How to Paint a Room Fast
Many of us seem to fall in love with “the idea” of painting a room. And often our desire to complete a room painting project just happens to coincide with an upcoming event, like Birthday parties, house warmings, and of course holidays.
Unfortunately, we usually don’t leave ourselves nearly enough time to complete these paint projects in a leisurely fashion, and as a result, we end up starting at the last minute, then scrambling through the paint project and hoping that the paint is dry before the first guest arrives.
But, don’t worry. I’m going to break the steps down for you, so you can jump right in to your paint project and get to work as quickly as possible.
Room Painting Assumptions
Before we get started, we need to make sure that we are on the same page. For the purposes of this post, we will assume that the room that you plan to paint is inside an occupied property that is either, heated, cooled, or otherwise maintains a temperature and humidity level that is adequate for completing the paint project.
We will also assume the following:
- The space that you are painting is complete and not under construction. This means that you have finished floors, which may be carpet, hardwood, tile, stained concrete, etc. and that we will need to take the proper precautions to protect the floors from any paint spills or drips.
- This project is in fact a “repaint” project inside of an existing room and not “new construction.” This simply means that the room has been painted before and that you aren’t applying the first coats of paint that has ever been applied to the surfaces of the room since the space was built.
- Your paint plan includes painting ceilings, walls, and trim. Even if you are only painting one or two surfaces, the information for that specific surface still applies, and you can skip the steps for the other surface(s). However, I would still recommend you read the entire post. Here we go.
Ceiling Painting Tips
Always paint ceilings first. Remove and put away anything that can be easily knocked over or broken. Move your large items to the center of the room so that you have a clear path around the perimeter of the room.
Placing the large furniture in the center of the room will also make it easier to cover. If you are really concerned about the large items in the room, you always have the option of removing them from the room completely. However, this will require more work and take more time, and likely isn’t necessary as long as you do a good job covering the items before you begin, and you pay attention to what you are doing while you are working with and handling the paint.
Now, if you KNOW that you’re extremely clumsy, then I agree that you may want to just move the stuff out of the room. Once you have covered your furniture or moved it out of the room, be sure to use a drop cloth or painters plastic to protect your floors.
Wall Painting Tools
Use an angle sash brush to paint the edges of the ceilings where the corners meet the walls. Then, use a 9 inch roller to paint the open spaces, which is the standard size roller. Apply one coat to the entire ceiling and let it dry. Don’t worry you won’t have to wait long because ceiling paint dries really fast.
Walk around the room and inspect your work and if the ceiling looks blotchy or you see streaks or missed areas, apply a second coat to the entire ceiling. When in doubt, apply a second coat.
If you have a textured ceiling, meaning that its not smooth and has a popcorn or stippling finish, you may want to paint a small test area to make sure that the ceiling texture is not going to be negatively affected by the paint.
Sometimes the moisture in the paint can cause the ceiling texture to come off of the ceiling. You don’t want to discover this in the middle of the job, so test a small area with a paintbrush to make sure that you aren’t going to have a problem.
How to paint a wall yourself
Once you have the ceilings completed, it’s time to move to the walls. Use your angle sash brush to paint the top 3-5 inches of each wall where it meets the ceiling. You should not need to use tape here. We call this “the cut-in” or “cutting in.”
If you DON’T plan to paint the baseboards and trim, then you WILL need to cut-in at the baseboards, door casing and window casing. You may want to use tape for this step to help you keep wall paint off of your trim.
Cut in one wall at a time and then use your paint roller to paint the same wall that you just cut-in. We do this because you want to roll the walls while the cut-in is still wet in order to minimize any paint blending issues. With that said you need to move swiftly so that your cut-ins do not dry before you paint your walls.
If you ARE going to paint the trim then you can roll all the way to the top of the baseboards and not worry about getting paint on them since you are going to repaint them anyway. But, don’t get sloppy, this is not a license to get paint all over the baseboards. I’m just saying that if you get a little on the tops of the baseboards and trim in the process of painting the walls it’s not the end of the world.
How to Paint Trim
Now that you’ve finished the walls, you should be good and warmed up and hopefully in your groove. Use your angle sash brush to paint all of your trim. You may want to use tape to keep you trim paint off your floors and carpet.
You will likely have the most success if you paint the portion of the baseboard that meets the wall WITHOUT using tape. This is hands down the most difficult part of the paint project.
Take your time and go slow and steady. Once you get more comfortable with the brush you can pick up a little speed, but remember the goal is to get good paint coverage on the trim and at the same time keep the trim paint off of the walls.
We want to minimize the amount of wall touch-up painting we have to do when we finish the trim. If you just can’t seem to get the hang of painting the trim, you can always break out the tape and tape off the bottom of the freshly painted wall, and then paint up to the painters tape. However, you need to make sure that your wall paint is dry enough, so the tape does not damage the finish of the wall pant.
In Summary
Okay guys, that pretty much sums up the very basics. Start the project by first painting the ceilings using a brush and a roller. Next, paint your walls once again using a brush and a roller.
Lastly paint trim, here you will use only the brush. That’s the order of operation and the paint methods. Try your best to have all of the painting supplies you could possibly need on the job before you begin.
Because having to stop and go back to the store once you’ve started working can be a real drain on your momentum, so try to avoid it. Try to get into your zone and stay focused on the end goal. The sooner you start the sooner you CAN finish. You’ve got this!