Transforming your space can be as easy as a fresh coat of paint. You can do it yourself, we'll help you get through smoothly from start to finish and avoid common mistakes. Let's paint!
Transforming your space can be as simple as a fresh coat of paint. Hiring a painting company can be expensive. Using a contractor makes the job quick and easy, but maybe you'd rather use that money on yourself in other ways. That money could pay for a weekend getaway or a few nights out on the town with food and drinks. If you're focused on saving for the future, or other financial pursuits, DIY house painting leaves you with a little more cash.
Now that you've decided to save money and do the painting. It seems pretty straightforward, you could handle it on your own. You're savvy, but no matter how smart you are there are things you just don't know until you know!
We are going to share a couple of basics that can make the whole thing go smoothly and make the experience a lot more enjoyable for you.
Gather your supplies - Assess the rooms you will be painting. Make a mental list, or a real list of what you might need to complete the job. Paint store staff with be able to help you determine how much paint you will need. But if you want to figure it out before hand, a standard gallon of paint will usually cover 400 square feet of wall. This can vary by brand. Usually a bedroom is about 400 square ft. and you can count on doing at least two coats unless you are just freshening up the current colour.
Prep the entire room - It can be tempting to start painting immediately and move things as you paint. This will get messy and you will likely damage furniture and other items in the room. It can impact the quality of your paint finish due to the rate your are painting, distractions and obstacles. You can avoid that with a few steps.
Move all the furniture away from the walls.
Cover furniture or items with porous surfaces.
Take art and photos down from the walls.
Remove faceplates and any other fixtures.
Prepare a space to clean up your tools.
Prep the surfaces at the very least wipe down your walls to avoid painting dust and webs into your walls. They show up as chunks and catch the light. If you want to correct lumps and bumps in the paint you can use fine sandpaper over the walls before washing to restore that smooth appearance. Fill any holes or large dents with "dap", let it dry and then lightly sand to level it with the rest of the wall.
Cut the edges give all the edges of your first wall a coat of paint about a quarter to half a foot out from the edges. If you don't have any confidence in your ability to freehand the edges you can tape off all the edges. This can be tedious and might be the most time-consuming part of the job, however, it does make the actual painting much simpler. You can decide which option is best for you. If you want to try freehand cutting, don't be scared you will likely be better than you think. It just takes a little bit of practice, and with a couple of video tutorials, you should be ready to go.
Roll the walls using your roller, cover the walls with paint only just overlapping the edges that have already been painted. Try to paint in a consistent pattern. Load the roller with paint generously, but not dripping. Don't allow the roller to get completely empty while rolling or it will begin to pick up the paint from the previous strokes and leave very noticeable streaks.
Cover paint and supplies after your first coat, close your paint can and cover your tools and poured paint with plastic to keep it getting a film of dried paint.
Inspect for problem areas step back and take a look at the work you've done. Check it from different angles. You may need to apply more "dap' and repeat the patching step for holes or dents that are still showing. If there are patched areas that are protruding sand them down.
Repeat cutting and rolling
Inspect for touch-up areas look at each wall from different angles, it's so much easier to touch up before you clean up than it is to take everything out again.
Clean up use that space you made during prep to rinse and clean all your tools well. You can use them again if you clean and store them well. If you don't mind paying for more tools feel free to toss the brushes and rollers. (but don't throw out the roller cage!)
That's it! Now enjoy your space, it looks beautiful and you have some extra cash to spend however you'd like.
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