How to Paint a Wall

Painting interior walls is the easiest way to freshen up your place. But this project can quickly turn into a nightmare if you're not careful. Follow these six tips the next time you paint and you'll get great-looking walls while keeping your sanity.

Interior painting is by far the most popular do-it-yourself home improvement activity, and it's easy to see why. There's no better, more affordable way to freshen up rooms than with a new coat of paint. Plus, painting isn't terribly difficult and doesn't require specialized training. Any able-bodied homeowner can paint rooms—all you need is a little patience, practice, and some helpful advice.

These painting tips can help even novice DIYers achieve professional-quality results. Follow these suggestions and you'll not only paint better, you'll work faster and neater, too.

1. Prep Surface:

A successful paint job starts with properly preparing the surface you're going to paint. That means you must scrape, sand, patch, and fill every hole, crack, dent, and surface imperfection. This isn't the fun part of painting a room, but it is the most important part. No paint, regardless of its cost, color, thickness, or manufacturer's claims, will hide a pockmarked or cracked surface.

2. Tent The Primer:

Priming walls and ceilings is mandatory whenever you're painting new drywall or painting over a dark color. But it's smart to prime any time you paint. Primer serves three main functions. First, it blocks stains from bleeding through. Second, it allows one-coat coverage for the paint. Third, and most important, it improves paint adhesion, which greatly reduces blisters and peeling.

Professional painters will often tint the primer toward the finished color by mixing a small amount of topcoat paint into the primer. This trick greatly enhances the ability of the topcoat to completely hide the primed surface.

You can now buy paints that contain primers, but nothing covers as well or improves adhesion as much as a dedicated primer.

3. Go for Canvas Rather Than Plastic:

Plastic drop cloths provide an inexpensive way to protect floors and furnishings from paint spatters, but you'd be much better off investing in canvas ones. Canvas is extremely durable and rip-resistant. It lays flat and presents much less of a tripping hazard. Canvas absorbs paint drips, unlike plastic drop cloths, which become slippery when spattered with paint. Canvas drop cloths can be easily folded around corners and doorways, something that's impossible to do with plastic sheeting. Plus, most plastic drop cloths must be tossed out after using. Canvas drop cloths will last a lifetime.

3. Adding 2 coats of paint:

When painting your interior walls with colored paint, a second coat fills in thin spots and streaks and makes a smooth, uniform coating that is more durable than a single coat. The second coat of paint is often called the finish coat because it is the last coating of paint you’ll apply to the wall. It helps to know a few tips to ensure that your second coat is a success.

Applying the second coat too soon:

You can ruin your entire paint job by not allowing enough time for the first layer of paint to dry before adding a second coat. Check the instructions on your paint can for a suggested dry time, and if you’re still unsure, give it 24 hours.