The Handy Blog

Is it time to paint a room in your house?

Just looking for a color change?

Welcome to my Interior Painting Ideas and Tips section of the handy blog.

The two colors that I am using today are BEHR paints “Toasted Wheat” and “Arabian Sands.”

Here in these first two pictures you can see some of the supplies that I am using for this paint job.

These supplies include, but are not limited to: Arabian Sands and Toasted Wheat paints, Purdy Paint rollers, HANDy Paint Pail, Purdy Brushes, a color swatch for BEHR paints, a respirator, some snacks, a drop cloth, a paint guard, blue painters tape, paint mixing sticks, painters rags, a roller, a step ladder, and a hat to keep paint out of my hair.

Start by cleaning out the entire room, or at least moving things away from the walls.

Take down any pictures and or blinds that are hanging on the walls.

Interior Painting Ideas: Most blinds will come down rather easy, but it is normally better to leave the actual brackets for them up on the walls. These brackets don’t usually get seen anyway, so getting a little paint on them is not usually a problem.

The first thing I do in this video is lay the drop cloth down.

Next I bring in the paint and other tools I will be needing.

Then I tape the walls where I will be breaking for a different color. This wall is an accent wall, so the two walls joining to it are going to be Arabian Sands, while this one is going to be Toasted Wheat.

After I get the taping done I take out the Arabian Sands and paint over the blue tape.

Interior Painting Ideas: Wet your paint brushes before using them as this will make it easier to clean them out when you are done. I prefer to wet the brush and then shake it out so that there is no water left to drip out of the brish while I am painting. This is a very useful tip, especially if you use expensive brushes, which I recommend.

Interior Painting Ideas:After that you will notice that I clean the lint off the roller with tape that was left behind during the manufacturing process. I use Purdy rollers which are supposed to be lint free, and they are some of the best, but even they have lint. Always clean off your roller like this or you will have lint in your paint.

Next, I “cut in” or “trim” the Toasted Wheat color. I will go into more detail about this momentarily.

Once I am done trimming you will notice that I put a respirator and a hat on before I start rolling paint.

Interior Painting Ideas: A respirator will protect your lungs from the harmful chemicals in paint.

Interior Painting Ideas: Take a piece of tape and stick it to a desk or counter-top and then run the roller across it many times to remove any unwanted lint before painting. This will keep your paint from having little noticable hairs in the finished coat.

Last but not least I roll on the paint.

This step can get complicated depending on the situation. If you are painting a kitchen then you may need to clean the walls of with a little soapy water or degreaser. This is because while you cook smoke gets into the air and gets on the walls leaving residue. This residue keeps the paint from sticking.

Sometimes you can get away with just using a good primer, and sometimes you must do both. zit is really on a case by case basis.

If you wipe the wall with a white rage and that rag gets oily or dirty residue on it then it probably needs to be cleaned or primed with a good primer before being painted.

Otherwise, a simple wipe down of the wall will do. The idea here is to remove all dirt, dust, and foreign matter that is on the walls. Some painters say that you should lightly sand the walls, but it is really not totally neccesary. I never sand walls unless they are really bad. KILZ primer will help the paint stick.

Interior Painting Ideas: Using blue tape is prefered when painting as it leaves no residue and comes off easy. Blue tape is more expensive, but worth the cost. Use it where it will be easier than trimming by hand.

Between 11 and 17 seconds of this video you can see me taping off the walls.

Interior Painting Ideas: When taping the walls remeber that it is better to get a little wall paint on the trim than it is to not get enough paint on the wall.

It is pretty basic. You want to make sure that it is butted up against the edges.

Interior Painting Ideas: If you are worried about lots of paint getting everywhere then you can tape the ends of the drop cloth to the trim using blue or regular masking tape.

Interior Painting Ideas: When cutting in on tape make sure to not put the paint on too thick or it will slide under the tape and onto the surface the tape is protecting.

Please see pictures and video below for more on trim painting.

As you can see from this video the first thing I do is paint outside of where the line will be. I leave between 1/4 inch and 1/2 of an inch. This gives me a slick surface for when I am painting the actual line along the door frame.

Next, I turn the brush to the side and use just the small portion of the bristles to do the painting and I patiently go a little closer each pass I make. Eventually this leads to a nice paint line.

It takes some practice, and this might be a location where tape would have worked better, but I wanted to show you how to do it without tape so that when you are painting a roof-line or something that tape wont work for you can still accomplish the job at hand.

Interior Painting Ideas: While painting with a brush always remember to knock off most of the paint. You don’t want too much paint on the brush because it will drip and run. Less is more in most situations with a paint brush.

Interior Painting Ideas: Remember to wet your brush before you dip it into paint so that it will be easier for you to clean off.

Start trim painting by painting out from the edge you will eventually make. Paint between 8 and 12 inches of space at a time.

Next you will want to get considerably close to the edge you are painting without actually reaching the edge. Leave about 1/4 inch.

Make sure that you have the brush tilted on it’s side and slide it ever closer to the edge, just barely making contact.

This is where you work the magic.

Interior painting Ideas: If you hold the brush at an ever so slight angle you will notice a bead of paint forming at the very tip. This bead is what is what you are going to direct along the edge in order to make a perfect trim line.

Take your time and do it a little at a time. Patience is the key to getting perfect lines.

With a little patience you will have a line that looks similar to this one, probably just in a different color.

If you look back to a few of the videos you can watch me roll paint on an entire wall.

The best way to roll it on is in a continuous motion. Each roller full of paint should cover an area about 2/3 the width of the roller and about 8 feet high.

I always start rolling in the middle of the wall and roll about 2 feet up and then 2 feet down for a total of 4 feet in the center of the wall before I go all the way. This helps keep the paint from getting too thick at the top or bottom - which leads to runs in the finish.

Interior Painting Ideas: After you are done rolling paint down the wall with your roller roll the rollwer back over the previous two lines of paint you put on the wall. This will ensure an even cover of paint and will help to get rid of any lines left in the finish by the roller.

Interior Painting Ideas: While rolling paint, less pressure is often better. If you have to push down on the paint roller too much then you probably need more paint on it. Please see my how to load a roller video at the bottom of this blog.

Take note of the fact that there is not paint dripping off my roller after it is loaded with paint. You just need to fill the roller with paint, not make it oozing with paint.

This is one of the biggest mistakes of the new painter, they tend to think more paint on the roller = more wall painted in less time.

What this really turns into is lots of paint dripping and running all over the place. Keep the paint roller loaded, but not overloaded.

When you remove the tape you should take it off at a 45 degree angle. This will help to ensure that you do not rip any paint off of the walls that you just got done painting.

Interior Painting Ideas: While taking the tape off the walls try to pull it in the same direction that it is coming off in. This helps to pull the tape off, and in some essence slice the paint so that it doesn’t peel more than you want.

Interior Painting Ideas: When you are closing a can of paint it is always a smart idea to stick a rag over the top. This was, if any paint splatters when you hit the lid down it will be caught by the rag and not fly onto the walls or surrounding areas.

Interior Painting Ideas: Painting two thin coats as opposed to one thick coat can help ensure that the paint covers properly and does not run. For top end paint jobs this is recommended. For normal everyday paint jobs and paint jobs that do not involve a color change this is not needed.

Interior Painting Ideas: Rather than trying to paint around outlet and switch covers, it is usually much easier to just remove them before painting. With between 1 and 4 screws the time it takes to remove them is far worth the savings in time painting and the overall look when the job is done.