Learn me painting a room

I've never really painted a room the right way. It has always been a quick paint of the whole room with the cheapest stuff I could find in order to cover marks on the walls in college.

Now I'm painting for real. Its drywall, we've got our paint picked out (Ben by Benjamin Moore) and that is it. Help a new homeowner out!

• Do we need to prime or are we ok without it? We're going from a pale yellowish to a beige--it isn't a huge change and we likely wouldn't bother painting if they had done a decent job in the first place, but it just looks like crap right now.
• Are Harbor Freight rollers and brushes good enough? Is it something where they're all about the same, or should we get something better?
• What about the HF drop cloths? (I'm getting canvas since we're going to eventually be painting a lot of the rooms in the house)
• Any other advice?

Remember, on the TV shows they get the whole room done in 30 minutes.

I really hate painting. My wife on the other hand likes to paint so I stay out of it.

JohnRW1621 wrote: Remember, on the TV shows they get the whole room done in 30 minutes. I really hate painting. My wife on the other hand likes to paint so I stay out of it.

We're planning on about 3-4 hours for not that much wall space. Because there is a lot of trim that we'll have to paint around. I'm thinking about 1-2 hours just for masking.

Don't paint after dark. Sunny days with the curtains/blinds open is best. It sucks busting ass to finish the job, only to see it in the daylight the next day and realize how E36 M3ty a job you did.

I too hate painting...

Doing a lot of house work and painting lately...can give some tips and advice if you want!

Do we need to prime or are we ok without it? We're going from a pale yellowish to a beige--it isn't a huge change and we likely wouldn't bother painting if they had done a decent job in the first place, but it just looks like crap right now.

    -Paint that is primer/paint in one should be good to go after 2 coats.  Allow enough time to dry in-between coats.  We painted a light grey/green over a dark tan color and after one coat it was good, at two coats it was perfect!  You should be fine!

Are Harbor Freight rollers and brushes good enough? Is it something where they're all about the same, or should we get something better?

    - We use the Home Depot "better" or "best" rollers. I think that they are the 3/8" nap.  They hold a good amount of pain and roll on smooth.  Don't bother to clean them afterwards...too much mess and hassle.  Use them for the day and toss them when you're done.  They come in 3 and 6 packs.

What about the HF drop cloths? (I'm getting canvas since we're going to eventually be painting a lot of the rooms in the house)

    - I've gotten into the habit of taping down contractor paper on the floors.  We have hardwood floors and didn't want to have dust and paint in between the boards. Takes a few minutes to tape down, but there is no worry about cloth bunching up, tripping, paint soaking, etc... Worked fine for the last two rooms we did.

Any other advice?

    -Prep the walls and trim before starting any painting.  Sand the trim...this will suck and take some time, and can be messy.  Patch any holes in the walls and sand the imperfections smooth.  Again. messy and sucky but worth it for a good looking wall.  Putting down protection over the floors BEFORE sanding is a great idea...clean up is A LOT easier this way! 
    - Take your time and don't rush.  You will want to speed up and get the room(s) finished ASAP, but taking your time and being in the mindset that "haste makes waste" will get you better results.
    - Listen to some high energy music so that you don't get bored or run out of energy!

This is all stuff that has worked well for us! Good luck and hope it goes well!

YMMV, but I've done a lot of room painting. I've tried priming, but found that it wasn't any different than if I just did two coats of the color I chose. I guess maybe if you were going from a bright color to a dark, it may make sense. But from one neutral to another, to me priming hasn't been necessary.

The roller and brush quality definitely make a difference. When you're doing the trim work with a brush, the cheap brushes will leave streak marks. Get a nicer one and wash it good with soap/water and you can reuse it over and over. Rollers also should be decent quality. A cheap one won't roll the paint well and you can see the difference. Think of it this way. A good 9" roller is $3-$4 more than the cheap crap. That's money well spent to have the room look nice and the wife be happy.

I honestly don't use drop cloths often, but when I do the cheap ones have been fine.

There are different ways to trim edges. I've tried those edging things and haven't had great success with them. I still use good ol' painters tape and a brush. When you're taping off the trim at the bottom of the drywall, be sure to clean the trim of dust/dirt so that the tape will have a good adhesion surface. Again, buy the good tape. The cheap stuff will bleed through and/or pull off the trim paint when you remove it. Two thinner coats are better than one sloppy thick one. A sloppy thick one will peel when you remove the tape.

When I'm using my roller, I like to do it orderly. Start on one side of the wall and work my way methodically across. After I roll and am ready to dip for more paint, I'll look back at what I just rolled a minute ago to make sure there are no drips. Dried drips suck, it's easier to catch them before they dry.

I paint a lot. I buy quality covers, trays, and frames. I've also invested in quality fiberglass extension sticks.

I hate crappy tools. Crappy covers don't hold the paint and splatter it - I also buy decent brushes and take care of them. I also quit washing the covers. I also use a lot of masking tape. Remove all switch plates.

I also empty the room - I don't like stuff in the way. I insist on painting the ceiling - ceiling white and then the walls. I just taught my 13 year old daughter how to paint.

I have yet to step into the paint tray 3 Stooges style.

buy good rollers, tape and brushes. Buy Right or paint the whole room twice.. Also.. Don't cheap out on paint. You don't have to go nuts, but cheap paint never covers.

I agree with Klayfish and Datsun 310guy. DO NOT buy cheap brushes. I also don't buy cheap paint or rollers. I've never noticed any improvement using primer unless it was an unpainted wall. I rarely waste time masking. I just freehand it.

If you are right handed work counter clockwise around the room. Left handed clockwise Ambidextrous? Pick a hand to roll with and stick with it.

Just like painting anything else, the final result depends a lot on what you start with, and how you prep it. Make sure walls are clean and smooth. If there are runs or thick spots in the current paint, those will likely show in the new color as well. It's worth the time to clean/sand those things before vs having to look at it forever after the fact.

Start with the edges first, so anyplace where a wall meets ceilings, other walls, or trim. Pros call this 'cutting in' and doing this first will minimize the halo effect where everything is outlined in thick rings. Take your time and do this part carefully to avoid getting paint where you don't want it and use a high quality brush with angle tip for this part. There are helpful videos on youtube that will help to demonstrate the easiest ways to get a nice cut in.

Once the 'cut in' is done, roll away. Some people suggest using a "W" pattern for good coverage while rolling. In my experience, doing steady vertical stripes from floor to ceiling has worked better but YMMV. I start in the middle of the wall, and roll straight up, and then straight down, and I work the thick paint over the unpainted surface, and also back over the surface I just painted to even it all out and avoid having visible stripes. Long, smooth strokes are better than short ones.

Priming is usually not necessary on clean walls and similar colors. You don't have to sand before painting either, but you should at least wipe down the walls with TSP or Simple Green.

Don't cheap out on rollers and brushes. They're even a better investment if you plan to paint more rooms in the future. When picking up your (at least mid-level) brushes, get a brush comb. It makes a HUGE difference when cleaning the brushes.

1"-1.5" angled brushes are great for cutting-in at the ceiling and trim. Learn to cut-in and throw away the masking tape. Way better results.

I never felt tarp quality mattered.

Definately agree with the people saying don't get the cheapest supplies. You don't need top of the line, but somewhere middle ground is good

mtn wrote:

JohnRW1621 wrote: Remember, on the TV shows they get the whole room done in 30 minutes. I really hate painting. My wife on the other hand likes to paint so I stay out of it.

We're planning on about 3-4 hours for not that much wall space. Because there is a lot of trim that we'll have to paint around. I'm thinking about 1-2 hours just for masking.

First time, ever...
I'd give yourself the better part of the whole weekend. If it needs a second coat and has to dry, you will likely not get that done in the same day.

Wooster makes a good brush. Sherwin Williams does too. A good brush is truly key to a good paint job, it should feel nice and quality with a feathery bristle not the cheap plastic handle with hard cut bristles that you get for a dollar.

A good brush is $15 bucks and will last you a decade. I like a 2 1/2" angled sash brush for trim.

Paint the ceiling first, it needs it even if you don't think it does. Then the walls, you did remove all the outlet and switch covers first, right? This is a good time to update them anyway and will really make the room look new.

If this is new construction/renovation I assume you have new baseboard. Use latex caulk to seal it to the wall and seams. Paint the trim last.

JohnRW1621 wrote:

mtn wrote:

JohnRW1621 wrote: Remember, on the TV shows they get the whole room done in 30 minutes. I really hate painting. My wife on the other hand likes to paint so I stay out of it.

We're planning on about 3-4 hours for not that much wall space. Because there is a lot of trim that we'll have to paint around. I'm thinking about 1-2 hours just for masking.

First time, ever... I'd give yourself the better part of the whole weekend. If it needs a second coat and has to dry, you will likely not get that done in the same day.

Sorry, you're right--3-4 hours tonight, and 2-4 hours tomorrow night. Hoping to be done by Saturday AM. Just one room though.

Datsun310Guy wrote: I paint a lot. I buy quality covers, trays, and frames. I've also invested in quality fiberglass extension sticks. I hate crappy tools. Crappy covers don't hold the paint and splatter it - I also buy decent brushes and take care of them. I also quit washing the covers. I also use a lot of masking tape. Remove all switch plates. I also empty the room - I don't like stuff in the way. I insist on painting the ceiling - ceiling white and then the walls. I just taught my 13 year old daughter how to paint. I have yet to step into the paint tray 3 Stooges style.

You paint a lot... Does that mean you enjoy it?

I got a set of quality Purdy brushes years ago as a gift, and I have never gone back to cheap brushes again. They really do make a difference.

I also use Behr Pure Premium, and I think it is the shiznit. I can get a better price on Sherwin Williams, but this stuff just plain works. However, go to Sherwin Williams for your painting tools, they have stuff you never even knew existed!

I have painted a lot for over 30 years. Sometimes I even enjoy it.

WARNING ON YELLOW: Yellow pigment is unique, and the HARDEST to get even coverage with. I once had a job that was a repaint of the exact same sunshine yellow paint, and we had to paint 7 coats before getting it right.

The reason is that the transparent nature of the color shows lap marks right through it, because 2 layers of yellow paint look "more yellow" than one.

You said you were painting beige over yellow. I don't know if that beige has a yellow tinge to it or not.

The solution when painting yellow is ALWAYS to take it back to white first. You can't paint yellow over yellow and get an even coverage.

It might have something to do with why the original job looks bad. It might also be an argument for priming.

The beige MIGHT cover, but it might not. If the yellow was a deep pigment, and the beige has the slightest bent toward the yellow, I'd go to white first. It will save you a great deal of frustration.

YMMV, but I doubt it.

And +1 to pretty much everything everyone else has said. Buy good brushes, rollers, etc.

Oh, and double your time estimates. Trust me on this one.

One more tip overlooked...

Cut in FIRST. (brush work) I don't know why beginners always seem to want to start rolling first. Your cut-in lap marks will look terrible if you roll first.

For those who hate painting- try different music.

Seriously- mellow music makes painting better. Painting goes best when you accept it as a different mindset- its a break from the hustle and bustle of normal daily life. It can be boring and tedious, but if you let your hands do the boring work, and let your mind use the time for rest and to think about other stuff, it can be a lot better.

I sometimes put on Classical, or Jazz. I kinda view it like meditation (though I have never meditated!)

I know it sounds silly, but it really helps me. If I paint without music, or with the normal loud music I listen to, I feel bored and stressed. If I paint with Classical music on, it usually turns out to be a good day!

No science here- just how it works for me over the last 30 years.

Oh crap- I dropped a decade... I've been painting for over 40 years! This getting old stuff has it's moments...

The reason that it is a bad paint job is that they tried to do that sponge painting thing. The picture below shows what they were going for:

They did a really, really horrible job. Here is the picture from the listing—you can’t quite see how bad it is from this, but in person it is A) more yellow, and B) not done very well at all.

The color that we’ll be painting it is a beige/cream. I don’t look at it and think yellow at all, but some might. Maybe we should just prime the thing.

Note that those bulletin boards have already been removed.

I would prime that, just so your top coat doesn't end up blotchy

For reference, I think the color we're using is this: http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/bavariancream

Okay, followup questions:
- How many coats of primer do we need
- How perfect do we need to be with coverage/cutting in?
- Does brand/quality matter all that much with primer? We're probably going to HD tonight and getting it.