Painting your interior walls is a daunting task for any DIY enthusiast. To make your DIY paint job easier, we gathered our favourite tips from our London-based team of painters and decorators. Read on to learn more about their favourite painting hacks.
1. Clean dirty walls -
Cleaning your walls before you paint will make sure that your fresh coat of paint bonds to your wall. The easiest way to do this is to use a degreaser, especially on kitchen walls, light switches and scuffed areas. Degreaser is strong – so use rubber gloves and eye protection.
2. Remove light switch plates -
The easiest way to guarantee a neat finish around your light switches is to remove the switch plates with a screwdriver before painting.
3. Use painter’s tape –
Most people reach for the masking tape before painting so that excess paint doesn’t ruin the skirting and cornices. Our painters and decorators recommend blue painters tape: it doesn’t buckle and can be left on for days and removed easily.
Bonus tip: to prevent paint from bleeding through, use a putty knife during application.
4. Fill cracks and sand away flaws –
Any flaws on your walls before you paint will compromise the final look of your paint job.
Sanding with fine-grit sanding paper will flatten out any bumps, especially around nail holes and trimming. Similarly, failure to fill out hairline cracks now will lead to your fresh paint coat cracking down the line.
5. Don’t skimp on the supplies –
They say you get what you pay for, and that’s certainly the case for painting supplies. Cheap paint is more likely to crack and peel, and the cheapest paintbrush at the hardware store will leave your walls looking uneven. To prevent needing painting contractors later on, make an upfront investment and buy good quality paint and brushes.
6. Use a tinted primer –
Using a primer will give you the perfect canvas for painting. Priming your walls first prevents flaws from shining through your paint job, including filled holes and cracks, and scuff marks. Primer is especially important if you’re moving from a dark to light colour, or if you’re painting a porous wall.
7. Box your paint –
Boxing paint is the best-kept secret of professional painters and decorators. Boxing means mixing several cans of the same colour paint in a larger bucket. Professionals do this to prevent colour inconsistencies, because the same colour differs between cans.
8. Add paint conditioner –
DIY painters might be impressed by professional painters’ ability to paint without leaving behind lap and brush marks, but this is easily achieved by using paint conditioner (also known as paint extender).
Using a paint conditioner will give you more time to paint because it prolongs drying time and makes brush strokes less noticeable.
9. Load your paintbrush –
The average DIY painter will load their brush and remove the excess paint on the side of the container before painting the wall. But professionals know that the best way to paint a wall is to “load and go”. Dunk your paintbrush into the paint, tap it back and forth in the container to remove excess paint and start painting.
10. Paint one wall at a time –
When we’re young, we learn to colour in and complete puzzles by doing the edges before filling in the drawing or puzzle. This philosophy carries into adulthood, with home painters doing the corners of the room before going back with the roller.
We recommend you paint one wall at a time, so that the colour blends well, leaving you with a smooth, professional looking paint job.
If you’d prefer to hire painting contractors, TMT Central, London’s expert painters and decorators will give you fast and super-efficient painted interior walls. Contact us now to request a free quote!
To learn more about painting your interior walls, visit these resources:
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