Painting a Room

magicmushroom

Hi All

I'm aware that this post may sound a bit ridiculous and stupid but oh well!

I'd like to repaint my living room.
I've never painted a room before and I'm not really sure where to start. I usually would pay a man to do this type of thing but money is tight so I've decided to be an independant woman and do it myself!

The chimney breast is currently wallpapered so I will be scraping that off.

I will go and buy a roller and brush from Homebase - what do I buy to clean the brushes with and what is the best way to clean them?

I know I need to do the cutting in along the top of the wall and the bottom, so I will do this carefully - what is the best type of brush to buy for this?

Just really looking for advise and tips in general. An idiots guide to painting, simplified as if you were explaining to a 5 year old.

Thanks!

RoryMurphyJnr

http://www.woodiesdiy.com/aspx/diyexpert.aspx

Woodies do these videos that should help

AndyBoBandy

If you use an emulsion paint (water based), you simply clean with water, for vinyl paints, you need to clean with white spirits.

As to where to buy, I'd always favour Woodies as they are 100% Irish, whereas the others are not.

designer79

MRCB in Cornmarket, Dublin is Irish owned ..... I would go there if your looking for paint, tools and advise, I have used them a good few times and they really know there stuff.

RosieJoe

Buy some masking tape and use that to tape off the ceiling, windows, skirting boards etc. Takes a bit of time but it is easier in the long run

Nono Toure

RosieJoe wrote: »

Buy some masking tape and use that to tape off the ceiling, windows, skirting boards etc. Takes a bit of time but it is easier in the long run

DO NOT tape off the ceiling!!! You'll pull the paint off the ceiling and make a balls of it!!

fussyonion

Andybobandy wrote: »

If you use an emulsion paint (water based), you simply clean with water, for vinyl paints, you need to clean with white spirits.

As to where to buy, I'd always favour Woodies as they are 100% Irish, whereas the others are not.

Vinyl paint IS emulsion. Did you mean oil paint?

fussyonion

You could pick up a paint kit which contains painting pads. You don't need a brush to cut in, you can use them.
Cut in your doorframes, windows, skirtings with them.

As for what brush to use, I recommend Purdy brushes. Quite expensive but would last you a lifetime once you look after them.

As for cleaning your brushes: lukewarm water for all emulsion paint.
White spirits is used to clean oil paint off brushes.

PS Get yourself a wallpaper stripper to make life a lot easier for removing that wallpaper off your chimney breast.

Make sure you put sheets or paper on the floor, even far away from the walls, you'd be surprised how far those drips can get! That said my experience is a bit biased since I'm supernaturally messy.

dmc17

For the wallpaper:

• Using a roller and some hot water & soap, dampen the wallpaper until it soaks through and the glue softens and it should come off easier.

For painting:

• Mask of the skirting boards & edges of window boards if they are varnished.
• Any cracks/ holes will need to be filled, sanded smooth and touched up before painting.
• Buy two 3-inch synthetic brushes for walls & ceiling. You should get reasonable ones for €8-9 each. Purdy would be over €20 each and while worth the money, probably not necessary for this job.
• Next, you need two rollers. The foam ones are crap so I'd recommend microfiber ones like these. You'll also need frames for them and a good handle like this makes rolling much easier.
• Cover everything, as even if you don't have any drops, rollers give off a lovely fine mist which is harder to remove than any drops.
• Cut in all your ceiling first. You can come down on the wall a little bit with the white paint.
• Roll the ceiling starting at one side of the room and work all the way to the other side to finish(no tea breaks in the middle!). Take a tea break afterwards to give the ceiling a chance to dry before starting the walls.
• Next the fun bit. Cut in the walls. Maybe, cut in around the windows first. I'd recommend you cut in one wall at a time and roll it before moving on to the next one. Continue until finished. When the walls are dry you can do it all over again for a second coat as it'll probably need it
• If you decide to do it over more than 1 day, no need to wash brushes/ rollers. Just wrap them in plastic bag so that no air can get to them and they'll be good to go straight out of the bag the next day.
• Remove the masking tape as soon as possible after painting.

fussyonion

dmc17 wrote: »

For the wallpaper:

• Using a roller and some hot water & soap, dampen the wallpaper until it soaks through and the glue softens and it should come off easier.

For painting:

• Mask of the skirting boards & edges of window boards if they are varnished.
• Any cracks/ holes will need to be filled, sanded smooth and touched up before painting.
• Buy two 3-inch synthetic brushes for walls & ceiling. You should get reasonable ones for €8-9 each. Purdy would be over €20 each and while worth the money, probably not necessary for this job.
• Next, you need two rollers. The foam ones are crap so I'd recommend microfiber ones like these. You'll also need frames for them and a good handle like this makes rolling much easier.
• Cover everything, as even if you don't have any drops, rollers give off a lovely fine mist which is harder to remove than any drops.
• Cut in all your ceiling first. You can come down on the wall a little bit with the white paint.
• Roll the ceiling starting at one side of the room and work all the way to the other side to finish(no tea breaks in the middle!). Take a tea break afterwards to give the ceiling a chance to dry before starting the walls.
• Next the fun bit. Cut in the walls. Maybe, cut in around the windows first. I'd recommend you cut in one wall at a time and roll it before moving on to the next one. Continue until finished. When the walls are dry you can do it all over again for a second coat as it'll probably need it
• If you decide to do it over more than 1 day, no need to wash brushes/ rollers. Just wrap them in plastic bag so that no air can get to them and they'll be good to go straight out of the bag the next day.
• Remove the masking tape as soon as possible after painting.

+1 on this advice, top notch.
You must be a painter dm!

dmc17

fussyonion wrote: »

+1 on this advice, top notch.
You must be a painter dm!

A former full-time/current part-time one

greasepalm

wear old clothing and a cap as paint drips on you,do you like it hot and steamy=paint stripper that boils water and pad on wall wets and makes it easier for removal of wallpaper on good walls.

magicmushroom

dmc17 wrote: »

For the wallpaper:

• Using a roller and some hot water & soap, dampen the wallpaper until it soaks through and the glue softens and it should come off easier.

For painting:

• Mask of the skirting boards & edges of window boards if they are varnished.
• Any cracks/ holes will need to be filled, sanded smooth and touched up before painting.
• Buy two 3-inch synthetic brushes for walls & ceiling. You should get reasonable ones for €8-9 each. Purdy would be over €20 each and while worth the money, probably not necessary for this job.
• Next, you need two rollers. The foam ones are crap so I'd recommend microfiber ones like these. You'll also need frames for them and a good handle like this makes rolling much easier.
• Cover everything, as even if you don't have any drops, rollers give off a lovely fine mist which is harder to remove than any drops.
• Cut in all your ceiling first. You can come down on the wall a little bit with the white paint.
• Roll the ceiling starting at one side of the room and work all the way to the other side to finish(no tea breaks in the middle!). Take a tea break afterwards to give the ceiling a chance to dry before starting the walls.
• Next the fun bit. Cut in the walls. Maybe, cut in around the windows first. I'd recommend you cut in one wall at a time and roll it before moving on to the next one. Continue until finished. When the walls are dry you can do it all over again for a second coat as it'll probably need it
• If you decide to do it over more than 1 day, no need to wash brushes/ rollers. Just wrap them in plastic bag so that no air can get to them and they'll be good to go straight out of the bag the next day.
• Remove the masking tape as soon as possible after painting.

Great advice, thank you can't wait to get started now!

Johnnsmith

Great advices

db

One more tip to add to the above. If you are removing the masking tape after the paint has dried, get a craft scalpel or a Stanley knife and run it lightly along the edge of the tape to cut through the paint. This will break the seal and make the tape easier to remove. If you don't do this, the tape might peel some of the paint from the wall which is very difficult to fix.