First-time wall-painter here!

[foodfiend]

I've decided to paint the walls in my place instead of using tiles. I don't trust myself yet to do a decent job with tiles. The walls are beige, and I'd like to paint certain walls different colours (ex. light peach and sunny yellow) to highlight the room. I've never done this before, and it's quite exciting! All those home-decorating shows have buried themselves in my brain.

[KimKelly]

I just in the last year began painting our house. Let me warn you it is addicting! Now I want to paint everything! I'm even contemplating our 20 foot high walls.

I've done my son's room (tan and red - wonderful!), by daughters room pink, guest room light blue and my bathroom avocado. The avocado has to go, talk about bold! So now I'm thinking oranges, earthy tones.

Have fun!

Kim

[colleency]

Lily, painting can be really fun. I have an L-shaped living room. We painted two walls white, two walls light blue, and two walls a darker blue. It really helps to divide the space up.

Remember that when you paint, it usually takes more time to do the prepwork than the actual painting. But doing the proper prep work will reward you by not ruining your beautiful new paint job with splatters on your stuff.

Also remember that more thin coats are better than fewer heavy coats.

Good luck and have fun!

[badunnin]

Answering your questions from your other thread, you'll need a drop cloth, a roller pan, rollers and covers, aluminium foil (if you decide to stop overnight and want to continue with the same colour the next day, you can cover your rollers in foil so you don't have to wash them out) and paint. Turpentine probably won't be necessary - with latex paint, you can wash out your brushes with water, as long as the paint on the roller/brush is still wet.

As far as where to get supplies/paint, try your local Home Depot/Rona type store. Home Hardware will also probably carry everything you need. You can get disposable drop cloths for less than $5. Don't be tempted to get the cheap paint - the good stuff is well worth the money. Benjamin Moore and Sherwin Williams are both good (but have to be purchesed from BM or SW stores, I believe) as is Behr (which is sold at Home Depot).

[gertdog]

I also highly recommend a disposable plastic roller pan liner- they are very cheap (about 50 cents each) and prevent you from having to clean out the pan. At first I thought this was wasteful, but then when I realized how much water I was using for clean-up, I decided to go for the liner.

Make sure you have on hand some clean rags that you don't mind getting paint-y. I kept a damp rag tossed over my shoulder while painting to wipe up any drips or mess-ups- I learned the hard way it's a lot easier to clean up your mistakes as they happen.

[Beth]

I use plastic grocery or produce bags to cover the roller, brush or pan -- overnight or when I have to pause for a bit. Over the roller or brush, I twist the bag around the bottom to keep the air out. On the pan, I place the roller or bush across the top to hold the bag down.

My husband bought 2 fabric drop cloths when we moved into our previous home. I gave him a hard time about it and thought it was a waste of money when I was pinching pennies, but I had to admit that we have gotten plenty of use out of them, they don't tear like plastic, they don't stick to your feet. I would consider buying one or dedicating an old flat sheet to the purpose. The sheet won't protect as well from spilled paint, but it will handle splatters pretty well.

I also use the disposable roller pan liners -- I even found that they can sometimes be reused -- the paint may peel off when it dries (discovered that when rinsing my brush over one and the paint started peeling off).

[Valerie226]

Re prep work: depending on what you are painting over, you may need to wash/rinse the walls with TSP before you do anything beyond taping . definitely if the walls had semi gloss paint, or any grease from, say, an oil furnace. Must be clean before new paint will adhere. If you don't know what kind of paint you are painting over you may need to prime first. there are a lot of kinds of paint & some won't stick to what's currently up there without some pre treatment. sounds like lots of work, but you don't want to paint & find out it doesn't adhere.

[foodfiend]

Um, what's TSP? And what exactly is "taping"?

[Valerie226]

TSP is trisodium phosphate. It's a detergent/grease cutter & will rough up the slippery surface of semi gloss paint so new paint will stick. It's cheap, a powder you dissolve in water & use to sponge down the walls. You need to go over with plain water afterward. It's kind of nasty stuff so wear gloves,etc.
Bathrooms, kitchens and trim are often semi gloss cause it's easy to clean. But you can't paint right over it. new paint won't stick. sometimes tsp is not enough & you need to sand it. Kitchens get oil buildup on walls/ceilings. Again, new paint won't stick. Even fingerprints can keep paint from sticking.

fix dings first with some kind of wall patch.

"Taping" is masking tape. paint stores have special masking tape that's bright colored so you can see the edge easily. Tape the edges of where you don't want paint to go. like woodwork,windows, light fixtures, switch plates etc. Paint still likes to bleed under tape so it's best to remove as many things as you can rather than clean paint off later.

If you go to a paint store or paint dept in a home improvement store they should be able to get this stuff together for you.

There are latex paints and alkyd paints too. (this is getting beyond my knowledge) it helps to know what kind of pain is already on the walls. then a paint store will be able to tell you if you need to prime before applying your color.

I know this sounds like a long process. the actual painting is the easy part. but if you don't prep your walls the new paint may not adhere. it can rub off, not dry, and look streaky. then you have wasted all the time & money, and will have a bigger job to clean up this added layer. If your walls are flat latex in good shape and the color change is not huge, it's easier. you may be able to just scrub soiled areas , let dry and paint.

[Valerie226]

You might want to invest in a book. I have a "reader's digest do it yourself manual" that covers all kinds of basic home projects. Other companies put them out too, like ortho, Sunset, probably a dozen others. It's probably $25 or so but can save you untold headaches & wasted time & energy. We always, always refer to it before we start on a first time project. all kinds of hints & ideas in there to make it simpler and do it right the first time. . sorry to get so long winded but I personally tried to paint over semi gloss long ago & learned the hard way.