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How to paint a room
Painting is the highest-impact beginner project in the house, and almost all of the result is decided before the roller touches the wall. Pros spend most of their time on prep and cutting in, and very little time actually rolling. Follow that same order and a first room comes out looking hired.
A standard 12 by 12 room with 8-foot ceilings needs about one gallon for the walls at two coats, plus a quart of trim paint. Buy the wall paint all at once and have the store mix the cans together if you buy more than one, so color matches exactly.
Tools required
- 9-inch roller frame with 3/8-inch nap covers, 2 pack
- 2 and 1/2-inch angled sash brush
- Extension pole
- Paint tray and liners
- 5-in-1 painter tool
- Painter tape, 1 and 1/2-inch
- Drop cloths, canvas preferred
- Step ladder
- 120-grit sanding sponge
Materials required
- Interior latex paint, 1 gallon per coat for a 12 by 12 room
- Trim paint, 1 quart, semi-gloss
- Primer, 1 gallon if covering dark color or stains
- Spackle and a small tube of paintable caulk
- Painter tape as above
- Stir sticks and a pour spout
Step by step
Clear, clean and repair
Move furniture to the center and cover it, or out of the room entirely. Wash greasy or smoky walls with a mild cleaner, let them dry, then fill nail holes with spackle and caulk the gap where trim meets the wall. Paint shows every flaw it covers, so the sanding sponge pass matters.
Tape and mask
Tape baseboards, window and door trim, and the ceiling line if your hand is not steady yet. Press the tape edge down firmly with the 5-in-1 tool. A sealed edge is the difference between a crisp line and paint bleeding under the tape.
Prime where it counts
Prime over stains, repairs, bare patches and any dark color you are covering with a lighter one. Untinted primer under a deep color wastes coats. Ask the paint store to tint the primer toward your finish color.
Cut in the edges
With the angled brush, paint a 2 to 3-inch band along the ceiling, corners, and trim, one wall at a time. Keep a wet edge: cut in one wall, then roll that wall while the band is still wet, so the two blend without a visible line.
Roll in W sections
Load the roller, roll off the excess, and work in 3-foot W patterns from the top corner, back-rolling to level the finish. Keep steady pressure on the way down and let the nap do the work. Two thin coats beat one thick coat every time.
Trim, second coat, untape
After the first wall coat dries per the can, repeat cutting in and rolling for coat two. Paint trim last with the semi-gloss. Pull tape while the final coat is still slightly wet, pulling away from the painted surface at an angle, for the cleanest line.
Finishing and upkeep
Leave the room ventilated overnight before moving furniture back, and wait a full day before leaning anything against the walls. Label leftover paint with the room, brand, color name and date, and store it indoors where it cannot freeze.
When to call a pro instead
Call a pro for ceilings over high stairwells, lead paint in pre-1978 homes, heavy texture repair, or exteriors above one story. Lead paint testing is cheap and is not optional guesswork in an older home.
Questions homeowners ask
How much paint do I really need?
One gallon covers about 350 to 400 sq ft per coat on smooth walls. A 12 by 12 room has roughly 380 sq ft of wall, so plan on two gallons for two coats and keep the remainder for touch-ups.
What order do I paint in?
Ceiling first, then walls, then trim. Gravity and roller spatter both argue for working top down.
Why does my paint look streaky?
Usually a dry roller, a nap that is too short for the wall texture, or rolling back into paint that had already started to set. Load more paint and keep a wet edge.