.
1. Prepare Your Walls
The most important place to start when painting a room in your house is to prepare your walls. This prep work includes scraping, sanding, and filling any holes that your wallpaper may be hiding.
Although this may not be the most fun part of painting your home, it is an important part of preparing your home for a fresh new coat of paint.
2. Tape What You Don’t Want to be Painted
You should make sure that you use blue painter’s tape to apply to any area in your home that you don’t want paint splashed around. These are usually areas or edges that your paintbrush may disrupt, such as ceilings, floors, etc. However, make sure that you remove the paint right after cleaning to prevent taking any dried paint off with it.
3. Be Sure to Tint Your Primer
No matter what you decide to paint in your home, you must be sure to prime before you start painting over a darker color or drywall. As your starter paint, primer serves three primary functions. These include blocking stains from bleeding into your wall, helping the paint stick, and preventing your paint from peeling or blistering over time.
Usually, professional painters will tint their primer the color they are painting your walls with to help hide the look of the primer itself. However, these days you can even purchase paints that have primers built-in to cover the look of it on the walls of your home.
Cover your floors with canvas drop cloth to protect them from spills and drips.
4. Choose a Canvas Tarp Over a Plastic One
Both types of cloth will protect your floor and furniture from paint spots. However, even though plastic cloths are less expensive, a canvas drop cloth on is worth the investment. Canvas is more durable and will not tear or rip. It will also lie flatter, which means you have less of an opportunity to trip or fall.
Additionally, canvas cloths absorb paint spots. Plastic ones do not, which means the paint sits atop the cloth and makes it slippery. Plus, canvas cloths can be reused again and again. Do yourself a favor and choose canvas.
5. Use an Extension Pole
Put away your step ladder and instead use an extension pole. These poles telescope and can be attached to a paint roller. They come in a variety of lengths and can measure as long as 18 feet. However, even if you have tall ceilings, you will likely not need one that extends longer than 36 inches.
Try also to find an extension pole that has a non-slip grip at the end. You should also ensure it has a rigid metal core and the threaded end is metal as well. Plastic poles are available, but they are too flexible and difficult to control.
