Paint like Pro - Repaint a Room - Part I

Painting An Interior Room
Release : 30 September 2010
Field   : Home Handyman
Focus   : Preparatory Painting Tips


A change is as good as a holiday and a fresh lick of paint is one of the most rewarding ways to give a new lease of life to your living space. Sprucing up the bedroom or lounge room is a job you can easily knock over in a weekend by getting a few things right from the start.

Here are 10 Top Tips to make the job straightforward and hassle free.

1. Paint

It's a no-brainer that if you're going to repaint a room you'll need paint.  But what type of paint to use?  

    FINISH

Matt and semi-gloss finishes are most commonly used for painting interior walls.  Semi-gloss will appear somewhat brighter and shinier than matt which is great for a hallway or the kitchen but perhaps not what you want in the bedroom.

    QUANTITY

Be aware that painting is all about technique.  As a DIY'er your finesse with the roller is probably not as deft as a pro so you will tend to use more paint per square metre.  

As a guide, calculate the amount of paint you need based on the minimum area the paint is supposed to cover.. then double it and add a bit for safety!  You need two coats.  Even some 'single-coat' paints will need two coats if your technique isn't perfect, besides single-coat paint is also a lot more expensive.

    TINTING

If you need to buy more than a single tin of pre-tinted paint to finish your job then buy them at the same time because the tins on the shelf are likely from the same batch and therefore the closest colour match.

If you have a custom colour tinted, write the colour code on the lid.

It happens often enough when painting that the dribbles down the side of the tin will cover the colour code label from the paint store.

About 5 minutes after you've finished the job you'll forget the colour was called Fuchsia Marmalade or some other wild colour and that can make it a challenge in 6 months time when you want to paint the sunroom the same colour!

2. Brushes

One quality brush is worth 20 cheap brushes from the bargain bin.  Especially if you're an amateur painter, buy the most expensive brush you can afford.

Here's the idea: 

You need a brush to 'cut-in' the edges.  It should be up to 50mm or 2 inches wide. If your hand is small then you might prefer a 30mm or 1 1/4 inch brush. Some people, particularly in Europe, prefer an angled brush to do the cutting-in but I find a straight brush easier to control.

    COSTS

At my local hardware superstore I can buy the cheapie brush for about a dollar. A basic model is about $4.00 and the semi-pro models start around $11.00.

One brush, well cared for, painting smooth walls, will last for years so the brush for 14 bucks is the right one to get!  Oh, wait, there's a beauty for nearly 40 bucks but, er, that's meant for the pro who buys it just because he can!

Stay away from cheap natural bristle brushes.  Nylon or other synthetics are best.  The rule of thumb when choosing the right brush is to aim for middle of the range and go one better than you first thought.  

The pain of the price is nothing compared to fighting through the job with a bad brush.

3. Rollers

Quality of rollers is hard to guess and price isn't always the best guide.  There are some tips to point you in the right direction.

    BIG or little?

A full size roller (more than 200mm or 8inches wide) is great for covering a large area like a ceiling or an entire wall.  A big roller will hold more paint and cover a larger area faster at the expense of using more paint.  If you want to get away with a single coat this is the best tool for the job.  

While you're shopping, grab an extension handle to help reach the top of the wall while standing on the floor.

Small rollers are a brilliant and have become popular in recent years. After 'cutting-in' the edges with a small brush, a 100mm or 4 inch roller can be used to paint a boarder.  This makes rolling with a large roller much easier by reducing the risk of overpainting the adjacent wall or ceiling.

The other advantage of small rollers is they tend to make the paint go further. You can apply a thinner coat using a small roller because you can apply more pressure to a smaller area.  

Care must be taken though not to make the coat too thin or you may end up needing a third coat and another tin of paint.

    BRISTLE, SHAG, NAP, FOAM OR CASHMERE?

Small rollers come in a range of materials.  The guides on the packet give a good indication of the intended purpose.  For quick review consider the following points:

• Long haired rollers are best for heavily textured walls, larger areas and matt finishes.
• Short bristle rollers are best for smooth surfaces and/or high gloss finishes.
• Foam rollers are virtually useless for painting walls - they hold very little paint.

TIP: Use a small roller once and discard it.  

Cleaning these rollers is always possible however it is more environmentally sound to use one and dispose of it.  This is especially true when using oil based paints.

Make sure you have prepared and masked all the areas to paint with the small roller in advance.  If you can use a wet-coat technique this saves on rollers and often one small roller is enough to finished the job.

Article continues, click here to read part 2

So you've got a handle on painting.
Ready to tackle a woodworking project?


What's in the box? I recommend this package
because it has more than you'd ever expect 
from a whole encyclopaedia of woodworking.  
It's much more than just a good plan...