How to decorate a room
By: Simon Cushing

Choosing colours and finishes

The first thing to do when painting a room is decide which colour and what finish is best for the room. There are obviously thousands of different colours to choose from with Dulux and Crown even offering the service of matching a colour taken from almost anything with their “Magic Eye” machines.

A Factor to bear in mind when choosing a colour is how much natural light is in the room as its inadvisable to paint a room with a dark shade if there is little natural light in the room.

Then next decision is the paint finish, the most commonly available finishes for each specific area and their typical uses are as follows:

Walls

Vinyl Matt: Probably the most common option not particularly hardwearing with little sheen.

Soft Sheen: A higher sheen finish that vinyl matt which is also more washable.

Vinyl Silk: A high sheen finish that is very washable.

Quick Drying Eggshell: A mid sheen finish, very hardwearing typically used domestically in toilets and kitchens.

Note: when choosing a paint finish, it’s worth bearing in mind that the higher the sheen the more the paint will highlight imperfections on the painted surface.

Woodwork

Gloss: A hardwearing very high sheen product which is extremely washable and requires an undercoat

Satinwood: A mid sheen product.

Eggshell: The lowest sheen oil based product available.

Note: when choosing a paint finish, it’s worth bearing in mind that the higher the sheen the more the paint will highlight imperfections on the painted surface.

There are more specialist paints available, if required. For more information talk to stockists.

Before you start painting

Before you start a painting project its best to move all furniture away from the walls (removing from the room if at all possible) into the middle of the room and protecting with dust sheets.

Then protect all floor coverings with either dust sheets or heavy duty plastic.

If painting the skirting boards, it’s best to apply masking tape on the floor adjacent to them as to protect the floor and also if the room is carpeted this also prevents fibres form the carpet getting onto the brush and being transferred onto the skirting boards.

Sanding and filling

Start by sanding the walls/ceilings and woodwork with a medium grit sandpaper ensuring not to leave any scratch marks. Then fill any imperfections/holes using a decent powder filler for the walls (i.e. Polyfilla Trade) and I would recommend a 2 part filler for the woodwork (i.e. Deocofill). This would also be a good time to apply caulk to any gaps/cracks at junctions between walls and woodwork/ceilings. You will need a sealant gun for the application of this and a clean, wet rag for the removal of any excess caulk.

Note: all of the above products are available at trade decorator centres, if you are not sure of what you are buying get advice in-store.

Rubbing and priming.

After all the filler has been given enough time to dry (unless you are in a rush probably best to leave overnight), it’s time to rub it down and prime it ready for receiving top coats. It’s best to rub the filler down with a fine grade sandpaper (P120) brush off the dust with a soft brush and apply a coat of paint to prime the filler. For the walls/ceilings prime using emulsion and for the woodwork its best to use quick drying wood primer/undercoat. Then allow all priming to fully dry.

Painting the ceiling.

Using a brush (2-3” recommended) paint around the edges of the ceiling and around any light sockets. While this “cutting in” is still wet roll the rest of the ceiling working form one end of the room to the other ensuring an even coverage spreading the paint as much as required to eliminate roller marks. After allowing to dry, repeat this until you get a satisfactory coverage (no more than 3 coats should be required).

Applying the woodwork undercoats.

Undercoat the woodwork using a good quality 1.5-2” brush. The number of coats needed will depend on the existing colour, the colour you are trying to achieve and the paint finish. Satinwood and eggshell are self undercoating so just apply one coat at this stage. Gloss paint requires undercoating and its best you achieve a solid finish with the undercoat at this stage as gloss is very thin. Don’t apply any topcoats at this point as we will finish the walls first.

Painting the walls.

Cut in one wall using a 2”- 3” brush being careful not to overpaint onto the ceiling as this is finished but slight overpainting onto the woodwork is not a problem as there is still a coat to go on this. Whilst the cutting in is still wet roll the main section of the wall in the same manner as the ceilings. Repeat this to all walls. When dry apply more coats in the same manner until a solid colour is achieved.

Topcoating the woodwork.

The final part is applying the topcoat to the woodwork. Its very important a good quality brush is used and you take your time to make the line from woodwork to wall as neat as possible being careful to paint the whole surface and not apply too much as you will get runs.

Snagging

The job is now nearly finished and its time to look over all your work and see if there are any mistakes or imperfections and put these right, this is known as snagging and its important to do this with as smaller a brush as possible and applying as little paint as you can so you cant notice these touch-ups. Once this is done you are finished.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleJoe.com

Simon Cushing is the co-owner and senior project manager at SAS Decorating ltd based in Epping, Essex. SAS started up carrying out redecoration projects to houses for a local property developer, with 4 decorators working out of a van. SAS is now an office based firm with divisions in both the commercial and domestic sector. For more information and articles, visit: www.sasdecorating.co.uk/

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