HOW TO PREP A ROOM FOR PAINTING

Now that the Internal wall insulation is finally complete we can start painting the walls and most importantly decorate our living room. We've been wanting to decorate our living room since we moved in but other things took more priority.  

We've had the wallpaper for awhile and knew what paint colour we wanted aswell. We held back though once we knew that the insulation was going to be happening as we just didn't know when. 

Decorating your home is a fun and creative project and if you've never had to paint a room before it’s essential to prepare your walls beforehand for a professional looking finish and to make the job more straightforward and less stressful. Below are some tips for how to prep a room for painting.

Remove furniture/ornaments etc from the room

The last thing you want to be doing is having to reach around breakables and/or awkward pieces of furniture. So move what you can out of the room and move larger furniture such as sofas into the middle of the room to give you enough space.

Cover floors and remaining furniture 

Accidents happen so dust sheets are a must for covering flooring and furniture. 

Remove wall hangings

Make sure that you leave the holes for hanging your pictures and mirrors back up again. Don't forget to also, loosen light switches and plug sockets - painting behind these rather than around them gives a much more professional finish and disguises any paintbrush marks.

Clean the walls

You can use sugar soap and a sponge to get rid of any dark marks and stains. Repeat with just water and let your walls dry fully before painting.

Tape along skirting boards, window & door frames

This helps ensure a neat and professional finish. Masking tape peels too easily and can make your job more difficult, so invest in good quality painter’s tape to keep the paintwork tidy. 

Prime your walls 

If you are painting on a newly plastered wall you will need to prime your walls. It's also a good idea to prime your walls, If you are changing the colour from dark to light, the previous coat is glossy etc. A few layers will most likely need to be done especially on newly plastered walls.