8 Interior Painting Tips and Advice

If you want to freshen up a room and give it an instant new look, besides buying a wooden bed for your bedroom or an elegant wood bookcase for your home office, one of the simplest ways to accomplish this is by painting. Yet many homeowners dread painting the interior of their home. Painting the inside of your home isn’t as bad as it seems, especially if you know what to do and how to paint in the most efficient manner. The next time you attempt a painting project in your home, be sure to follow these tips to make your project run more smoothly.

1. Don’t try to prep the area and paint it all in one day.
This will only leave you feeling rushed, which more times than not will lead to a bad paint job. It’s a better idea to set aside a separate day when you can do all the prep work for painting. For seldom-used rooms, this can even be done a few days ahead. To prepare a room for painting, you need to focus on taping the walls, laying any drop cloths, moving the furniture out of the way, and gathering all the painting supplies in the room.

2. Don’t try to paint over damaged walls.
Before starting any painting project, you need to look over the walls and fix any cracks or holes there may be. Any cracks and holes you find can be easily fixed with a drywall kit and some sandpaper. The drywall plaster needs some time to dry, so be sure to do this at least a day before you paint. Leave some time to sand down the area as well.

3. Be sure that you choose the best brushes for the paint job.
Natural bristled brushes always work best for oil-based paints. However, for water-based or latex paint, synthetic bristled brushes will give you the most even coat. If you’re dealing with painting a large apse, you’ll want to use foam rollers. Smaller brushes are more appropriate for painting around the trim and windows.

4. First use a primer for a more professional look.
Primers are great, because they just make the paint go on so much more even and also help avoid the possible tainting of the color from a previous wall color. You might even consider having your primer tinted to match your base coat color. Often times, this will help you avoid having to put a second coat of base color on the walls.

5. Be sure to use painter’s blue tape for any areas that you don’t want to get paint on, such as doorway frames, trim, and windows.

When this tape is applied to a smooth surface, it won’t let the paint seep through to the areas underneath. Then when the paint has dried and it’s time to remove the tape, you don’t have to worry about any of the paint coming off with it.

6. Keep plenty of old rags around for any mistakes you might make.
It is an unavoidable part of painting that you will drop some paint on the trim or hit something with a brush that you shouldn’t.

7. Keep your strokes even when painting to ensure an even coat.
Just be sure you have plenty of natural light in the room. This will help you to see where you are painting, as well as any areas you might have missed.

8. Don’t throw away leftover paint so you have it for any future touch-ups or fixes.
If you only have a little paint left, rather than storing that large paint can, simply pour the leftover paint into a glass jar with a tight lid. Just make sure you label the jar with the exact color of the paint, the room it was used in, and the date.

Interior painting projects are never as scary as they seem. By simply following these easy tips, you can be well on your way to changing the décor of your home.