Ok, I’m going to try to walk you through step by step on how to paint a room the correct way. As I’m heading off abroad for a while, I won’t be able to film it yet, but when I can I will film a video to go with this blog post.
There are 3 ways of painting a room
The 3 ways I can think of are: badly, well and properly.
Anybody can paint a room White with Dulux paint. It’s an easy colour and an easy paint to use, very forgiving. Also if you’re painting the ceiling and the walls White, without cutting in, it’s fairly straight forward.
It gets a bit more difficult when you have to do some cutting in, for example a the ceiling is White and the walls are a different colour. If you’re painting an off-White it’s ok but when you paint a deep colour like a red or a dark blue, your lines need to be straight.
And lastly, some paints are difficult to paint as well as some colours. Fluorescent and metallic being the hardest ones by far. One doesn’t cover well and the other is highly reflective. But also, chalky paints like Farrow and Ball demand a good technique in order to achieve a good finish.
Let’s start with the prep
The first step is to have the room ready. You want to fill any holes with wall filler and sand anything that needs sanding. You also want to make sure there is no dust or grease on the walls, for example blue tack, candle wax or damp patches. Before painting, make sure to shake or change the protective sheets, or the dust will go on your paint.
Damp
1. If you see any damps stains on your walls or ceilings, the first thing is to identify where the water is coming from. If it’s a pipe, fix it first then let it dry fully, if it’s from an over flowing drain pipe, clear it. And if it’s coming through the walls, fix the outside walls first then let it dry.
2. Once dry, apply one coat of oil-based paint (undercoat, eggshell, gloss,…) Don’t buy “quick dry” for this, as it will be water-based and won’t work. Let it dry for a day.
3. Apply another coat, then let it dry for a day.
4. Sand it down with 180 or 120 grit sandpaper then wipe with a damp cloth.
5. Apply your paint as normal over the patch as you paint the room.
The painting process
Now that the room is ready, the sheets are down and dust-free we can get started.
If you are painting over new plaster, dilute the paint at a ratio of 50% paint / 50% water. Do the same over the filler patches you may have done. This is so the paint penetrates and doesn’t flake as the temperature changes.
If you’re painting over existing paint you can use your paint directly from the paint tin or add a bit of water if you find it too thick.
The correct way
You need to cut in with your brush and paint with your roller before it drys to avoid marks. This is easily achieved in the UK as it’s not hot here, but if you paint somewhere hot, be mindful of it. Don’t use your brush on all the walls then roll or you will see marks. Do a portion of the wall or ceiling with a brush then cover it with your roller as it’s still wet.
The way to use a roller correctly is to paint 1 or 2 m² in horizontal strokes then without dipping your roller again, painting the same square with vertical strokes when applying the first coat. Then move along until the walls or ceiling are done.
When applying the second coat it’s important to do the same (horizontal, vertical) but finish by rolling up, lifting the roller off the wall, positioning it at the bottom of the wall, then rolling up and so on. On the ceiling you want to paint from the window and away, lift the roller, position it again by the window, then away and so on. It doesn’t matter if you paint from the window or away from it but you have to stick to the one you choose.
This will give you uniform walls and ceiling as opposed to a football pitch look. It’s even more pronounce when painting a bright colour.
For specialty or difficult paints like farrow and Ball with a chalky finish or a metallic or a fluorescent paint, it’s best to have an even surface to work on. So paint the room with 2 coats of Dulux, Valspar or Leyland before applying these paints.
Please note: if the paint is quite transparent, or a metallic paint, it will look different when painted on a White wall or a Black wall. So you might want to try a sample beforehand.
For water-based paints, the re-coat time is about 5 hours in the UK. But it will depend on the paint you’re using, the humidity where you are and the season (Summer,winter)
Masking tape
If you’re confident painting without masking tape (maybe you’ve practiced on a practice wall, or you’re experienced) that’s great. If you want to use masking tape, apply it then paint over the tape with the colour you’re trying to cover. For example, if you’re looking to have a white ceiling and a blue wall, first paint the ceiling 2 coats going a bit onto the walls too. Let it dry, then apply the masking tape as well as you can. Then paint the White on top of the masking tape and let it dry. Once it’s dry, you can paint the blue as normal halfway over the masking tape, this way if some paint will bleed through, it will be the White. And when you remove the masking tape you should have perfect lines. Be careful if you have wallpaper as it might tear it.
Wood work
Now that the walls and ceiling are done, you can finish with the wood work, ie: the doors, windows, skirting boards (base boards) this way you will not splatter small droplets of paint onto the work from the roller, if you were to start with the wood work.
Then remove the plastic floor sheet (get one that’s thick enough so it doesn’t lift as you walk) and let the room dry. Open a window if you can because the airflow is what dries the paint by removing moisture. A heater will not dry it properly, you can have one in the room by all means, but the airflow is what will dry the room. When It’s all done, you can sweep or vacuum, not before it’s dry or it’ll stick to the paint.
I hope this will be useful to you.
Olivier.