What is the best order to paint a room? To some, this might be obvious, but to someone never painting a room before painting a room might be intimidating when really it does not need to be. If you follow this simple order you will come out with a professional-looking painted room. This method also gives you points to break at, when painting a room, you don’t need to do the room in one day if you do not have the time.
Once you have gathered all your tools that you need to paint, lay down a protective layer on your floor. This will help with accidental splatters or spills.
The suggested order to keep in mind is to work from top to bottom.
First the Ceiling
Start with the ceiling. Matte or flat paint for ceilings is best for most rooms. It has a velvety appearance and hides imperfection. If you want to be creative and give your room a lot of styles, consider the ceiling as a fifth wall to decorate. If you have a tall ceiling consider a dark color, it can be very dramatic. In a dining room, you could do a metallic look for a more formal feel. Use your imagination.
Walls
Next will be the walls. If the room is used occasionally a flat finish is great but if you use it more frequently or is considered a “heavy traffic” room, an eggshell or satin paint is gorgeous on walls, it has good durability and can stand up to washing to remove marks and stains.
Calculate the amount of paint you will need. Measure the length or height and width of the walls. Remember geometry? A=LxW then subtract any windows you have. That will give you an overall idea of the square footage in the room that you will be painting. Benjamin Moore has a pretty cool little app that will help you.
Use a brush to “draw” a line to edge the wall next to the ceiling. This will give you a clean line between the two. If you do not have a steady hand use painters tape on the ceiling. Also using a brush to get into the corners will make it easier to get continuous coverage there. Do one wall at a time rolling the paint to give you complete coverage.
If you are painting your trim, windows, and doors these are last. A gloss or semi-gloss alkyd paint is good for this application because it will be very durable and give a rich look to the woodwork. With painters tape, tape the walls next to the window trim and door trim. You can also tape the glass with painters tape on the windows for easier cleanup. When painting raised panel doors, paint the panels first then the flat surfaces.
Following this order helps keep splatters to a minimum and your work will look professional. You will find for the minimal cost of a can of paint and a few supplies you can transform the look of a room easily and quickly.
