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Here’s How to Give Your Home a Professional-Grade Paint Job

Painting your house can provide an instant update to its curb appeal and interior comfort. If you balked at the quotes provided by one of the more than 5,424 U.S. painting contractors, you might want to paint the house yourself. With a little effort, your do-it-yourself approach can result in a professional-grade paint job. 

Choose Your Paint Colors Wisely

If you need to quickly sell a home as part of a small estate in Washington of less than $100,000, painting it can help it sell faster. Paint it’s interior a neutral color that helps people envision their own belongings in the space. This means painting the interiors white, gray, or beige, except the bathrooms, since blue tops the list of favorite colors among homebuyers.

Practice Technique on Cardboard

Hold the paintbrush properly, placing your thumb on the handle and the metal area that holds the bristles under your index and middle finger. Practice making broad, clean strokes on a large piece of cardboard before trying to paint the wall or trim.

Remove All Furniture from a Room

Some sources suggest covering everything with tarps, but that doesn’t always cover everything and it doesn’t result in open space for you to paint. Move all of the furniture out of the room to create a large, open workspace.

Ready Your Floor

Lay tarps down on your floor covering every inch. Paint flings easily, so fully covering the floor ensures you don’t end up with streaks of lilac or yellow in the middle of your floor. Tape the tarps into place using painter’s tape.

Prepare Your Trim Work

Use your painter’s tape again to cover the inside edges of the room’s trim. Doing so keeps you from accidentally painting the trim with the wall color. Also, use painter’s tape to surround the interior of the room’s ceiling, so you don’t accidentally paint any of it your wall color.

Fix Cracks

Examine the room carefully for plaster cracks and drywall cracks. As you find one, caulk it with painter’s putty or spackle, so the crack no longer shows and you fill it completely. Smooth the filler with your finger so it appears even.

Wash Your Walls

Here’s where the sponges and buckets come into play. Fill one bucket with soap and water; fill the other bucket with water. Dip the sponge in the soapy water and wring it slightly. Clean the wall from top to bottom using the sponge. Keep dipping it to freshen the soapy water. Work your way around the room in this fashion. Rinse the soapy sponge in clean water. Sponge off the wall using the clean, slightly damp sponge. Let the walls dry.

Caulk Trim Cracks

Use caulk to seal any cracks between windows and window trim. Not only does this make your paint job look better, but you can also reduce your utility bills this way. Caulking these cracks seals out any drafty air that typically enters the room from outside.

Prime Your Walls

Use a clean roller to apply the primer to the walls. If you plan to paint the ceiling, prime it now. The primer will dry while you paint the walls and be ready for you when you get to painting the ceiling. Choose a tinted primer, so you can easily see where it goes. It won’t show through the paint, even if you use white or cream paint.

You may want to use eggshell gloss latex paint for interiors unless you need to restore an older home. More than 50% of U.S. homes were constructed prior to 1980, according to the National Association of Home Builders, so this could apply to you. Buy one more can of paint than you think you will need. Anything you have left over, you can store in the garage and use for touchups in the future. You can DIY paint your home. It takes a lot of work, but once you purchase the equipment, you’re halfway there.