Tips to make painting your home easier and more efficient

Most people start to cringe as the time to start painting houses nears. Artistic expression and creative freedom take a backseat, all planned ideas begin to seem impractical, and what remains is the laborious task at hand.
A single mistake can prove useless, or at least take away all the charm. However, a smart man still looks to the end result without fear of any careless mistakes along the way, because he has some tips at hand to help him fix any problems.

So when you paint your home, don’t fear what can go wrong. Instead, wait anxiously for everything to turn out well with these smart tips as a guide:

• Painting directly on oily and dirty surfaces will be unsuccessful as the paint will come off easily. Clean dirty areas with a heavy duty cleaner before painting to solve this problem.

• Mix a few cans of paint beforehand to keep a uniform color throughout the room. Opening a new paint can while it’s in the middle of a wall can leave slightly different color casts. Mixing the same paints together eliminates the problem.

• Paint trim before walls and ceiling. It is easier to glue the trim than it is to glue the walls. When painting the trim, it is also not necessary to be neat, since the paint that reaches the walls is covered later.

• Generally, a single coat of paint cannot hide the underlying color in the trim. To ensure a smooth finish, the trim should be sanded before each coat of paint is applied.

• Avoid lap marks by rolling to full wall height and maintaining a wet edge. Lap marks occur when painting over a part that has already partially dried. Keep a wet edge by reloading the roller frequently.

• Prime and textured wall patches to avoid a blotchy finish. Wall patches absorb paint and dull the surface. The primer seals the patches and prevents the paint from sagging.

• For a perfect edge, let the paint dry before cutting the tape. Since the paint forms a film between the tape and the wall, removing the tape also pulls some dried paint off the wall. To avoid this, cut the film with a sharp knife when the paint is completely dry.

With these few tips ready at your fingertips and quality home paints at your side, your home painting experience will be a memorable one, even if it’s your first try.