How to Paint a Room

It is not hard to learn how to paint a room, however some effort is required to achieve professional results. As with most painting projects, proper preparation is essential to receiving a high quality paint job.

Get ready to Paint

1. Move or cover furniture
   A large roll of "painters plastic" works great to cover furniture.
2. Cover floors
   Canvas drop cloths work best. Plastic is too slippery for the floor and the paint doesn't dry very quickly making it more likely you will step in spilled paint and track it onto other floors.
3. Remove or cover lights, switch plates, drapes, wall art
4. Pick out your paint colors (Learn how color affects mood), choose your paint gloss or "sheen" level and estimate how much paint you will need with our paint estimate calculator

Prepare surfaces

1. Remove nails/tape
2. Scrape/sand loose or peeling paint
3. clean
4. Fill holes/cracks
   light weight spackle - doesn't shrink too much - great for nail holes and deep dents and holes.
   vinyl spackle - shrinks a good amount - great for shallow scratches, scrape marks, minor skim coating and reconstructing detail on a corner or on trim.
   joint compound - shrinks a lot - dries fairly soft, sanding is very dusty - great for large scale skim coating.
   Never apply any more than you need (keeping in mind some shrinkage) - the less you have to sand the better.
   
5. Sand
6. Spot prime
   You should spot prime patches, bare wood, and any bleeding type stains.
   patches - prime with wall primer or 1 coat of finish paint
   bare wood - prime with a primer sealer or enamel underbody.
   bleeding type stains - prime with an appropriate stain blocking primer.
   
7. Caulk

Paint Woodwork

Ceiling

1. Cut in
2. Roll

Walls

1. Cut in
2. Roll

Paint basebord

Clean up

Put everything back

Tip: New switch plates, window and door hardware can add a perfect finishing touch to a freshly painted room!

Back to: Do It Yourself Painting