To ask how you go about painting the interior of your house?

[Pinesinthedunes]

I have no idea - how often do normal people do this? Do you get people in? DIY?

I’ve always done it myself. What is it you need to know?

With a roller and a paintbrush for cutting in😉

Buy paint,roller, brushes, masking tape, something to protect your flooring. Paint walls etc

Or pay someone to do it

Very expensive to pay a decorator for what is essentially an easy job if you live in a standard house. If you live in a high ceilinged Victorian manor with spiral staircase may be worth hiring someone but standard sized rooms are very easy. Just give it a go, build your confidence up and it’s ok if the cutting in isn’t 100%

YABU. You could have started a thread in Home decoration.

I used to just get stuck in. There are loads of tutorials on YouTube these days. I have always found pads easier to use than rollers or brushes, and I have used water-based gloss paints ever since they've been available. Apart from that, thorough preparation of surfaces will save you a lot of hassle, and cover EVERYTHING, every millimetre, in dust sheets before you start. Also, don't rush it. There are no prizes for finishing first.

I've always done it myself.
Start with the ceiling, then the woodwork rubbed down, undercoated and glossed followed by the walls painted.
The lounge, kitchen, utility, dining room, my bedroom and hallway is usually done every twelve months.
The spare bedrooms don't really get decorated as they're not used often enough.

I know it's a ridiculous question - I didn't realise there was a home decoration page. I don't even know what cutting in is! So obviously Google will be my friend. I was just curious what the norm was, it seems like such a huge job, and I just don't know where to begin or how much time to set aside or if I should send the other inhabitants of the house off on holiday first. .

used to do it myself. Probably every three years or so. Now pay someone as I can’t be bothered and hate the prepping and tidying up

I do it myself but not all together. Do every room about every 3 to 5 years, do the hallway about every 2 as it gets very scruffed. I’ve used painters and decorators before when heavily pregnant but I wasn’t they impressed & went back to do it myself. I do cut corners with the prep. though

I married a decorator. Problem solved.

OMG, people do this every year?!
Wow. I can easily leave it 10!!
I clearly have very low standards 😄

Is it just one room you’re doing? Just walls or ceilings and woodwork too?

If you have a fairly steady hand and good enough eyesight you can do it yourself easily. The room will need to be out of bounds but that doesn’t mean everyone needs to vacate the whole home. My biggest tips are to do one room over two days & start very early in the day, have easy to grab food & drink (a takeaway feels like a reward after decorating!).

Painting Walls:

1. Move/cover all the furniture & cover the floor.
2. Wipe away any dust. You’re technically supposed to sand and sugar soap all walls first but I’ve never found it necessary.
3. Masking tape all edges.
4. Use a paintbrush to ‘cut in’ edges
5. Use a roller for the walls.
6. Wait for as long as it says on the tin to do a second coat. (I cover the rollers and brushes in cling film during this step so they don’t dry out.)
7. Wash rollers & brushes after.
8. Replace furniture when dry.

My OH does ours. I'm still waiting for him to do the cutting in a year later but the middle of the wall looks great 😂.

It's easy once you get started OP, I'm rubbish at edges but enjoy it once I get started. Just make sure to prep the walls and don't make my mistake of painting matte over silk unless you're the kind of person who enjoys peeling stuff off things (luckily I do). Arm yourself with old sheets and masking tape and some good music.

I’ve always painted inside walls myself! It’s not a bad job, just time consuming. I usually allow 1.5-2 days per room.

It's a faff, but perfectly easy to do yourself.

I'd just add - don't worry too much about it. I'm guilty of treating painting as though it's a 'once in a lifetime' occurrance, and, when I painted my living room a colour that I didn't like, I was clutching my head and despairing at having to live with it! Someone just said 'well, paint over it then' and this was truly a revelation.

Also, trust yourself when choosing colour, try test pots on the walls first to see how the colour works, and have fun.

Small or easy jobs - do it myself.

Bigger, fiddly jobs - get someone in.

Some very helpful tips here, thank you!

The thought of painting annually is giving me hives! All the moving of furniture and prep and hassle and annual leave to do it, or farming the kids out somewhere – like living in a building site, and for why? How mucky are people’s walls getting?

OP, depending where you are a decorator can be relatively affordable: it’s worth it to me to paint someone because I hate the prep, and mist coating if you’ve got fresh plaster, and cutting in, and rolling, and clearing up… About the only thing I like is ordering expensive tester pots from fancy brands only to choose… white. The pros will do a quicker, neater job than I ever could – even with frog tape.

It depends on how much effort you want to put in. My DH just paints the walls and ceiling, nothing else. My dad would Polyfilla any holes in the walls then paint the walls, ceiling, skirting boards, radiator, door frame and door. When I had a decorator in (to do the hallway as the high ceiling was unmanageable for me) she filled the walls, sanded down, painted once, then filled, sanded and painted again which gave an absolutely perfect finish but obviously took a lot more time.

My tips are:

1. Use water-based paints.
2. If it's a high traffic area such as a hallway or liable to get dirty such as a kitchen, use a harder easycare/washable paint.
3. Pay extra for good quality brushes (to do the edges and around any tight areas such as next to the door frame) and masking tape.
4. Paint rollers and trays are better than a brush for large areas.
5. If you don't want to clean a brush or roller in between uses such as overnight then put a food bag over it to stop it drying out.

I tend to do a room at a time, it’s less overwhelming.

I do ceiling first, then woodwork and then walls last (it’s easier to wipe emulsion off of woodwork if you make a small mistake rather than the other way round).

If you’re not sure what paint was used on your woodwork before, then it’s worth using an all surface primer/undercoat first.

If you’re painting woodwork white, it’s better to use water-based rather than oil based paint as it doesn’t “yellow” as much over time.

My most recent round of decorating, I paid someone for a day to paint my ceilings as I hate painting them. He’s a good and fast worker and it was well worth the money!

The lounge, kitchen, utility, dining room, my bedroom and hallway is usually done every twelve months.
The spare bedrooms don't really get decorated as they're not used often enough

Why do you paint your rooms so often?

I do the rooms we want to do as they seem like they need doing, basically.

Can’t imagine doing the whole thing in one go, that would be awful.

Did one of DC’s rooms a few months a go. A few hours masking taping everything up while listening to a podcast. 3 coats over about 4 or 5 days. Would have been quicker but I only did a few hours a day on it and I didn’t touch it while DC were around as they’d want to help.

The thing I would add is that you don't have to paint a room in one day. My living room has a high ceiling, moldings etc (victorian) and there's nowhere to move the furniture out. So I focus on one wall at a time, just moving the furniture for that wall out of the way. Work top to bottom on that one wall, skirting etc, furniture back when dry then onto the next another wkend. There's not so much disruption that way.

Also wear goggles if you paint the ceiling! Getting a big blob of paint in your eye isn't pleasant!

I tend to use neutral colours and use the same colour on walls, ceiling and woodwork. Looks far better IMO and no cutting in. I only use matt paint or eggshell on woodwork as matt hides a multitude of sins.