How to Achieve a Professional Paint Job on a Budget
Are you ready to give the inside of your home a facelift? A great way to liven up your space is by giving the walls a fresh coat of paint! Painting may seem like a big task to take on, but hiring a professional paint crew is often just too expensive.
Don’t be afraid to take on this project yourself. We have a list of tips and tricks to help you paint your walls like a pro!
Finding the Right Paint
The first step is to pick out the paint you want to use. Finding the right paint will make or break the look of the entire house! Finding a color you love is easy, but picking the right brand might be a little trickier. We suggest using high quality, professional brands like Benjamin Moore or Behr.
You also want to make note of the sheen that you are purchasing. Sheens come in three categories:
- Satin
- Gloss
- Eggshell
Gloss and satin are great in common areas of your home and are easier to clean. However, they will make imperfections more obvious so take this into consideration.
Getting the Right Materials
So, you have a great paint picked out to give your home a makeover! Now you just need to get it on the walls. You need the right materials to make sure you get the job done efficiently and effectively. Before you start, we suggest you purchase:
- A tarp
- Painter’s tape
- Medium-sized paintbrush
- Rolling brushes
- Paint trays
All of these are easy to purchase at your local home improvement store, however, we suggest buying them from paint professionals to ensure you get the highest quality materials. Better materials will ensure a better finish on your paint job. You can find great deals online at the website from ThePaintStore, or at your local crafts shop.
Make Sure You Prep
The best way to make sure you get a paint job that looks professional is by properly prepping your house. Before you start, you will want to make sure to move all furniture away from the walls, and remove or cover any fixtures on your walls that you do not want to accidentally splash with paint. We suggest removing or covering:
- Doorknobs
- Lightswitches
- Outlet covers
- Baseboards or molding
- Ceiling edges
You should remove as much as you can, but painter’s tape will easily take care of things that aren’t removable like your baseboards and ceiling. Making sure you have clean edges will set your paint job apart from an amateur’s!
Do You Need Primer?
Make sure to check to see if the color you bought is a primer and paint combination. If not, you will want to purchase a primer for your walls. If you are making a big change to your wall color (for example: changing a red wall to yellow) then you will want to purchase a tinted primer.
You apply primer to your walls before your desired color in order to create a blank slate. It helps to cover up the old wall color as well as stains so that you will have an easier time painting.
Use the Best Painting Method
Rollers are a great way to get a large amount of coverage on your walls quickly. We suggest using rollers for the vast majority of your walls and using a standard paintbrush for edges and corners.
When using a roller, make sure that you are not just going up and down! This actually wastes a lot of paint that could be spread to the rest of your wall. The best method is to paint overlapping “W”’s. This will give you the most coverage and a smooth looking paint job that looks professional!
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