DIY Home Painting

by Don Miller

Among the most popular do-it-yourself projects for homeowners today is painting. Almost anyone can paint their home. Those people who are overwhelmed at the thought of a leaking faucet, or turning wrenches feel quite comfortable with a brush, or a roller in their hand and a gallon of paint. For the most part DIY home painting is easy to learn, doesn’t require expensive equipment, and for the most part is safe, although you will need to take some basic safety precautions.

Believe it or not the hardest part of painting is choosing a color for your room or for your home. Although painting is easy, it does not guarantee good results or great-looking paying jobs. As with any do-it-yourself project, painting requires good preparation, the right equipment and good solid technique.

Preparation

The absolute key to a professional looking paint job is in the preparation. Nearly 80% of a painting project consists of prep work, moving furniture, patching damaged walls, sanding rough surfaces, and protecting areas with drop cloths. If you’re preparation work is completed properly, you will not notice that the room had been painted, but you will be happy with the results.

In newer homes less preparation is necessary and you can expect to spend about two or three hours of prep time for every hour of painting time. Conversely, an older home will require much more preparation. It is not unusual to spend several hours of prep time for every hour of time spent painting with an older home. For example, if damage walls need to be repaired you will need to allow time for the spackle or joint compound to dry.

If it is at all possible you should remove the furniture from your room. It is generally much easier to remove furniture than it is to work around it. If the furniture cannot be moved out of the room, moving to the center of the room where you have a 3 to 4 foot walk way around your room.

Doorknobs, window locks, drapery and curtain rods, should be removed. Make sure that you place all hardware that you will use again a safe place to make it easier when it is time to reinstall. Generally a Ziploc bag works great for this purpose. Carefully protect all ceiling fixtures, including lighting and ceiling fans.

In most cases you will likely not be able to move everything out of the room so you must protect what is left. Make sure that you mask the trim work, such as baseboards and door and window trim, that you do not plan to paint. Do not use regular masking tape. It is too sticky and will likely cause damage and remove finishes when you remove the tape. It is better to use painter’s tape which will ensure clean lines and easy removal.

DIY Painting and Choosing Paint

The process of choosing paint and choosing paint colors for your home may seem easy. You pick the color you want, and you paint. To some degree that is true. While it makes complete sense to begin with colors that you like, other components come into play. Do the colors that you have chosen work well together? Do they blend well with the furnishings and carpeting already in place?

Interior Paint Colors

When you choose interior paint colors don’t think of just one color, but think in terms of choosing a color scheme. Consider your furniture, window treatments, carpets, and curtains and choose colors that will help complement them. Consider how many colors you think you might be using. Will the baseboards and trend be a different color than the walls? Generally it is, however if your trim is in bad shape you may want to consider not calling attention to it by choosing to paint it the same color as your wall. The same is true with all types of trim including window casings and chair rails.

You will also want to consider where the walls meet the ceiling. Will you install crown molding or some other type of cornice treatment? Or will you simply change the color of the ceiling at the ceiling wall junction. All these factors must be considered when choosing interior paint colors. Be sure to test paint colors on some different areas to make sure you have the desired effect. There’s nothing quite so bad as painting a room and then stepping back and disliking the color so much you have to repaint it.

Exterior Paint Colors

As is the case with interior paint colors you’ll want to consider groups of colors rather than single colors for the exterior of your home. The process becomes a little bit more complicated with the exterior because homes are built with a variety of materials that have different textures. Stucco for example has a different texture than would clapboard or siding. If you want to bring attention to the difference in textures you will want to paint each element a different color.

When you are choosing your colors consider that the two colors you choose or three colors that you may choose for your exterior home painting project may all look good together, but may clash with the roof. You’ll want to consider landscaping around your home as well as the color of your neighbors houses. Today’s neighborhoods often have homeowners associations that limit the colors you are going to be able to use to paint your home. Another option you may want to consider is to use a computer program to choose color schemes for your home. With a click of a mouse you can have a picture of your home painted a different color to give you an idea of what it will look like.

Use Latex or Oil-based Paints

Paints are generally divided into two broad groups, latex or water-based paints and oil-based paints. Do-it-yourself homeowners and professional painters generally like latex paint because it dries quickly and cleanup is easy. Quick drying will allow application of two coats in one day and can be cleaned with warm water and soap very easily. The cleanup with oil-based paints will include using turpentine or marital spirits. Obviously, latex paints are water-based and much more environmentally friendly than their oil-based relatives. Latex paints have come a long way. In the past professional painters generally resisted using latex paint. Oil-based paint is more durable than latex and settles as it dries leaving a clean smooth finish without brushstrokes showing. Do not apply latex paint over old oil paint unless you carefully sand or chemically treat the services beforehand.

Choosing a Sheen

In addition to choosing a paint color that you like, whether or not it’s latex or oil base, you’ll need to choose the degree of seeing you want. Whether you choose flat paint or glossy paint or something in between, most sheens are available for both latex and oil based paints.

Flat or Matte

This paint is a low gloss finish that hides minor flaws in the surfaces as you paint. Because most flat paints are slightly rough they are little more difficult to clean and do not take well to scrubbing as glossier finishes. Scrubbing flat paint tends to spread out the dirt and leave a larger dirty spot.

Eggshell and Satin

A step or two glossier than flat paint with better abrasion resistance a shell and satin paints are a popular choice. Satin is a measure glossier than a shell.

Semigloss

Semi gloss paints a scrubbing very well and are available in late text and oil-based formulas

Gloss

This is generally the highest gloss classification. It is also the lowest in absorption. Gloss paints take scrubbing and are easy to clean. However glossy paint shows more imperfections and flaws that may be in the surface than any other type of finish.

Enamel

In the past enamel paint was synonymous with an oil-based paint. Times have changed and these days it generally refers to the glossiness of paint. The glossiness of these paints will vary from one manufacturer to another.

Next we will take a look at choosing paint primers.There are many other areas of preparation that you will become more familiar with, including wall preparation, wall repair, and preparing trim work. We will cover all of these topics in subsequent articles.