Painting Walls Like A Pro

“Oh my! Who did you get to paint your house? I need to get their contact info!” Is the question your friends and family will ask when they come to see your new colors. Although you may want to be careful on how you answer…. You know family, they’ll put you to work! 

If you’re a crazy person like me you say “I did!” as loud and proud as you possibly can, that is also how I started painting for my friends and family, and gained years of expertise in the subject.

Follow these tips below to ensure a professional quality and durable finish, making your home look fresh, updated, and as unique as you are! 

Preparing Your Walls for a Flawless Finish 

You’ll remember in my blurb about paint sheens that some of the sheens will show imperfections more so than others, to avoid this cundrome altogether we will need to ensure that the walls are as smooth as possible before we add any primers or paints. The reason for that is it is a lot harder to correct imperfections once the primers and paints have dried and cured. 

Cleaning the walls: The do’s and don’ts

Not all cleaners will clean effectively this is where most household cleaners will not work so avoid things with perfumes and shining agents in them as these types of chemicals will leave behind a film on the surface that you are working with, and poor adhesion of the primers and paint. The best cleaners are a mild dish soap with warm water or mineral cleaners which can be found with the painting supplies at your local hardware store. 

Washing the walls should be done before patching any holes with plaster or drywall compound. Then again a good wipe down with a slightly damp cloth after the patching materials have dried and the walls have been sanded to get rid of any dust so paint will adhere appropriately to the wall.

Sanding: tips for attaining the perfect surface 

When sanding the walls it is important to pick the proper grade of sandpaper if it’s too low it will scratch the walls and would cause a terrible mess to try and fix. If the grade is too high like a finishing grade the sandpaper or block would get clogged up to much causing you to use more product than necessary which in turn ends up being costly. 

When sanding it is most important to know the type of surface you are working with and when to sand and how much to sand, If you have a fresh sheet or patch of drywall you will want to do a light scuff on the raw drywall as to not rip the paper coating, when you are sanding the mud you need to make sure that the edges have a smooth transition between the drywall and the joint your working with, the best tool to use for this is none other than your own trusty hands run your hands along the wall to check for smooth feathered out edges. If you don’t feel any bumps or ridges your good to go on to the next step Just don’t forget to clean up that dusty wall with a SLIGHTLY damp rag – no cleaners needed at this point and let dry before you start with primer.   

I found that the best tools with using sandpaper is using a sanding block if your local hardware store sells them( its easier on the hands) If not find an extra piece of a 2×4 block of wood to wrap the sandpaper on, If you have a little bit of extra cash and would like to get a “proper sanding tool” you local hardware store will have different sanding tools for your job as well.  

Alright we have gone through the tools and technique but what about the sandpaper itself, again why so many options! The different grades are for different materials for our purposes here you will want to ensure that you are using the grits between #100 – #120, If you would like to use a sanding after the paint job is fully completed you would use a higher grit between 150 – 200 grit, and you would want to sand very lightly to give your final product a nice finish. 

Priming the walls: why it’s a crucial step 

Alright we are almost to our paint stages here everything is cleaned, sanded smooth and cleaned again! 

Now it’s time for the primer. Why do I need it? The primer is an important step that gets overlooked quite often, however it will help keep a uniform finish once the project is done and depending on if there have been issues with the space before we started this project, Some primers will help seal the raw drywall compounds, some will help seal stains or mold damage and some primers will help prevent mold growth so if you are painting any high humid areas like your bathroom or kitchen this should be something to take an extra little bit of time on and add in the extra step. Always of course do your research for the best product to work with for the job at hand.

Choosing the Right Tools for the Job

Brushes, rollers, or sprayers: selecting the best tool

When it comes to selecting the best tools for the job you need to be aware of the type of surface you are dealing with and also the type of paint your working with. When you use an enamel or oil type paint you need brushes with natural bristles, With rollers it is best for drywall to be using the 10mm-15mm thickness or “nap” which is really the thickness of the fluffy part of your roller. Any thicker than that you risk paint drips and uneven coating are likely to occur.

When you are dealing with a latex paint you want to use a brush with synthetic bristles in order to get better coverage and flow of the paint. With rollers it is best for drywall to be using the 10mm-15mm thickness or “nap” which is really the thickness of the fluffy part of your roller.

Drop cloths 

ARE A MUST!!!! Unless of course you are switching out your flooring later anyway. If your on a tight budget and the brushes and rollers took up a bit of the funds, find an old sheet or duvet cover something preferably that has a minimum of two layers, or that you can put into two layers. This is going to protect your floors from rouge paint that may want to drip or spatter a bit. Also please always be sure there is a space for the paint can and roller trays on the drop sheet as well.

If you are way too fond of your current bedding linens and do not want a mosaic of colours on them. You can always pick up either plastic drop cloths or reusable ones at your hardware store. I would highly recommend the reusable ones because they will come in handy when doing any other odd jobs around the house when you need something protected and will end up saving money in the long run.

Tape

Tape a sticky situation! For new painters it is a great tool to have in order to stop paint transfers from getting on areas that don’t require paint or the colour you are currently working with. Now if you are brand new to painting and have no idea what to tape off, the common areas would be your base boards, around light switches electrical outlets (these items are best to remove the face plates throughout the entire process.) if you are doing the roof tape off the base of your lighting fixtures, and if you have ceiling fans I recommend using a lightweight plastic drop cloth to cover the blades etc. You are also going to tape off any walls that join together but you want separate colours for.

Now if you are in the tape isle in the store and you see different widths don’t worry about it too much start with the wider widths and the better you get at painting and cutting in techniques the narrower you can go with the tape until you don’t need it anymore.

If you are like me and have been painting for quite a bit taping everything off is actually going to cost both time and money, when I am doing any of my brush work I always keep a damp/wet rag with me to wipe up any accidental brush strokes, I find that to be easier than taping everything off.

Now tape is a very good tool especially when trying to paint stripes or trying some geometric styles, tape out the shape that you want and go for it!!

Mastering Painting Techniques for a Professional Look,

Alrighty! We are now ready to “slap” some paint on those walls! How ever I would take a bit more care than to just start slapping things all over the place this would indeed create quite a disatourstios look ( unless of course that is what you were going for.) Keep in mind once drips and hard edges happen it is really hard to correct them once the paint is dry and cured.

So we start with our brush work, when using a brush or roller it is most important to have not to much and not too little paint, To much paint will cause uneven rough looking spots with paint drips all over the place. To little will give and uneven coating and cause you to have to go back over the area.

If you don’t have the fancy brush bucket not to worry a paint can or a cut up vinegar bottle or a repurposed sour cream container will work perfectly! Pour some paint into to spare container and dip your brush in about a 1/4 of the way in then scrape off the access paint from the side of the brush, Make sure when your brush touches the wall it has a slight bend and then once you have traced your line go back and “feather” out the edge of that line. This will ensure that the brush strokes blend in with the roller. Congrats! you have just learned how to “cut in” a wall! (not a dance that’s something different.) Now you need to make sure that the paint on your cut in’s are still wet when you bring out the roller. So to avoid that drying out make sure you only cut in the amount of space that you can roll out effectively.

For myself I am able to cut in an entire 10X10 room and then get the roller going before anything has a chance to dry. If your new to this start with one wall or have a friend come and help and one person can do the cutting in with the brush while the other follows along with the roller. The project will be done a lot faster. As they always say “Team work makes the Dream work”!

Lets load up that roller!! This step you will need the roller tray its up you if you want the inserts for that tray it will make clean up a little easier. Now pour some paint into the deep part of the tray about 3/4 of the way full. Now dip one side of the roller into the paint and then roll it up the tray this will even out the paint on the roller and get rid of any access that may cause drips. Now sometimes I have to take my hand and move the lighter side of the roller into the paint and then roll it back up the tray you will need to repeat this until the roller feels evenly coated.

Then start in the middle of the wall and work in long V angles moving up to the tippy top of the wall and down to the very bottom of the wall moving back into that cut edge while its still wet. This will create an even coating. However depending on your color choice here is going to depend on how many coats you will need to get a full coverage. I never NEVER recommend doing any less than 2 coats of paint, even on the paint products that mention they are a one coat paint. Simply put there is no way to ensure a full coverage with one coat and hence affecting the durability of the product.

Post-Painting Cleanup and Wall Care

PHEW!!!! That was a lot of hard work! Now step back and take a gander at your fresh new look! Job well done! ….. well until you put your foot in the paint tray, Which is why we will tidy up before we start inviting everyone over to the new art gallery that is your living room walls.

It is important to clean everything up after you are finished with the project as it will keep your tools lasting longer if they are not all gunked up with dry paint.

For acrylic paints mild soaps and warm water will clean everything nicely. For any type of enamel or oil based paint you will require a special Acetone cleaning agent.

Please remember to check your city/town’s bylaws on how to properly dispose of these types of chemicals as they are harmful if disposed of incorrectly.

When painting check the information on the product in order to determine how long you need to let the paint dry for and then how long it takes to “cure”.

If you do not let the paint finish curing and start putting stuff up against the walls or adding your decorations, The paint can transfer if it is not properly dried and cured.

Thanks for reading! and good luck with your painting adventure!