HOW TO PAINT A ROOM - THE ORDER IN WHICH THE ROOM GETS PAINTED !!

Today we are looking at how to paint a room in particularly what gets painted first.

1. Ceilings are first in how to paint a room. The spots off the wet roller when rolling a ceiling end up on your woodwork, frames etc. But fear not, you're going to have to rub doors, frames, skirtings and the like down anyway ready for painting, so a few spots on your woodwork are not going to matter anyway! (Some people after rolling ceilings come out of the exercise looking like they've had a hand full of hundreds and thousands thrown at them ;-) For those of you who don't know what they are, well, you just had to be there).

2. Trims and woodwork are second in how to paint a room. If you've prepared your woodwork and rubbed down and filled everything the hard miles so to speak are done. It doesn't matter when painting and undercoating that you get some paint on your walls. Infact its so much easier to concentrate on getting a good finish on trims when doing them before your walls. You don't have to worry about cutting in or edging with your brush. All the focus is on getting the clean glossy finish you require. In my opinion your trims are a very important part of the room, they are somewhat of a feature and most often are made to stand out with a contrasting colour. So getting them right is vital.

3. Walls are third in how to paint a room. I suggest leaving the trim coats to cure for 24 hours (it could take longer depending on the weather and temperature) before painting the walls. Make sure before starting that all walls have been filled and sanded before your trims are done (you don't want dust and dirt sitting on your nicely glossed trims :-) ) The reason for painting walls after your trims is that it is easier to cut or edge back into a small edge rather than cut back into a large edge. Try cutting your gloss coat on trims back to a finished wall. It takes too much time and you can't lay your gloss coat off properly. The result is hitting the wall and getting a very uneven finish coat on your trims.

4. Skirtings are last in how to paint a room. Two ways you can go. You can paint and finish the skirtings before the walls. This way you run the risk of paint spots off the roller when painting walls getting onto your skirtings. (Doing it this way you would have to make sure your skirtings were dry enough to tape up with easy "release tape".) The way I do it, is to do my skirtings last. I do have to cut them in to the wall though. With my experience I can get a nice straight line free hand with the brush. This may not be a good option for the inexperienced, but perhaps with a good brush and a bit of guts and steady hands it would be a good opportunity to test your skills. The cutting in skills in painting are invaluable, allowing you to paint things like feature walls.

Painting is all about being organized and prepared and repeating the same tasks over and over. Stick to the above formula and you will flow through your work effortlessly and have it done in no time, saving you money and your precious time. So that's it for how to paint a room in particular in what order to paint things. Catch ya round like a roller pole. Happy painting................Wayne the painter