Getting Ready

Safety First! Ensure adequate ventilation by opening windows or even using an extraction device when painting in rooms with little or no natural ventilation.

Go for canvas floor covering, rather than plastic. Canvas is extremely durable, rip-resistant and easier to place in those difficult to manage corners. It lays flat and presents much less of a tripping hazard. Canvas will last much longer than plastic and the drops of paint will be absorbed instead of creating pools of paint, as it does on plastic.

Clean your brushes and rollers, even if they are brand new. If you start to paint without cleaning your tools, then loose bristles and dust can end up underneath a layer of paint on your wall.

Prepare the surface you’re going to be working on. This involves cleaning and scraping down of the wall to remove any dust or old flaking paint. This isn’t the most fun, but is vital to ensuring you have a professional looking paint job when it is all done. See our Filling Holes in Plaster section below to see how to prepare a cracked or damaged wall for painting.