When it comes to home renovation projects, such as painting, a great way of saving money is by doing things yourself. Not only can a new coat of paint completely transform a room, but it’s also a pretty fun thing to do, and when you take the time to do it right, it’s very satisfying to see the end results.
However, if you’ve never painted before and aren’t sure that you’ll be able to do a good job, we’ve got some good news for you. Anyone is capable of painting a room, or even an entire house, and there’s no reason that you can’t achieve a professional looking finish.
So, in this post, we’re sharing some of our top 5 tips for fast and effective painting to help you feel confident that you can tackle this project.
Preparation is Key
As with most things that you want to have done well, the preparation matters most, and will really determine the end result. Painting your walls is no exception, and in fact, may be the most important part of painting.
Although preparation definitely takes some time to do right, it’s worth doing if you want to have a high level finish with your paint.
The condition of your walls will also largely determine how much preparation you need to do, but in most cases, you should make sure the walls are free from dirt and debris, so giving them a wipe down with a damp cloth and then letting them dry before applying paint is a must.
If the walls are uneven or have chipped paint on them, you should spend some sanding the walls to ensure that they’re smooth. Another important thing to do before painting your walls is to look for any holes or cracks and fill these before painting.
Once you’ve done all your prep work for painting, you can now go ahead and apply the primer and base coat if you’re using this, or simply apply the main coat if it already has the primer included.
Use The Right Roller
To ensure you get a good, even coverage when painting a wall, the roller you use matters as much as the method you use. For painting walls, you should aim to use a fabric roller instead of a foam roller, since these are made for hard surfaces such as furniture and wood.
Of course, not all fabric rollers are made the same, so take your time and research them a little bit to find something that is good quality and preferably has been recommended by professional painters.
Use a Spray Gun
If you feel like a roller isn’t for you when painting, then a spray gun is a great way to get a truly professional level of coverage, but also get the job done much quicker than you would when using a roller.
With so many spray guns and paint spray tools on the market today it can be hard to know which ones to look for, since they’re not all going to provide you with the same level of coverage you need, and some can be very expensive as they’re typically designed for professional use, or for larger projects.
However, they can make a huge difference to the end result, so it’s worth doing a little research to find the right one.
Forget The Painter’s Tape
This tip may seem counterintuitive since painter’s tape is usually the very first thing that’s applied before painting begins. This tape is ideal for protecting things like skirting boards, light switches, and even your ceiling from paint running.
However, it takes a while to get it all in place, and requires standing on ladders, and can be quite awkward at times, so a great alternative to using painter’s tape is to use a brush with cut-in edges so that you can get a clean paint line without worrying about running, or any mess, as well as save time on applying tape everywhere.
Get The Right Extension Pole
One of the easiest ways to paint with a roller is by using an extension pole, but again, they’re not all made equally, so it’s important to get one that works for your height, as well as the height of the room you’re going to be working with. The best kind of extension pole to get is one that’s adjustable so you can change the length as you go around the different areas of the room.
We hope that this post has been helpful, and gives you the confidence you need to go ahead and tackle that paint job you’ve been putting off.
