Painters tips for interior spaces

Painting an interior room? Use these helpful tips to get a perfect finish on your walls

Interior painting jobs are probably the most common painting job that will arise for many people as they chose to redecorate or design their living space. When it comes to getting the absolute perfect finish on your painting job there are a number of handy tips and tricks that the professional painters use that can help you achieve that great result.

Painting Tips

For starters, preparation can be king when it comes to taking the fuss out of painting an interior space so the first handy tip is invest in quality brushes and rollers.  This will make the biggest difference in the quality of your finish as quality products won’t leave streak marks nor will they leave any fuzz or threads attached to the paint.

You also want to ensure that the wall is prepared for the new paint and will hold it perfectly so you should check to see if you need to scrub the walls down if you are painting over an existing wall surface. This can be easily done by placing a small amount of duct tape on the wall and pulling it off quickly, like a band aid. If there are substantial paint flecks on the tape then a proper scrubbing of the walls is required.

Next up a little preparation work can help you loads in the cleaning up process. You will want to dip your clean brush into the solvent that you will use to clean the brush as this will greatly assist when it comes to washing the paint off. Or if you can’t clean your brushes or roller for whatever reason, you can wrap them tightly in plastic wrap and put in the freezer until you can clean it.

When it comes to the actual process of painting itself, remember that painting from the top-down will leave the best finish and minimise the chances of paint splashing onto any surfaces that have already been painted.

Picking the right paint for the interior surface

Of course when it comes to interior painting jobs, the choice of paint colour and finish will greatly impact on the overall feel of a room so you want to make sure that whatever paint you choose will compliment your room and the remaining areas of the house.

So this comes down to colour choice and the finish of the paint.

When choosing the colour it is important to take into consideration the room that you will be painting and the adjoining areas. For example you don’t want to have a calm soothing mint green next door to a strong bold red if you can help it. What’s more, when you are going to paint a new area it is not just the walls colours that have to be considered but the accessories, trims, and other accents along with what furniture will be in the room. A colour scheme should generally be reflected throughout the entire home or living space, so keep that in mind if you are decorating several rooms at once and stick relatively close to a colour palette.

Now that you have chosen the colour that you will paint with, you need to choose the finish. The choices of finish include matte or flat, eggshell or stain or gloss.

Matte / flat finish – a paint that dries with no sheen and does not leave a shiny surface, this is ideal for walls or ceilings. This is especially true if the walls have been painted over before or have any imperfections on the surface as it will mask these as it doesn’t reflect light.

Eggshell finish - similar to a matte finish yet it does have a small amount of shine when it dries. Easier to clean than a matte finish.

Satin finish – ideal for both walls and for windows, doors, trims and ceilings as it provides a nice sheen when dry yet also highly easy to clean, giving it more versatility when painting.

Gloss finish – divided into two categories based on their level of shine: semi-gloss and high-gloss. Semi-gloss provides a reasonable level of shine and is suitable for bathrooms and kitchens as it can be easily cleaned while providing a glossy finish. High gloss however should only be reserved for accents, trims or door frames as it has a highly reflective surface while also highlighting any imperfections in the surface.

When deciding on the finish let the type of room or the area of the room dictate what you opt to use with areas such as door trims or details great for high gloss or satin finishes.