Painting Tips

Painting tips

Organize a work station

It always pays to create a tool station in the middle of the area you’ll be working in. Gather together your paint, brushes, rollers, hammers, screwdrivers, plastic bags, plastic wrap, rags, paint can opener, and drop cloths.

Have a preparation day

Have a whole day just dedication to preparing to paint. Don’t try to get everything done in one day. Use the day before painting day to gather furniture in the center of the room (or remove it altogether), patch any cracks and holes, put blue painter’s tape around doors and windows, and cover wall and ceiling light fixtures (light bulbs removed, of course!) with large plastic bags.

Cover All Hardware

Use some zip top bags and remove all cabinet knobs and hinges, door knobs, light switch plates and outlet covers, and light fixtures. Place the pieces together in separate bags and clearly mark the contents and location (top left cabinet, bathroom door, etc) you took them from. Take this opportunity to also give your hardware a good clean.

Prepare yourself

Reserve some old, but comfortable, clothes for your painting jobs. Slip-on shoes are easy to take off if you need to leave the room. You won’t have to worry about tracking drops of paint into other rooms. When you paint the ceiling, put a scarf, shower cap, or old baseball hat over your hair and some plastic over your eyeglasses.

Choose the right brushes

Paint brushes with natural bristles are meant for oil-based paints. Natural bristles will soak up the water and go limp in water-based paints. The newer synthetic bristles were designed for water-based or latex paints, but can be used for anything. Densely packed bristles that taper to a chisel edge help with painting a straight edge, cutting in or tipping. Split ends or “flags” hold more paint and spread it more evenly and smoothly. So chose the right brush for you.

Painting Tips

– Grasp sash and trim brushes as you would a pencil. Hold a wall brush with your entire hand

– Never dip a brush more than about one-third the length of the bristles into the paint. If you do, the brush will be very hard to clean.

– To paint a corner, paint out from the corner for five or six strokes, then smooth over them with a single, long, smooth stroke.

– Load a roller by filling the well of the pan about half full and set the roller into the well. Then lift the roller and roll it down the slope of the pan two or three times to work paint into the roller.

– With a roller, begin by making an M, a backward N, or a W pattern about 3 feet square. Always start with an upstroke so paint won’t run down the wall. Next, fill in the pattern with crosswise strokes. You should be able to paint each 3-square-foot area with one dip of the roller.