the painted surface

How To Paint a Room

Make Ready the Room

• Clear the room of decorative objects and small pieces of furniture. Having space to move around makes painting much easier.
• Move what is left to the center of the room. Two groupings might be helpful in order to get to the ceiling.
• Cover the furniture with lightweight plastic.
• Cover the remaining floor area with drop cloths.

Prep the Surfaces

• Remove switchplates and outlet covers. If dirty place them in soapy water to soak.
• Remove nails, hooks or hangers that will not be reused.
• Cover plates on light fixtures and ceiling fans can be lowered to ease painting around them.
• Look for holes, stains, imperfections on walls or woodwork that need to be patched, sanded, primed or caulked.
• Caulk cracks in corners between walls, ceiling and walls and the joints between mouldings and walls or ceilings. See "How to Caulk". Patch holes and cracks in the walls and ceilings. See "How to Patch a Hole" or "How to Patch a Crack".

Begin to Paint

• Paint the ceiling first, the woodwork second and the walls last. This order is the most efficient.
• Cut-in the ceiling, it does not have to be perfect, if some paint is gotten on the wall it will be covered up when the walls are painted. See "How to Cut-In A Wall or Ceiling". Use a roller to paint the remainder of the ceiling. See "How to Roll a Wall or Ceiling".
• When the patches are dry they can be sanded and spot primed. Vacum up the dust.
• If the woodwork is to be painted now is the time. Again, be careful around the edges next to the walls but it does not have to be perfect. The wall color will cover the excess around the woodwork. See "How to Paint Woodwork", "How To Paint a Window", "How to Paint Baseboard", "How to Paint a Door", or "How to Paint Crown Moulding". Paint all of the wood trim in the room and allow to dry. Allowing the trim to dry overnight is best.
• The walls are painted last. Now is the time to be careful when cutting-in. The edges of the woodwork and ceilings can be taped to achieve a straight and neat result but better results can be had by using a premium paint brush, quality paint and some care. The only tape needed is some low tack tape to cover the top of the baseboard to prevent paint drips and specks that sometimes fall from the roller. See "How to Cut-In A Wall or Ceiling" and "How to Choose a Premium Paintbrush". Cut-in one wall at a time and then roll it.
• On walls of average height use an adjustable roller handle extension and roll from top to bottom moving across the wall from one corner to the other. See "How to Roll a Wall or Ceiling".

These general steps make painting a room a simple task. More tips about painting techniques are covered in the additional articles. In those will be found details, tips and techniques gathered from over 20 years of painting experience. Here is a list of links to the articles: