HOW TO PERFECTLY PAINT A WALL – ORC WEEK 4

Paint can make the biggest impact on a room and there’s nothing worse than a bad paint job! This week, as part of The One Room Challenge, I painted our dining room and I thought it was a good time to write a blog post all about how to perfectly paint a wall!  

In the middle of the renovation, we gave this room the quickest coat of paint and in all honesty, I don’t think the drywall was sanded properly. A HUGE mistake. If you looked properly, there were marks, bumps and scratches all over the wall. So, I’ve just spent days sanding, filling and prepping the walls to get them back to their shining glory. It’s my least favourite part of doing up a room, but I know when I see those smooth walls painted, it will be worth it all! 

Step 1 – The Prep 

Arguably, the most important step and the part that probably takes the longest.  

• Fill any dents or hole with a flexible filler and sand it down smooth when dry. 
• To remove the dust from sanding, hoover the walls or wipe down with a tack cloth. 
• Wash the walls using a dilution of sugar soap to remove any trace of dirt and grease. This step isn’t necessary, but we’re aiming for perfectly painted walls here. 
• If you need tape for straight lines make sure you’re using painter’s tape and not masking tape. When you’ve applied the tape, give it a rub with a damp cloth to prevent any bleeding. 
• Did you know that paint flows better and has a better finish when it’s warmed up? Sit your tin of paint in a basin of warm water before you start to heat it up a little! 
• Line your paint tray with tin foil. This avoids a big clean up in the end.

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Step 2 – Time to Paint a Wall 

• If you have fresh drywall, use a drywall primer for your first coat. It’s cheaper and makes for a better finish. 
• Start with painting the edges. Dip your synthetic paintbrush into the paint, making sure the paint doesn’t go more than halfway up the bristles. My favourite paintbrush is the Palm Pro. It’s so easy to hold and the bristles are great quality. It always gives a brilliant finish.  
• Don’t place your paintbrush exactly at the edge. Start a few cms away from it and ease the paintbrush out to the edge gently. This is called cutting in.  
• You only want to work in within a metre at a time, so when you have a metre of edging painted at the top and bottom of the wall, it’s time to roll. 
• Grab a microfibre roller and roll it in the paint until it’s completely soaked through. Roll off the excess. When you apply the roller to the wall, you shouldn’t be pushing the roller into the wall…gently does it! Make sure to roll over as much of your painted edge as possible, to try and get rid of any paintbrush marks. The most important thing is to keep a ‘wet edge’ on all your painting. That means you have to work quick enough so that the last section of paint doesn’t dry before adding the next section. If you let it dry for too long, you will end up with roller marks when it’s dry.
• When you are brushing where the ceiling meets the wall, it’s better to brush up onto the ceiling by mistake, rather than not meet the ceiling line. You can see in the second photo where I brushed up a little higher, any mistakes look like little shadows and aren’t so noticeable.
• Once you’ve painted a section, LEAVE IT ALONE!! You will absolutely leave marks if you touch paint that has already started to dry!

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Step 3 – Finishing up

• When you’re finished painting, pop your roller and brush into an extra large ziplock bag. This will allow the paint to stay wet and in good condition for when you use in for your second coat.
• Make sure you give enough time in between coats. Follow the directions on the tin. It’s actually 1am in the morning and I’m currently waiting for the last wall to dry a bit more before I paint a second coat! 🙂
• It goes without saying, but wash your rollers and brushes really well. I got a brush comb and it really helps to get all the paint out of the bristles. For the rollers, I used the curved edge of this tool to scrape off all the paint before I wash it. Makes clean up so much faster!

I’m halfway through the One Room Challenge and it’s crazy how fast the time has gone! I have yet to paint last week’s DIY radiator covers. I’d say they are going to look gorgeous painted the same as the walls, which FYI is Coco 1955 by Fleetwood.

Don’t forget the check out the rest of the participants and the featured designers right here. Some of the projects are just amazing!!

And if you have any other tips about how to paint a wall, leave a comment here for everyone!