First time decorating!!

gememily

Hi,
I have just moved house and I am wanting to have a go at painting some of the rooms. However I have no idea about how to go about it. At the moment the room is just painted but quite dirty. Basically I want to repaint the walls and ceiling and freshen up the woodwork. I know I have to do lots of preparation but not sure what that entails. I was also wondering what order I should do things in. Should I tackle ceilings first or walls or woodwork!
Thanks for all your help and advice!

village_life

personally the way i'd approach this (and i am no expert) - is to strip out your room and either cover up the carpet or get rid of it, depending on what you want to do.

then I would tackle the ceiling first, use a good emulsion and a couple of coats of paint and it should come up fine....

then i would attack the skirting boards, start by sanding them down with sandpaper, then hoover and wipe off all of the dust so that you have a clean work area.....

then using an undercoat, paint them up (Be careful about runs and drips which you can get with undercoats/gloss) - leave that 24 hours and then gloss them - one coat of each should be fine and they'll come up a treat too

then when thats done, use masking tape to cover all sensitive areas (including edges where you've just painted) and start on the wall, again a couple of coats should suffice depending on the colour of the walls currently and the colour your putting on (e.g. black to white may take a few coats!)

... if you've any blemishes or holes in walls etc from where pictures have been hung etc, polyfilla them at the outset, then sand them down so they are smooth before you start....

.... and thats the best advice i can give really, its a bit of learning as you go....

jason_s_2

If the walls are really dirty,you could also try sugar soap and wash the walls 1st,cost about £2-£3 for most DIY stores

amcluesent

Yep, getting the grease/grime off with a sugar-soap solution is the first step. Maybe worth getting a basic orbital sander (with dust bag!) to take some of the tedium of rubbing down the woodwork.

Get good quality brushes, cheapo ones drop bristles and make painting annoying.

I've never had success with rollers, despite claims to speed up the process. Get a decent emulsion brush (nylon bristles), about 8cm wide for painting the walls and ceiling. Your wrists will ache from doing the ceiling.

Personally I'd do ceiling, undercoat the woodwork, walls then top-coat woodwork...

Use eye protection.

village_life

interesting comment by amcluesent - ive got used to rollers now, they are much faster and leave a much nicer finish than brushstrokes....

is there much in buying expensive brushes? ive alwayts bought cheaper ones and treated them as disposable - especially for gloss and undercoat work which is a nightmare to clear up!!!

jason_s_2

I think you cant beat a good quality paint brush, leaves a better finish and makes the job alot easier. As for rollers, i always use a roller, with a paint brush, it leaves bristle streaks( im probably doing it wrong ), rollers give a nice even finish, and its alot faster.

hollydays

I prefer long handled rollers and for white ceilings,I like that paint that goes on pink,but dries white,so you can see where you have painted. A bit more expensive but good for beginners,also non-drip is essential)Preparation,eg masking, is the key,the painting is the easy bit.Getting straight lines between skirting board and wall is something I also am not very good at.I am going to be painting my hall soon,with scaffolding-type stuff in place

rdpro

If you have problems getting an even line at the skirting, gloss the skirting first - if you run over onto it with emulsion when doing the wall edges, it's much, much easier to run a damp cloth over gloss to remove the 'whoopsie!' moment than wiping gloss off emulsion.

boufje

wash your walls with sugar soap - most important bit, as well as using masking tape to protect window panes.

If you paint ceiling and walls same colour, then you don't have to worry about the join being neat. you can save a lot of money if you cwan live with brilliant white paint.

I find eggshell on the wood shows drips much less.

don't be seduced by any of the painting machines - they are rubbish. similarly one coat is a myth.
when painting ceiling, as well as eye protection, also wear a baseball cap to protect your eyes (and hair!)

decide what paint you want to buy and shop around, there will be lots of special offers on over the bank holiday. alternatively woolworths, wilkinsons etc are always cheap.

wrap your roller/brush in a plastic bag overnight and you won't need to wash it. chuck your woodwork brushes at the end - you will spend more on white spirit to clean them than a new brush.

HTH

hollydays

Eggshell gloss?

mahela

This certainly does not have anything to do with the interiors but for me the home exteriors are a major cause of concern. My house is situated in facing the road and all those public vehicles commuting has made it accumulate tons of dust. In this case do I go for a new paint or do I have to clean the mess before I think of painting. Again can you suggest something which can be applied in the exterior which can resist the dust from being accumulated.