Painting A Living Room Advice

How to Paint a Living Room

If you are looking for an easy way of giving your living room a new look and feel, you should definitely consider painting it. Giving it a new coat of paint color is an inexpensive and less labor-intensive way of completely transforming it. The following are tips that will come in handy in working as an effective guide to painting a room.

Freshly painted living room

Step 1: Start With the End in Mind

Your vision of how you want the living room to look is the most important element of a winning paint job. Do you want to paint the living room walls with one color? Or will you prefer to bring your living room to life by using multiple colors? Even when you choose to go for multiple colors, you will also have to decide whether to use an accent wall or to stick to using a different shade on moldings.

While the process of choosing colors, and how exactly to use it, may seem overwhelming, you can simplify it by grabbing a guide that teaches how to paint. Most of these guides feature examples of finished painting projects and they can serve as a great inspiration for what you would like to end up with.

Painting supplies and tools

Step 2: Ready Your Tools

After coming up with a clear picture of what you want everything to look like, the next step is to gather the tools that you will need to get the job done. Start with shopping for paint, a good paint roller, sandpaper, paintbrushes and drop cloths.

Getting a paint roller extension pole will make it easier to reach high points on your wall, while a roll of painter’s tape will make it easier to keep from making a mess. Also, don’t forget to get a paint tray and a couple of rags. Most tutorials on how to paint have an exhaustive list of what you may need, and using them will thus make this stage easier.

When ordering paint, keep in mind that you will have to use at least two coats. Therefore, once you figure out how much paint you need to cover your walls, you will have to get at least twice that amount. An easy way of figuring out how much paint to order is to assume that a gallon of paint will cover 400 square feet of wall space. Since most reputable paint companies also offer paint calculators and other tools that make it easy to figure out how to paint a room, using these resources will make your work easier.

Ladder with paint supplies

Step 3: Move Furniture to the Center

With your tools gathered, you should then proceed to create painting space by moving any furniture away from the walls. Moving furniture to the center of the room is usually enough. However, if you have a crowded living room, you should consider moving some of your things outside. Covering any valuables in your living room in order to protect them from inadvertent paint splashes is something that most guides, on how to paint a room, recommend. Use plastic sheeting or drop cloths to do this.

Woman applying painter's tape in living room

Step 4: Prep the Living Room Walls

The first step in prepping the wall area is to cover any areas that you don’t want paint on. Use the painter’s tape to cover window frames, crown moldings, wall bases, corners, switch covers, wiring, and any other fixture that you want to protect from paint splashes.

The second step is to get rid of any dirt or debris from the wall. Use a towel to simply wipe off any dust or dirt. If there are imperfections on the wall, use sandpaper to smooth it out. And if there is flaked or cracked paint, scraping it off with a paint scraper will be enough to create a paint-friendly surface.

The third step in the wall-prepping process is to use a primer to get rid of any marks or other tiny imperfections that may be on your wall. When choosing the primer, you will have the option of going with a water-based one or one that is oil-based. Generally, water-based primers are great for new drywall. On the other hand, oil-based primers are ideal for situations where the walls are heavily stained walls or paneled walls.

Woman painting wall

Step 5: Start Painting

After mixing your paint, start painting at the top corner. Most guides on how to paint advise adopting a “W” pattern and then proceeding to fill it. To avoid leaving visible seams or breakpoints, painting without lifting the roller is a tip that is included in almost every guide to painting a room. And once you are done with the first coat, give it time to dry before applying the next coat of paint.