Paint your home yourself. Here are a few tips.

You can paint your home yourself and this is not difficult as you think. Here is an approach, which you can follow to do the painting with no difficulty.

Get organized:

Before the start, you should plan the approach because many works can be done a day or more prior to the actual start of the work.

The first approach is moving the obstructions away from the wall and ceiling so that you can paint faster with fewer mistakes.

Before painting the walls, move all the furniture from the room so that you can paint easily with no hindrance. If you have large furnishings, you can pile them at the center of the room and cover them with drop clothes. Remove all the chandeliers from the ceiling so that you can paint the ceiling faster and more smoothly. Handle the floor area with care to reduce the later work. Use drop clothes and cover them and allocate an area where you can gather the tools which will be used to mix the paint and work.

Top down approach is the best way to paint the wall and this helps you to correct the drips and runs. If you are planning to paint a room or a hall, start with the ceiling and then go to the walls. Always start painting the larger areas before repainting the trim by this you can cover more areas and finish it quickly. This may end up with roller sprays, overspray and brush strokes.

Scrape away the old peeling paints and the rough sand painted woodworks to get rid of the glossy surfaces and get them ready for the new paint. Before repainting, use a sealer to give a makeover to the high-gloss enamel paints. Fix the cracks and chips in the wall before painting. Do patch works to fix the imperfections. Remove all electrical switches, wall sconces, picture hangers and other covers. Cover the windows and woodwork with painters tape to mask around them.

Get organized with the materials:

Choose the right brush and roller to do the right job. Choose rollers in such a way that the more the surface is rougher, more the length of the roller should be. Use synthetic brushes and rollers for latex or water-based paint. Use natural or synthetic brushes for oil-based paint. When you work with the paint, make sure that you stir the paint with a stick or mix it frequently to avoid pigments from settling down.

Materials usage:

Brushes are available in different sizes and depending on the usage and area you can buy them. For doors and windows, trim brushes are to be used. Dip the brush into the paint in such a way that the bristles are dipped one-third of the way into the paint. Squeeze out the excess paint on the bristles’ surface before using it to avoid brush marks.

Do not forget to cover your hair with a scarf and protect your eyes with protective eyewear. Importantly, cover all the areas so that you can provide a uniform look to the wall.
Now, once you finish painting, remove the tape from the trim and paint it.
Once you are done with the painting, clean the brushes and the rollers.

Shasthri, a postgraduate in finance management, is a financial advisor for a leading firm. His interests are investing, cricket and chess. He writes for indiaproperty.com .