Spruce Up Your Walls With Fresh Paint

Woman rolling paint on a wallAre you tired of drab looking walls that have old, dull colors? Do your walls have a build-up of dirt or grime from children or pets? For those of you looking to save money or, if you want the satisfaction of doing simple home improvement projects yourself, Interior Painting can be easily accomplished once you know how. In fact, once you learn the basic steps involved in interior painting, sprucing up a room with a fresh coat of paint can be fun, as well as economical. All that is required is know-how, essential paint supplies, including ladders, and relevant craft tools to carry out your task.

Kinds Of Paint

There are many fine paint products on the market today. Before you select what color or brand, you’ll need to know basic paint composition commonly used for walls, ceilings, baseboards and trim, as follows:

Common walls: Use flat or satin paint
Bathroom/kitchen: Use gloss paint with high-gloss for trim.

While latex paint is more commonly used for interior painting, some people opt for an oil-based paint for walls and trim. If you choose oil paint, you will need to ensure that both primer and trim paint is also oil-based for consistency.

Basic Preparation

Preparing your room properly can take as much time as the actual interior painting yet it is a critical step to avoid problems later on. First, either remove furniture from the room or move it to the middle, away from walls and baseboards. If moved to the middle, place tarps over the furniture for protection. Equipsupply.com has several sizes of blue poly tarps that are effective for this purpose.

Next, you will need to remove electrical plates, followed by a thorough wall cleaning to remove any grime or old paint buildup. If your walls have a lot of this, you may need to sand portions to adequately remove it. Equipsupply.com carries sanders and sandpaper for your convenience.

Once cleaned, apply some tape to protect trim and seams from brush or roller spills. We carry several varieties of tape for this purpose. After tape has been applied you will need to cover the floor with tarps. Non-skid canvass tarps are best, although you will want to use a blue poly tarp in your staging area where your paint cans and trays will be kept.

Paint From The Top Down

Once you have fully prepared the room, you’ll begin the actual painting process. Paint supplies you’ll need are brushes, rollers and trays. Brushes are used for corners and fixture areas and rollers for wall expanses. Start with the ceiling first since it may drip on what is underneath. You will apply a primer coat initially to help cover marks or stains.

For large wall and ceiling expanses, apply the roller in an overlapping “M” pattern for evenness, making sure any lines or drips are rolled out evenly. Once you have applied the primer coat, let it dry for at least 2 hours before applying the paint itself. We also recommend using two thin coats of paint as opposed to one thick coat since the latter can look uneven once it dries.

The Finishing Touch: Baseboards And Trim

After the ceiling and walls have been completely primed and painted and allowed to dry, you will paint the trim. Remove the previously applied tape from baseboards and affix it to the walls nearest the trim to prevent overage. Trim painting requires more delicate application using small brushes and should be done in carefully applied stokes, again using two thin coats as opposed to one thick coat.