Painting Your Walls: Tips for Professional Results

DIY doesn’t have to be hard.

I’ve always loved giving a new place a fresh coat of paint. One, it looks clean, and two, I can change the colour to something other than beige. I loathe beige walls. I’ve done this enough times to have some tips on how to make the results looks great. It is far less work than most people think. Here are a few tips from a dedicated non-professional who has painted over many a beige wall in her day.

Painting over beige with a creamy light yellow. Way better. Sanding block for roughing up the old paint. Screwdriver for opening the can of paint. Brush that I’ve had forever.

It’s all about the prep.

It may seem strange but the majority of work that goes into painting happens before you crack open a can of paint or dip your brush for the first time. The most important thing you can do to make things look good is really prepare the wall.

First, take down all the art or anything else hanging on the wall and clear away the furniture so you have room to move around. You need at least 2 m of space clear if you can create that much room in order to use a long handle on your paint roller.

Second, use TSP or something equivalent to wash the wall. You can buy TSP in powder form, and it’s not expensive. You mix it with the right quantity of water and use it to wash the walls. It does a great job of cutting through grease and dirt so that when you put up your paint, your’e working…