How to Paint a Room Like a Professional

How to Paint a Room Like a Professional

1. Remove and Prep Switch Plates and Outlet Covers

   Turn off the electrical circuits controlling the outlets and switches in the room you're painting. You do not want to be electrically shocked when removing plates and screws.

   With a small screwdriver, remove all the switch plates and outlet covers. Place each plate and cover, with their screws, in a separate plastic sandwich bag. Put the bags in a safe place away from the paint. Place a strip of blue painter's masking tape over the outlet and switch openings in the walls to avoid painting over them by accident.

   Tip

   If the covers were looking dingy, place them in a solution of warm soapy water to clean them while you are painting. Replace cracked or broken plates and covers.

2. Cover Floor and Unmovable Items

   Lay drop cloths, such as plastic tarps or rosin paper on the floor to protect it from paint.

   Tip

   Rosin paper works best on hardwood floors, as plastic sheeting can create a slippery surface. Rosin paper comes in rolls at the hardware store or you can purchase inexpensive builder's paper.

3. Mask or Remove the Trim

   Run painter's tape along the edges of door and window trim to protect them from paint (and from any patching materials). Remove baseboards if possible. Otherwise, run painter's tape along the top edge of the baseboards to protect them from paint.

   Tip

   Clean the top edge and surface of baseboards to help the tape stick.

4. Patch the Walls

   Before cleaning, you'll need to examine the walls for any gouges, large holes, scratches, cracks, or peeling. Patching a wall well will create a smooth and professional paint finish.

   Use fine-grit sandpaper to smooth over minor shallow scratches and imperfections. Scrape off any old peeling paint with a paint scraper for walls. Smooth over and feather the edges of scraped paint with sandpaper. Spackle and sand larger blemishes.

5. Clean the Walls

   Any mistakes visible before painting walls will be visible after painting. Now is the time for cleaning the walls and making stains disappear. Your best bet is to wash the walls with trisodium phosphate (TSP), an inexpensive but extremely strong painter's detergent effective at removing surface oils and dirt.

   Fill the clean bucket with cool water. Pour in the manufacturer-specified amount of TSP and stir. Soak a sponge in the TSP solution then sponge clean the walls.

   Refill the bucket with clean water and sponge rinse the walls. Let the walls air-dry.

   Warning

   TSP is a very strong chemical and may cause skin and eye irritation without proper safety precautions. Always wear the following:

   • Rubber gloves
   • Safety eye goggles
   • Long sleeves

   If TSP gets on your skin, wash the area with soap and water. If it gets in your eyes, flush with clean water for 15 minutes. Then seek emergency medical care.

6. Prime the Walls

   Priming walls covers tough stains and adds a subtle texture, or teeth, so the paint can better adhere to the walls. Oil-based primers are ideal to use for most interior walls. If your walls are in pristine and stain-free condition, consider self-priming paint to eliminate the step of priming.

   Primers are formulated for various uses. For example, if the TSP did not remove some stains, take the next step with an oil-based masking primer. Look for primers that indicate that they will block or mask stains from seeping through the paint; keep priming these areas until the stain disappears.

   Tip

   Use a tinted primer if you are painting a light color on a dark wall. You can use a tinted primer if you are painting over a wall with a similar color, as well. Tinted primer lets you see missed spots before painting your finishing coat.

7. Cut-in the Edges

   Cutting-in is a term that refers to painting right up to the edge of surfaces that will not be painted and it fills in areas where paint rollers can't go. Professional painters prefer cutting-in, sometimes instead of painter's tape, because it is expedient, inexpensive, less wasteful, and cleaner than using tape.

   Lightly dip an angled brush or paint edger tool into the top of the paint. Gently draw the brush along the wall and up close to the surface that will not be painted (such as door trim). Go slowly when using an angled brush or paint edger tool. Have a cloth rag handy to quickly clean up errant paint marks.

   Tip

   If you have masked the trim with tape, use the tape as a guide. Even the best painter's tapes may allow some paint to sneak around the edge and onto your trim. Avoid relying on the tape for complete protection. Instead, use the brush to paint up to the tape. Try not to paint the tape itself.

8. Prepare Roller With Paint

   Dip the roller into your paint bucket. Don't immerse it for too long; overloaded rollers cause major drips that are tough to roll out.

   Pull the roller back up the screen several times until the roller is coated all around. Keep rolling up and down until you hear a sticky sound. Do this several times until you are confident that the roller cover is coated in paint.

9. Roll in a W Shape

   Start in one corner of the wall and make a 3-foot downward pass, then up again, down, and finally up to create a "W." Fill and overlap other W shapes across the wall. Work quickly enough so the paint edges you are rolling over are still wet.

   Tip

   Flat and matte interior paints are forgiving when it comes to painting over drier edges. However, if you are using glossy paint, pay close attention and always roll or brush from wet edges to ensure a smooth finish.

10. Fill in and Complete

    Continue rolling out blocks of paint using the W method. Occasionally step back to view your work. Work in a strong light to catch any missing spots.

    At any edges where you previously used the cutting-in technique, finish by turning the roller vertically or horizontally to fill in the space with paint and smooth it out.

    Tip

    While painting, stay as far away as possible from areas you don't want to be painted. Even better, cover them with tarps or drop cloths. Rollers can accidentally splatter and spray paint off the roller and onto the surface.