Are you embarking on a painting project and want to repaint a wall, floor or ceiling yourself? Follow our advice to avoid falling into the most common traps, and spoiling the decoration of your rooms… Choice and quantity of paint, rolling, preparation of the support and the site to paint well yourself. From the walls to the ceiling, decorator Valérie Laporte Volatier gives you her expert advice and the pitfalls to avoid to make your painting job a success like a pro.
If you need to paint your interior yourself to refresh your decoration without breaking the bank, beware of too much haste. If you want to paint too quickly, you risk doing something stupid and regretting it! This is why Côté Maison has pointed out the 10 mistakes to avoid so that your wall or floor painting site does not turn into a nightmare…
Buying guide: how to choose the right paint?
A pot of paint spilled on the carpet or the floor, a piece of furniture stained by a splash, it’s very complicated to clean. So, before moving on to the painting phase, there is a rule that must be respected: protect your site, in order to avoid material or even bodily damage…
Here are the secrets of an impeccable construction site: – Empty the room as much as possible, the ideal being to be able to work in a completely empty space. If this is not possible, place the furniture in the center of the room and protect it with a plastic sheet or old sheets folded in half. – Remove anything that is likely to receive paint splashes, such as carpets or curtains. – Remove all paintings, shelves, screws, rods and other door handles that could interfere with the application of the wall paint – Disconnect electrical outlets and switches to be able to paint them without overflowing on them. – Protect the ground with a large plastic sheet, to be fixed to the ground with double-sided tape. – Plan comfortable old clothes that no longer fear anything, as well as a cap or a bandana to protect your hair. – Bring a mask, latex gloves and possibly protective glasses if you paint with glycero or use a stripper. By respecting these rules, you should avoid small or big troubles…
paint a wall well with several colors
And what to do in case of stain? It’s already too late… One drop too many on the brush and there you have it, a nice smudge of paint! To remedy this as quickly as possible, follow Valérie’s advice. – In case of stain with glycerol paint: remove the excess paint on the fabrics, curtains, carpets and other textiles with a scraper or a knife. Once the excess has been removed, wipe it down with white spirit. – In case of stain with acrylic paint: also remove the excess with a knife or a scraper then clean with cold water with a little soap and rub with a nail brush. – If the paint is already dry: dab the stain with a little methylated spirit on a cloth.
poorly prepare the support before painting
When you want to repaint your walls, it’s tempting to cut corners to get to the final result as quickly as possible… Wrong! Because if you do not take care to properly prepare the surface to be painted, you risk obtaining imperfect walls, revealing all the defects.
Painting yourself
A brief reminder of the steps to follow: – If the surface to be painted is dirty (grease, dirt, nicotine, fingerprints, etc.), it must be washed with a mild detergent diluted in water, always ending with a rinsing with clean water and completely drying. Be careful, the walls must always be washed from bottom to top to avoid dirty drips. – If cracks are visible on the surface to be painted, they will have to be opened using a triangular scraper, then carefully fill them with the filler, and finish by sanding, once the filler is completely dry. If the cracksprove to be too important because “alive” (due to variations in materials, they then affect the entire thickness of the plaster, or even of the wall), it is possible to lay a glass cloth, made up of very solid fibers and presented in rolls , before painting. The cracks will take much longer to reappear. Attention, the first coat of paint applied to a glass canvas must imperatively be an acrylic paint, which will not damage the coating. If you opt for this choice, avoid relief painting papers and settle for a smooth, always more reliable support. The latest in paintable paper, the new support is installed like wallpaper and replaces sandpaper. Smooth, it offers the possibility of applying a coat of paint on top, simple or effect. – If the old paint is flaking, remove the damaged paint with a stiff wire brush, then sand the surface with medium-grit, then fine-grit sandpaper.
And for those who want a tailor-made calculation, here is the method explained: – Measure the perimeter of the room by subtracting the openings (doors, windows). – Multiply by the height under the ceiling, divide by the yield indicated on the pot, then multiply by the number of layers to be laid. Example: my room has a perimeter of (5m+7m) x 2 = 24m x 2.50 m high under ceiling = 60 m2. If the yield per liter indicated on the pot is 12m2 per litre, we divide 60 by 12 = 5 liters x 2 layers = 10 litres. We round up to 11.5 liters for more comfort.