INTERIOR PAINTING TIPS
First, spend some time in choosing the right colors. You can do this by checking out magazines, friend’s homes, or visiting your local paint store. Once you’ve done this, I recommend buying a sample and putting it up to make sure you’ve got it right. Very often, paint chips look different than the actual product on the wall.
Next, create a staging area in which to place your tools and paint. You can do this using a drop-cloth, or a layer of plastic sheeting taped down with blue tape and covered with a layer of rosin paper (commonly found at paint stores).
If you can, clear out all the furniture and accessories. Take everything off the walls. If you can’t move everything out, place the furniture and lamps in the middle of the room and cover them with a good drop cloth or sheet of plastic. Our preference is a sheet of high density plastic, re-covered by a drop-cloth. You can then cover the edges of the room using 3′ wide rosin paper. Tape the rosin paper down using blue tape, and dispose of it later. I recommend creating “walkways” into and out of the area to be painted, using rosin paper, so as to avoid “tracking” of paint.
Fill small nailholes with lightweight (non-shrink) spackle, and larger holes using a home repair product like “bondo” which sets up in minutes. After sanding major blemishes, be sure to vacuum up the dust and then fill cracks along edges of trim.
One can paint around door knobs or cabinet hinges, but it’s always better to remove all cabinet knobs and hinges, door knobs, light switch plates and outlet covers, and light fixtures. Place the pieces together in separate bags or containers and clearly mark the contents and location (top left cabinet, bathroom door, etc) you took them from.
Rather than using roller trays, We recommend using 5 gallon buckets and 9″ roller grids for walls, and 1 or 2 gallon buckets for trim. in fact, bathrooms can be painted using a two-gallon bucket with a 7″ grid and roller. If your project runs over one day, you can cover these buckets using plastic grocery bags, and wrap your brushes in plastic. (leaving the brush in the bucket causes it to look like a banana).
Avoid using tape
It takes a tremendous amount of time to tape crown moldings, window frames and door frames, and then the results are often unpredictable due to “bleed through”. I recommend masking horizontal surfaces, such as baseboards, window sills and flooring to protect them from spatter, and then use gravity to help you “cut in” ceiling lines and vertical window and door edges. Practice your hand-eye coordination! It will pay off.
Need more tips? Contact our professional house painter at Color Touch Painting Company, serving San Ramon, Danville, Pleasanton, Dublin, and other Bay Area cities.
