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The "Key" Blog

Painting Tips For A Perfect Finish

Painting Tips For A Perfect Finish

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A good paint job can make a world of difference for any room. Here are some essential tips to ensure that your walls have the perfect finish.

Plan Your Approach

Making a plan of action can take a lot of the headaches and hurdles out of your painting project. Make sure you know how you want the room to look before diving in headfirst. Research colors and treatments (feel free to get on Pinterest!) as well as the supplies you’ll need (see below) before you get to the store. Measure the room’s size and do some calculations on how much paint you will need to cover the space. When you get to the store, the number of choices can be a bit overwhelming, so keep your cool with a solid plan in mind. Personally, we love our local Harrisburg Sherwin-Williams® and use them for almost every project.

Choose Your Supplies

Use your plan to list out your painting supplies. Be sure to note any hard-to-reach areas or unique features of the room in case you need to use a special tool. The essential tools for painting include drop cloths, painter’s tape, rollers, brushes, paint trays, cups, pole extensions, paint stirrers, putty knives, and rags for cleaning. However, your space may need something extra to bring your vision to life. Being prepared when buying supplies is the best way to keep your project moving along smoothly.

Prep Your Area

Your walls and surfaces should be prepped and protected for your paint job. Remove all furniture from the room if you can. If not, move all the pieces to the center of the room and cover them with a drop cloth or old sheet to protect them from splatters. You can place the drop cloths on the floor to protect your flooring as well. Check your walls for any dents or nicks that need filling, and make sure your wall surfaces are smooth by sanding rough patches.

Use painter’s tape to mask off your molding and doorways for a clean finish. Some folks may choose to skip this step, as it is a bit time-consuming, but it takes a very steady hand to cut in without the assistance of tape. We think that taping is time well spent and makes a massive difference in the finished product.

Stir your paint before you pour, and each time you refill your tray to keep the pigment consistent and your color rich. We sometimes shake our cans, but we are professionals. We have heard horror stories of people not sealing the lid tightly enough and ruining carpet, furniture, clothing – you name it – so we always recommend that if you are going the DIY route, use a stir stick instead.

Paint The Trim & Cut In The Walls

Begin painting by doing your trim first. If you’re not repainting your trim, then ignore that first sentence. Next, use a brush or a paint trimming tool to “cut in” to your walls at the baseboards and around the doors and windows. Work one wall at a time, starting from the top and working down. If you are using different paint colors per wall, start with your lightest paint color first. Your darker colors will cover any mistakes you make.

Note: If you’re painting your ceilings, do that the very first thing! Cut in, roll, and then move onto trim.

Paint The Walls

Move on to painting your walls. Roll your paint with long steady strokes in a V or W formation to keep roller marks at bay. First, do a vertical letter. Then, do it horizontally over the same area. Be sure to use enough paint to get decent coverage, but not so much that it’s runny. Move from top to bottom and overlap the areas you just painted. Watch for streaks as you go.

Make sure your space has enough airflow for your paint to dry. Bring in fans to speed up the process. Keeping your room well-ventilated can cut hours off your project time. Once that first coat is fully dry, we recommend putting on a second coat to ensure professional looking coverage.

Clean Up

After your room is completely painted, the clean-up begins. Once the paint has dried, remove all the painter’s tape (if it’s still there) from the molding, doorways, and windows. Gather up your wet paint supplies and drop cloths and dispose of anything you are not keeping to reuse. Your brushes and rollers can be washed with soap and water if you use water-based paints and dried for future use. If you happened to paint using oil-based paint, you can use mineral spirits to clean your supplies.

Once your tools are clean, and your paint has dried, move your furniture back into place and enjoy your new space!

 


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