OK, a lot of people have never painted walls before and are scared to do it. I'm here to tell you it is neither scary nor difficult, and you can paint!
First, let's go through what you need to get:
- Paint (Behr is a great company that is conveniently available at Home Depot, along with the rest of the things you need. It's an affordable brand, has a lot of color options, and is easy to work with.)
- Primer (if your existing walls are not white)
- Rollers + Roller Covers
- Paintbrush - 2" is good
- Paint Tray - plastic is good, but metal is fine too
- Painter's Tape - 2" is good
- Drop Cloth - I usually get the cheap, clear ones
Or you can buy a convenient little set that includes most everything.
Steps:
- Tape the edge of the ceiling where it meets the wall, tape the top of the baseboard where it meets the wall, take any adjacent walls that you don't intend to paint. Also, either tape over or remove completely any switches or outlets. It's very easy to remove the cover of an outlet with a Flathead screwdriver and then you don't have to worry about getting paint on it. As you're taping, use a rag to run over the areas you have taped to completely adhere the tape. Paint can sneak up underneath the tape if it's not totally adhered.
- Cover the floor and any furniture with the Drop Cloths. I like the put the Drop Cloth right up to the wall I'm painting and tape it to the top of the baseboard. That way no paint is going to get on the floor. *If you walls are not white, you need to first paint a coat of Primer on them. The below steps are the same for the Primer. Do a coat of it, let it dry, and then start with the paint.
- Open the paint can with a Flathead screwdriver and pour some into the Paint Tray.
- Run the roller in the paint tray and completely saturate the paint on the roller. Once it's saturated, roll it back and forth along the upper (bumpy) part of the tray to remove any excess paint.
- Paint the wall with the roller, up and down smoothly covering any white. Be careful not to go too fast, because that's how you can get splatter. You'll have to keep refilling the Paint Tray with paint as you go.
- Once you have painted the main areas using the Roller, it's time to do the edges. For this step you use the Paintbrush and slowly and carefully paint the part where the wall meets the ceiling, floor, and other walls. You should be safe because there is a 2" strip of painters tape protecting the areas you don't want to paint, but be careful not to go too fast anyway. Be careful around outlets also - paint looks terrible on them.
- Let it dry overnight leaving the Drop Cloths down and painters tape up. Soak all tools in warm water to clean them thoroughly.
- Paint another coat (steps 3-6) the next day. After this you can remove the Drop Cloths.
- Let it dry another day.
- Sloooowly remove the painters tape.
You're done! It looks awesome!!
