Maybe you need to paint the guest bedroom before the in-laws arrive for their annual summer visit—tomorrow? Here are some hot tips on how to achieve excellent results…
Many of us dream of having the picture perfect home with elegantly painted and decorated spaces. We wish we could wave a wand and magically recreate all our favourite look ideas that pop up on our Instagram and Pinterest accounts from the DIY wizards we admire and follow.
In reality, however, picking up a paintbrush one day intent on redecorating may seem daunting to most. So perhaps we will resort to the usual talking ourselves out of it, and instead wait until the piggy-bank is full so we can hire a professional. While professional help is useful and sometimes very necessary, there are a few smaller DIY projects that you may be able to tackle on your own.
In this 5-part blog series we hope to inspire bursts of DIY wizardry of your own that may prove delightfully serendipitous. Each post has been written by an industry expert with a wealth of knowledge who also happens to be an avid DIY-er too.
In Part 1, this week, we start off with tips on how to revive an often forgotten space in the home–the old guest room.
You have just received a call from your in-laws informing you that they will arriving in a few days for a visit, followed by the rhetorical question: “Hope you don’t mind us coming to stay?”. While you politely agree, organise airport pick up times and wish them a safe journey, you also suddenly remember that your guest room is in a less than presentable state for your incoming guests.
Perhaps you may have had thoughts of experimenting with painting that old guest room feature-wall that piqued your interests last summer, but you are now left wishing you had more time to finally get around to doing it.
Never fear! Here are 4 top tips on how to get cracking on that paint job, and achieve excellent results in no time.
The last thing you want after completing your first DIY painting project is to realise later that paint has ended up on surfaces you did not intend it to. Makes for a sloppy finish that no guest will enjoy. First thing you should always do before you start painting is remove all light switches, fittings and door handles. For surfaces that cannot be removed or moved, such as floors, you should cover these with drop sheets. For simple DIY drop sheets you can use old curtains, unwanted bed linen or even black refuse bags.
With any paint job, it is best to work on a clean and blemish-free canvas. Second step is to make sure you've done all your prep work to make your walls ready for a few new coats of paint. This may include washing the walls with Sugar Soap Liquid, which you can buy from your local hardware store. You will want to avoid using a cloth with colour dyes, as these will transfer onto your walls during application. If there are any rough areas on the walls after washing, you should sand these down with some sandpaper.
Your prep work should not just be on the walls but on the ceiling too. If you have any blemishes or water marks on the ceiling, you can use Traffic White road marking paint to obliterate the marks. Allow twenty four hours to dry before applying the ceiling paint thereafter. For best result always apply two top coats of paint to the ceiling.
Once the prep work is done, it’s now time to paint! It may be tempting to start those brushstrokes just anywhere on the wall, certainly the sections that are reachable at arms length would make the obvious choice for a good starting point for any beginner. However, for the best results you must remember to first start at the ceiling (yes, you may need a ladder), and gradually work your way down to the skirting boards.
Once you’ve successfully completed your first (of many hopefully) DIY painting project and tested it out on the in-laws, you may find that you’ve caught the DIY painter’s bug. Perhaps you’d like to move on to painting something else? Relax, we’ve got your back—join us in our next blog for some more smart, savvy tips on broadening your DIY appetite.
If you have any burning questions for our industry experts on DIY-painting, or if wish to share some of your insights as a more experienced DIY-er, please contact us on our Facebook page.
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