Give your home the ultimate makeover by doing your own paint job and experimenting with colors. The great news is this is something you can even do by yourself over a long weekend. This is very popular right now. From installing your own wallpaper, to building your own simple furniture, DIY home projects are all the rage. Home renovation shows like Flip or Flop, and Pinterest Inspiration boards show us just how easy it is to do home makeovers and get results that are pretty close to professional level.
One of the best ways to breathe new life into a room that feels a little stale is a new coat of paint. Professional house painters can get the job done very quickly and easily, but if you have some time and energy to spare you can do all it yourself. How do you make sure the paint job won’t actually look like it was done by an amateur? It’s all about doing the process right and not rushing it. That way, you’ll end up with a fresh new look and some extra dollars in your pocket. Here are few tips for making sure you do a really good paint job on your interior walls.
Pick the Right Time
You want your paint to dry easily and as fast as possible, so avoid painting in the rainy season or when it’s extremely cold. You would have to end up getting heaters to help it dry which is not an expense you want to have if you’re already trying to save costs. Also waiting days for paint to dry might affect your family’s routine. So try to pick a nice sunny weekend to do this job so you don’t have any of those issues.
Gather What You Need
If you’re doing a DIY paint job, you need to have the right equipment because it affects the quality of the result you’ll get. Some of the stuff you’ll need includes;
- Roller brushes
- Rags
- Paint trays
- A ladder
- Primer
- Painter’s tape
- Good quality paint
Safety First
Paint contains chemicals that aren’t so healthy to inhale and handle so the first very thing you need to do is get the adequate protective gear to protect yourself. That means things like safety glasses, a respirator and gloves. You’re bound to get some paint on you, so buy some overalls or wear old clothes to make sure you don’t end up ruining perfectly good clothing.
Prep the Room
If you’re painting a furnished room in your home, make sure none of those things end up getting paint stains which are hard to remove. You can either move all the furniture out, but if that’s too hard, move it to the center of the room and cover it with large sheets of plastic. Once that’s done, cover the floors with drop cloths or tarp. Remove any light fixtures, plugs and powerpoints so that they don’t get paint on them.
Fix Imperfections
The last thing you want to do is paint over a wall with imperfections so the very first thing you should do is inspect the area you want to paint. Are there any cracks that might need to be filled before you do anything else? Also make sure these cracks aren’t an indication of a bigger problem with your house’s foundation so you can get that looked at before going any further. If there are any imperfections you need to fill these in with a spackling agent. Make sure you also sand the areas you’ve repaired so that you have a nice smooth surface to work with. A lot of people make the mistake of rushing to paint over the imperfections, but this will just make your paint job look sloppy and anything but professional.
Get to Painting!
Now that you’ve prepped the room and fixed the imperfections on the walls, it’s time to get to work. The very first thing to do is use painters tape on the walls to cover where the ceiling meets the walls, and any mouldings and skirting. You can make it so much easier by using a roller brush with an extension pole. That way you get a really good and even application without overworking yourself. Make sure you paint from top to bottom to get the best look!
Painting your home doesn’t have to be an extremely hard job. If you invest in really good paint and great equipment, and you prep the room correctly – you won’t have any problems making your home look like it was painted by a professional.
