Tips for Painting Like a Pro
Paint Like A Pro Even When You Are Not One
Weekend warriors, heed the warning that tackling the painting job in your home is a task you can easily do, however, you may end up regretting it in the long run if you don’t take a little time to learn a few easy tips and tricks. There is no reason you cant soon be painting like a pro.
We all know that applying a fresh coat of paint will easily brighten up any room in your home. However, more often than not, people find out the hard way that their easy project can turn into a disaster or at least a lot of questioning yourself as to why you chose to do the project in the first place. It all starts with the small splatter of paint on the floor, or the never ending coats of paint that you didn’t anticipate. Plan ahead and save yourself some real headaches if you decide to do this work yourself. Actually if you want to really save the headache, simply hire a professional to come out and do the work for you. Wait that would not be fun for the weekend warrior now would it?
Tip Number 1: Prepare the Walls (or whatever surface you are painting)
If you really want to be successful with this painting project you will need to take the time to prepare the surface. This could mean you do all or some of the following:
- Scrape
- Sand
- Patch
- Repeat
This is not the fun part of the project, but you will need to make sure and fill in every hole, dent, crack, or imperfection you find on the wall. Repair the wall to look as much like the rest of the wall as possible. This should not be a huge deal for most walls, but if you do happen to have a strange texture that you cannot duplicate you may need to call in a professional.
Tip Number 2: Apply a Primer Coat, and Tint the Primer
If you are going to be painting over an existing dark color, or if you happen to be painting directly on the drywall, you can not skip the step of applying a primer. If you do happen to skip this step you will be kicking yourself later when you have to come back and add multiple more coats of paint. A pro tip would be for you to actually tint the primer by adding some of the actual paint color to the primer to get it near the finished color. This will help for a final topcoat to completely hid away the primed surface.
You can purchase paints that do include primer in them, however using an actual primer first will give you much better results and give you a much better adhesion for the topcoat of paint.
Tip Number 3: Invest in an Extension Pole
Do yourself a favor and invest in a telescoping extension pole so you can reach those hard-to-get-to areas. No need dragging around a step ladder trying to reach all of those places when you can simply use your extension pole. You will be glad you did get this, and your back will thank you later as well.
When you are comparing the different types of extension poles look for one that has a soft, non-slip grip and also a rigid metal core. You will thank yourself for this later as well because all plastic handles are too hard to hold on to at times.
Tip Number 4: Cover Your Floors with Canvas
Getting paint on your floors (especially carpeting) can be a nightmare to clean, and most likely you will never get the paint stain completely out. You may be tempted to buy the less expensive plastic drop cloths, but in the end this will cause you nothing but trouble. You are here to learn to paint like a pro, so cover the floors like a pro and use a canvas drop cloth. Canvas is extremely durable, they are rip resistant, they will protect your floors from splatters and spills as well. You can smooth out a canvas drop cloth and have much less chance of tripping as well. The canvas drop cloth will last a lifetime so do not throw these out once you finish. Fold them up and save them for the next painting project.
I hope these four tips help to get you on your way to painting like a pro. If you have any questions please reach out to us and we will be glad to assist.
Here is a video showing you how to paint like a pro
