Tips for painting a room
Posted by Victoria Yardley on
If you are fed up of staring at flaking, fading paint and think it's time your walls had a refresh but aren’t sure where to start, Victory Colours are here to help. We have put together our top tips for painting a room to help you paint like a pro. DIY doesn’t need to be difficult, especially not if you’re properly prepared with the right materials, tools and knowledge.
Preparation tips for painting a room
Before you get started putting paint onto walls, it's important to make sure you have completed the necessary preparation steps first. Most people think the first step is to prime the walls, however that is not the case. Before you get to that point you want to make sure you have the correct materials and tools ready.
Materials:
Tools:
- Paint brush
- Roller
- Roller tray
- Dust sheet
Once you have gathered all of the necessary materials and tools, you are ready to get started with prepping your walls for painting. It's always worth spending that little bit of additional time to prepare your walls before painting because it will give you a much better finish. Firstly, you will need to make sure that your walls are dry, dust free and smooth without any holes, cracks, flakes or peeling. The easiest surface to paint is a newly plastered wall.
After you have made sure the walls are to the right standard, we recommend removing as much furniture from the room as possible to prevent anything getting damaged or stained with paint. If you can’t remove the furniture, the next best thing is to move it to the centre of the room and cover it with a protective dust sheet.
The final preparation tip is to apply a Primer/Sealer, if the walls are freshly plastered, or are a particularly porous (for instance if they have been previously painted with cheap contract matt paint) with a roller to seal the surface, providing a smooth and clean area for paint to adhere to. The risk of not priming walls is that the plaster can soak up any paint like a sponge which will cause you to waste a lot of product by needing to apply more coats.
Tips for painting a room
Once you have prepared the surfaces for painting you are ready to get started with applying the paint. We have put together our top tips to make sure you get the best results from your next DIY painting project.
Tip 1- Gather your tools and materials.
Tip 2- Buy a low VOC paint sold by Victory Colours. A low VOC paint is the best way to avoid the nasty side effects that come with a fresh lick of paint. These effects include strong chemical odour, dizziness, nausea and more.
Tip 3- Move any furniture out of the room and if that is not possible, move furniture into the centre of the room and cover with protective dust sheets.
Tip 4- Cover any switches, sockets (or loosen the screws and paint behind the edges - ensuring to turn the electric off in that room while you do it) and skirting boards with masking tape. If you’re painting a wall a different colour to the ceiling or adjacent walls, we also recommend you run masking tape along the edges to get a clean finish.
Tip 5- Prime the walls with a high quality primer and sealer.
Tip 6- With a roller make sure to get enough paint on the roller, by rolling it along the paint tray a few times to get even coverage of paint, don’t be stingy with the paint, but equally don’t overload the roller and end up spattering paint everywhere when you start rolling.
Apply the paint in a zigzag pattern then go back over the space with overlapping strokes, ensuring to always paint in the same direction. This is the best method to achieve an even finish.
Tip 7- Use a small brush or roller for the edges and corners- this will give you more control over the paint. Learn more about how to paint a wall with a roller in one of our previous blog posts.