Painting as Easy as 1-2-3

It’s as easy as 1-2-3, or so they say – but what do you really need to do to paint your room.  In 10 easy steps and less than $100, you can transform your room:

  1. You’ll need to remove or cover furniture and take out all accessories and wall art.  Cover the floor with a tarp or plastic covering.
  2. Prep work is crucial – your walls need to be clean.  I use a product that’s an eco-friendly TSP that doesn’t need to be rinsed off.  Make sure you use gloves when using TSP.  Use it to sponge down walls – using a mop with a fresh mop head can make it easier, but watch the drips, it can get messy. 
  3.  Might as well paint the ceiling while you’re at it.  Use the mop to wipe it down as well. 
  4. Now that the walls are clean, take a good look at it to see if you need to make any repairs – use spackle to fill and repair holes.  After the spackle dries, just sand it smooth to the rest of the wall.  Wipe down with a damp sponge to make sure all drywall dust is removed.  It will keep your paint from sticking.
  5. I almost always use a primer before I paint.  It helps the paint grip to the wall better and you'll use less paint – which is more expensive than primer.  If walls haven’t been painted in a while – they tend to soak up the first coat, which can be the paint if you don’t prime.
  6. Prime the ceiling, walls and trim – it goes very quickly and easily since you don’t have to worry about staying in the lines.
  7. Let the primer dry completely and paint your ceiling first.  Use flat paint, white ceilings are the norm, but it’s your preference.  Make sure it’s a lighter color than your walls no matter what you choose.
  8. If you’re painting the trim white, I choose to do that next, so you don’t need to tape off the walls.  You'll be painting over any 'mistakes'.
  9. The trim will need to dry thoroughly.  This is where the painter’s tape comes in – tape off trim and ceilings to give clean lines and a professional looking wall.
  10. Make sure you remove any drips while they’re still wet – any other mistakes can be fixed, but paint drips can be a pain to go back and remove and repaint after they dry.

With new paint products on the market, you don’t need to worry about the smell as much, with some paints, it’s barely noticeable.