Paint Walls Like a Pro: DIY Help

It seems that as soon as the air begins to cool around here, I get a FEVAH. The good kind! A surge of energetic passion to tackle projects around the house…including painting the interiors. Believe it or not, I have been painting walls and cabinets in recent months (at our son’s condo!). While I haven’t had high energy (we all know painting can be a workout) and could only work a couple hours at a time, the desire led to FINISHED WORK. I will keep reminding you of this ’til the cows come home: we can do hard things IN SMALL BURSTS. We can! Please do PIN this post Paint Walls Like a Pro: DIY Help in order to help folks who may be first-timers at the whole DIY thing.

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Paint Walls Like a Pro: DIY Help

Raise your paintbrush if you are the DIY type who climbs the ladder and rolls on paint yourself! 🙂 While I may not be the most skilled interior painter around, I do enjoy the meditative and embodied aspects to it. It gets me out of my head and more heartful. My muscles are engaged in a most productive workout while I may also savor the satisfaction of transforming a space with a little time and money.

As a serial mover, my husband and I tackled our fair share of home improvement projects, and since I truly can hardly be trusted with power tools, painting frequently is within my domain. Dozens of homes for us over the years added up to hundreds of walls to paint…so, yep this fairy has some experience.

Pro or DIY?

We also hire professionals from time to time, and there are many occasions where it is wise to leave the job to them.

One of the 3,000 frustrating things about our current fixer upper when we bought it? The whole home came freshly painted one color…and it was all WRONG. (Unless you love an “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter” margarine shade!) The saving grace? It would have been much more work to cover a darker color.

Easiest way to see if a color is right? Order samples to be delivered to your door with Samplize (a peel and stick sheet of “paint” to stick on your wall and easily move around to other walls!).

Helpful Painting Tips

How about you? Do you enjoy doing the work of painting yourself or do you think it’s for the birds?

The white we used for all of our interiors: BENJAMIN MOORE White.

Paint Color Throughout Our Home

Yep. The color is White, and don’t let anyone at the paint counter try to talk you out of this plain Jane name. It is the base white that other colors are mixed with so it is a pure, very light and bright white.

Do You Have Time to Paint?

Time is Money. Will you have enough time to do it yourself? Hiring a professional may save you time, labor, and headache.

Let’s Avoid the ER…yes? Painting walls is a physical endeavor…do you have physical limitations, vertigo, shaky hands, or issues impacting your safety and health? Allowing someone else to climb the ladder is money well spent, and your joints will thank you.

When You Have High Ceilings

Scaffolding Woes. If you have high ceilings or a whole house of rooms which require paint, it’s likely a job to leave to a team of professionals with the proper equipment and expertise. When we built our prior French Country home, we left all of the interior painting to a team of professionals who used high tech sprayers and knocked out the job in no time.

Money Talks. Have a budget to pay for the the work to be done by professionals? Lucky you! Go pro, mama.

More White Paint Ideas

My go to whites: In our prior home, we had most of our walls painted Benjamin Moore White Sand, and here at the fixer upper, the bright white that worked best was Benjamin Moore White.

6 Painting Tips for DIYers

If painting an interior is a new adventure for you, I hope these 6 TIPS TO HELP will keep the stress level low and WOW factor high.

1. Remove furniture, lamps, and objects from the room or move them away from walls. Remove outlet and light switch plates to save time and effort taping off those areas.
2. Cover the floor with a dropcloth.
3. Prep work is important when you want to execute it like the pros. Repair any wall damage, cracks, and holes with joint compound or spackle. Allow to dry completely, then sand and smooth. Remove any dust by wiping down and vacuuming wall surfaces.
4. You will most likely need to mask off with painter’s tape those areas you don’t want painted (trim, light fixtures, etc).
5. To cut in, use an angled 2 1/2″ or 3″ quality paintbrush, using light pressure and smooth strokes. Move around the room, along the edges, as fast as you feel comfortable, keeping a wet edge. First cut out the wall – ceiling, then corners, then around outlets, then windows, then vents, and then the wall – floor. When the room is cut in entirely, you’re ready to roll.
6. For rolling, start at the top of the wall and work your way down. Load your roller with paint and roll it on the wall in a W pattern. Then, fill in the W area with paint. Work quickly and keep a wet edge moving along the wall. If you notice you missed a spot, let it dry, keep moving, and go back later for touch-ups.

I love learning smart new tips, so if you have any…lay ’em on me!

Bonus Painting Tips

Feeling extra geeky and game for a few BONUS painting hacks? Check out these brilliant ones…

This is Tres Tray Smart. (See what I did there?) Line your paint tray with a disposable insert, aluminum foil, or a plastic bag for easier clean-up and less paint down the sink drain.

Glove Love. Consider wearing disposable gloves to avoid messy hands and to store paint brushes that you don’t want to dry out.  And don’t forget a mask…your lungs will thank you.

Not Just for Laundry. For easier paint brush cleanup, add fabric softener to the water in which you soak brushes to prevent dryness and hardening of the bristles.

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House Tour

Let’s tour Hilary Duff’s home! And wait til you see the bold tiles in her kitchen!

I once knocked over a gallon of paint and have never been soooooo glad that my drop cloth was one of those high quality more expensive ones! Not a drip of paint bled through to the creamy porcelain tile floor!

Any painting horror stories to share?

Peace to you right where you are.

-michele

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