English Living
Interiors
You’re painting your room wrong- Experts reveal the correct order to paint a room
New year, new home? If you are looking to transform your house in the new year it is important to know the basics, such as what the correct order to paint a room is.
Anyone who’s ever tried to apply ceiling paint after a long day of wall painting will tell you it’s best to stick to a plan. Painting in the right order will make the process easier, as well as helping you avoid any mistakes along the way.
To help you get the perfect finish the experts at The Paint Shed have put together an easy to follow step-by-step guide.
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Pick your colour
When starting any painting project, it’s important to first ensure that your surfaces (walls, furniture etc.) are in good condition. If there are considerable flaws or signs of wear and tear you may need to do a bit of sanding and filing of any cracks and holes.
Next start by planning how you want your room to look. Will you be using one colour for all the walls or including a feature wall? Remember you are not limited to a single colour, you can opt for complementary colours, contrasting colours, accent colours or whatever colour scheme suits your home and personal taste.
Adding colour to highlight mouldings, windows and doors can also be a great way to flesh out a room. When deciding what colour you want to use try to imagine how you want the room to feel. Warm or cool? Clean and calm or bright and playful?
This will help you land on a colour family, once you have that you can pick colours based on how they will interact with your furniture, art and the rest of the house.
Sample shades are also a good way to try out a colour before you invest in it. Paint colours can look different when dried or at different times of the day, for this reason we always recommend testing out a few colours before making a final decision. This colour selector tool will help you find the desired colour of paint in the finish you are looking for.
Karl Solano
2. Prepare your tools
Every project is different and you may need different materials and accessories depending on your paint, design and the condition of your surfaces, but here is a basic guide to what you will need:
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Paint
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Paintbrush
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Paint roller
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Extension pole
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Drop cloths
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Paint tray
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Paint tape
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Sandpaper
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Putty knife
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Filler
3. Prepare your surfaces
Now you have the right tools for the job you can proceed to prepping your room. Start by emptying the room of all furniture or alternatively you can push it all to the centre. Cover the floor and your furniture with a drop cloth or a plastic sheet to avoid any paint splatter.
Next, you should apply painters tape or masking tape to the walls, on the rooms corners, doors, light switch, windows and moldings. This will make the painting process easier.
Next ensure you have filled any holes in the wall and sand them down once dry to ensure a smooth even surface.
Lastly, give the walls a clean, nothing is more disappointing than painting dust into the wall.
4. Painting
Once the room is ready to paint it's best to work from top to bottom, start on the ceiling and work your way down. Start by mixing your paint and then on a ladder cut in along the ceiling with a brush. Then using a roller attached to an extension pole you can paint the rest of the ceiling. Repeat this process when painting the walls, use a brush for edges then a roller, remember to work from the top to the bottom. Look up a few tips on how to cut in if you are a little rusty about those tricky edges.
When painting doors and windows use a small paintbrush, apply at least two coats of woodwork paint and remember to allow adequate drying time between coats.
Last but not least is the skirting boards. After you have sanded any cracks and tapped off where the wall and skirting meet, you should apply two coats of gloss, satin or eggshell paint with a small paintbrush. Carefully remove the tape and you are done!
Remember to view in the daylight to ensure you haven’t missed anywhere or don’t require another coat.
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