Painting disaster. Yep. That was my very first experience with painting a room in our house.
Freshly moved into our house in Kannapolis, with Mason barely two years old and Tyler working a double shift that week. Thought “how hard could painting one room really be?” Painted walls as a kid helping my dad around our old house growing up. Slapping a little colour on the walls didn’t seem complicated.
Yeah, sure. Hours turns into days later and there I am staring at crooked lines where the paint made streaks under the painter’s tape (measured and cut meticulously, pressed down with precision) roller marks that you could see a mile away, and wondering how to fix those things.
Worst of all, I had spent our monthly “house improvement budget” on this so-called “good” paint and it looked horrendous.
Tyler walked in from work that night and went “Oh honey…” Not a single word of complaint yet his tone gave me enough information to know I seriously screwed up. The thing is – there is so much about painting that nobody tells you! Watching those home improvement/network TV guys do it is like watching magic.
Here they come with their fancy tools and ribbon down, paint smoothly goes on the wall and BAM…instant beautiful room. Of course they don’t have to paint around 30+ year old sticky wallpaper residue like I did (and resulting plaster that had been patched approximately 432391 times by a previous owner who knew NOTHING about wallpaper removal), or fix problem areas on the walls before actually painting them. I was so determined to fix my mistake that my google searches became borderline obsessive.
Nap times with Mason and late nights he was sleeping went to reading everything painting related that I could get my hands on. The more I read, the more I realised how true it is that painting is something most professionals aren’t eager to share. Technique.
It all comes down to technique. Not really needing fancy tools. Understanding your paint and how it will act in different temperatures/humidity levels.
All those things no one tells you. Here’s the thing – It’s not the paint. Now listen, paint matters.
If you put crap paint on your wall you’re going to get a crapy finish. But I used “good” paint for my first attempt and still ended up with a room that looked like a disaster. What I didn’t know how to do was all the “prep” work that painters don’t talk about.
Our house was built in the 70s so our living room had hairline cracks all over from the house settling over the years. The first time I painted, I just rolled right over them. Didn’t think anything of it.
Sure enough, within six months every.single.crack showed through the paint. Simple fix, but one I had to look up! You need mesh tape (like you use for drywall) and then a plaster compound instead of regular wall joint compound.
Took me an extra day of work but once I got all those cracks filled properly they haven’t bothered me since. Something else I didn’t realise when I started painting is surface prep. What I did the first time I painted was wipe down the walls with a damp rag.
Only problem was we weren’t moving into a virgin house. Previous owners loved to cook in the kitchen and dining room which left a film on the walls that you couldn’t really see but boy was paint not wanting to stick there! After doing some more research I made sure to clean walls with a tsp substitute before painting.
Seemed like a huge ordeal at first, but it isn’t really. Trust me when I say it makes ALL the difference. Humidity.
Ugh. Never paint when it’s humid. Lesson learned when I painted Mason’s room last summer.
Did not have AC on because I was paranoid about fumes building up while we were inside with the windows closed. Paint took FOREVER to dry which meant humidity got all messed up in the paint as it dried. Rough texture like you wouldn’t believe.
Buy a dehumidifier. Use it when you paint. In South Carolina humidity is REAL.
Invest in good paint tools. Sure, painting is one of those things where you’re “allowed” to buy cheap things. Rollers and brushes get tossed after the project so who cares if you spend 5 dollars on a roller?
Uh huh. Those were the rollers I used to paint Mason’s room. Paint started coming off on the walls because the roller was shedding little bits of fabric everywhere.
A good roller cover is going to cost you 10-15 dollars more than a cheapie. Worth every penny. Don’t buy those roller tray thingys they sell at the store with your painting supplies.
Ask any painter and they’re going to use a simple five gallon bucket with a screen insert that fits inside. Why? Holds more paint so you won’t have to refill as often.
Stands up straight so Mason can’t run through your room knocking it over like he plans to do despite you telling him NOT TO RUN IN MASON NO OVER ONE HUNDRED TIMES while you’re trying to paint. Plus the paint won’t dry out as fast since you’re not dragging the bucket/can around with you. Load up that roller.
So when I first started painting I would barely dip my roller into the paint. Then roll it across the screen/screen tray thing 347981 times trying to spread it out before applying it to the wall. Huge.
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Mistake. Not only will you get very thin, streaky paint but that’s way more work than you have to do. Roll it right inside the paint pan, bunchup the fabric on the roller so it’s saturated then kind of stretch it taut again.
When you apply it to the wall that way you can spread a wider area because your roller is nicely saturated with paint. Less strokes = less roller marks. Roll vertically.
When I first started painting I did this weird zig-zag pattern back and forth trying to get paint everywhere instead of just filling it in. Looked fine in my head, but up close my paint job had smooth areas and places where you could see all the roller marks. When you load your roller like I described above you can actually just roll up and down.
Cut off each stroke about half an inch before the edge, slightly overlap and roll down. Don’t lift that roller up until you’ve covered the entire section you’re working on, then go back for a quick light pass to smooth everything out. Buy a good angled brush for cutting in.
Yeah I was cheap like most DIY beginners and bought cheap brushes that didn’t hold much paint. Did not like those suckers one bit. Lines were wavy and paint application was spotty at best.
Ask anyone who works in painting – the ONE tool they DON’T scrimp on is a good paint brush. Spend the 15-20 bucks on an angled paintbrush and you will notice a difference. Hold more paint, spreads evenly.
Makes it actually feasible to cut in straight lines. Speaking of cutting in, most professionals don’t even use tape. Yeah heard that right.
I was so used to using painter’s tape to avoid painting the ceiling/trim I got really frustrated when paint would still bleed underneath the tape. Then one day it actually PULLED paint off the wall with the tape because it had started to dry too much. Teach yourself to cut in freehand with a good brush and you will save yourself a ton of time and have WAY less cleanup.
Don’t mess with that paint once you’ve applied it. Paint a section, then see a spot you messed up or didn’t cover quite right so you go back over it? Ugh.
Once that paint starts to dry, continuing to brush back and forth over the same spot actually makes it worse by creating these drag marks and uneven textures. Try to work on sections small enough where you won’t have to touch up already dried paint. If you can, paint your cabinets.
Okay hear me out. If you’re going to paint cabinets you need to know that it’s like painting on expert mode. Regular paint brushes will leave brush marks on your cabinets because the surfaces are so smooth.
Trust me, I did them wrong the first time and had to repaint them (don’t worry. Still cheaper than new cabinets and they look amazing). You want to get some foam rollers made for cabinets and special brushes.
You also need to sand super lightly first so the paint will have something to grip too. Prime as well or the new paint will chip. Well worth the effort though.
Invest in good tools and take care of them. Those cheap brushes I started out with? Had to toss them after every painting job because I didn’t clean them correctly and they were useless the second time around.
Purchase good paint tools and CLEAN them after every use. Really work the paint out of the brushes down at the base where the bristles connect to the handle. Then reshape the brush back into the original shape and put the cover back on.
I have some brushes now that I’ve used for multiple projects that are still like new. Don’t use the room immediately after painting. Or at least don’t let kids use it.
Happened to me. New bathroom, painted like a champ. Mason takes a bath the next day and proceeds to splash all over the freshly painted walls.
What happens? Get stubborn water spots/streaks because the paint hasn’t fully cured yet. Give it at least a few weeks before your family/grandchildren take baths in it.
Painting your home doesn’t have to be expensive or overly complicated. I’ve made every mistake in the book when painting our house over the years. But the thing I’ve come to realise is that professional painters aren’t telling YOU these things.
They spend years perfecting their technique and hate when amateurs come in and mess something up that should’ve been easy.
Painting isn’t difficult, but there is a right way and a wrong way to do it. Sure you can get lucky and roll paint on a wall and have it look okay.
But if you want it to actually look like a professional did it? There’s no getting around these tips. It’s not rocket science, but it does take practise.
You will get better each time you paint. Doesn’t mean you won’t make mistakes. Still do!
Painted right over a crayon mark the other day on our basement wall because Kiddo brushed up against it while colouring and didnt realise until it was too late. Of course that stain showed through the fresh paint. Happy painting!
