Easy DIY painting tips for beginners

If you are new to DIY then it can be difficult to know where to start, but all of us need to undertake a few “do it yourself” tasks at some point no matter how frequent or infrequent that may be, and painting can be a particularly common one.

Maybe you have just bought a house and it needs some work to get it up to a standard you are happy with, or maybe you have lived in your home for a few years and you have outgrown the décor.

You could, of course, get someone in to do the job for you but you don’t need to. It is quite easy to do it yourself and you will save yourself a significant amount of money that could then be spent elsewhere on home improvements.

But, whatever the reason, before you start brushing at the walls with paint, here are a few DIY tips for beginners that should make the task a little easier and far more enjoyable.

Safety Tips:

• Make sure the room is well ventilated while you are painting and while it is drying.
• Make sure you wear the right safety gear – goggles, gloves and dust mask – if necessary.
• Remove everything from the room or cover with dustsheets. You could move your larger items of furniture into one of our units to avoid getting paint on them and to get them out the way, so you aren’t reaching round and over them.
• Wear protective clothing – cotton overalls are best.
• Don’t wear wool when painting; the fibres will stick to the paint.

Tips and Tricks:

• Use an online calculator to work out how much paint you need to buy.
• You should paint in sequence. If you need to paint the ceiling make sure you do it before the rest of the room incase you get it on the walls – which you probably will. Then move on to the walls and finally the woodwork.
• Start painting by the window or light source
• When painting the ceiling it will need to be prepared first – fill cracks and sand down (if necessary) and mask the light fittings.
• If you need to take a break do this when you reach the corners, don’t leave it in the middle.
• Use rollers for covering the whole wall, but once you get to the edges you will need a small brush. You will get the best finish on this if you do it before painting the main part of the wall.
• Using different colours – employ masking tape to get a neat edge where different colours meet.
• The number of coats needed will depend on the paint and what you are painting – always leave the paint to dry between coats.
• Oil-based paint is harder to use than water-based paint and it will require an undercoat – it isn’t really suitable for walls or ceilings.

So, you should be fully prepared to start painting now you know how to protect yourself from the fumes and tricks on how to ensure it looks perfect – all you need to do now is decide what colour you would like it to be! You might find this is the most difficult part…