Is painting really that hard?

[Tiredmum1990]

We just moved to a three bed house and there are holes everywhere from nails/screws. They will need to be plastered and then pretty much the whole house will need painting. I have said to my husband that I want to do it, but he has said it is too hard and it is better if we get someone in to do it professionally.
I would rather save the money for nice furniture or to have in savings. The entire house will be painted white (like it currently is).
Is painting really that hard?? We both work full time and have two toddlers so I would do it on evenings or the weekend.

I love painting, especially on newly plastered walls, get Frogtape masking tape, go slow and careful cutting in near the ceiling. Get tester pots and take time to pick a colour, make sure you're happy in natural light and artificial light. I'm a sucker for Farrow and Ball.

I bloody hate painting. Or at least, I hate prepping for painting. The painting itself is OK.

A really good tip for prepping, is that it doesn't matter if you can see an imperfection, it matters if you can feel it. If you can feel it it will show through the paint.

Can you choose a small room, get yourself some pollyfilla (always fill so it's raised from the wall, don't be tempted to scrape the filler flat to the wall, it will shrink as it dries and you'll still see the dip where the hole was) fill the holes, sand it back so it feels flat, cut in with a brush (needs to be wide enough that the end of the roller won't scuff the adjacent walls) then roller the walls. And see how you get on - if you find you'd rather set your toenails alight than do the whole house then you know a decorator is money well spent! You might find you quite enjoy it. A roller you can screw a broom handle into is good, but takes a bit of perseverance to get a good technique.

If you really don't want paint on the floor then I recommend plastic backed dust sheets - old sheets are OK, but if you drip paint on and stand on it then it squished through onto the floor/carpet.

If you really want to protect your floor you can get big rolls of sticky back plastic from the builder's merchants.

I'm unbelievably shit at painting, I'll buy paint, give it a go, royally fuck it up then get someone in to put it right. Ends up costing more in the long run.

Time consuming and physically quite exhausting, but I find it quite therapeutic. Not ceilings, though. Hurts the neck!

It’s really not hard. I love it! I’ve always done our painting. Just make sure you prep the walls properly first.

I like it, but if I could afford I'd pay for it to be done.

Rarely pay anyone unless we are having the whole house done. It’s really not difficult.

On fresh plaster you need a coat of watered down pva glue to seal it before you paint.

Not hard but time-consuming, and you won't be able to do it when the toddlers are underfoot, so evenings only.

We've always done all our own painting and decorating.

I’ve never paid anyone to paint, I paint each room myself (and redecorate each room every 3 years).

I put the large furniture in the middle if the room and take everything else out do I have a clear run all the way the room.

I find the prep work takes the most time with masking tape the floor (by the skirting so gloss doesn’t go it), sanding the skirting boards, masking tape ceiling unless I’m going to paint it too. Then I gloss first (as I hate it so want it done and out the way), edge one wall at a time and paint the middle. By the time I’ve done the room once, it’s ready for a 2nd coat.

I love it, I put my music on and ban everyone from contacting me so kids know to go to DH if they need anything

I allow 2 days per room and then love admiring my work afterwards

If painting fresh plaster you can mix pva with the paint for the first coat, it's less messy than watering it down (plasterers wife!).

If you do white on white my dad buys the paint where it paints on pink then turns white when it dries - no idea what it's called but it's like magic! (he painted my ceilings for me)

It’s not difficult

It’s time consuming and a faff.

But you feel like it’s Your Room when you’ve done it yourself

I’ve redecorated 4 rooms in lockdown....it’s been very satisfying.

I draw the line at hallway though and gonna get someone in for that

Also....white?

There’s so many things you can do for some variety and ‘feeling’

When you do it yourself, you get a real feel for the colour and your accessories and furniture themes all come together

Pinterest is your creative friend

It’s not the painting that will be hard. It will be getting a smooth finish where you’ve filled all the holes.

Oh I think I am getting mixed up with polyfilla and plaster.. the walls are even, the holes need filling, so based on someone's reply that doesn't need plastering?

It's not hard but it's time consuming. Prep, painting, tidying up etc. I find it's best to commit a long day to it, rather than do a couple of hours here and there.

Painting is easy. The prep takes the time. Real hard work. All our walls are white, dulux white, every single wall, throughout the whole house.

If you pairing white over white try using Dulux Magic White - it goes on pink so you can see where you are covering over the existing white and then dries to a pure white. I have used this for ceilings and it works really well.

Hardest thing about decorating is all the prep. Wash down walls with sugar soap, rapid all holes/damaged areas with filler etc. I really really hate the prep but the better you do it, the better the finish you will get.

Hatred of the prep stage is why I choose to hire a decorator these days.

It definitely doesn't sound like it needs plastering - that's the pink stuff that gets spread over the whole wall. That's not a novice DIY job at all.

Nail holes would be filler.

Ah, no if you're just filling holes then no, you don't need a mist coat :)
I wouldn't recommend polyfilla btw, just get a lightweight filler. Decorators always hate polyfilla ime!

I would also gently suggest something more adventurous than white if you're going to all that effort anyway? But then my house is VERY colourful

You used to be able to get white paint that goes on pink so you can see where you been, not sure if you can still get it. We always do it ourselves, the only place I'd get someone in is for the stair well.

I was going to use the pink paint that dries white...until I found out how much more expensive it is than normal white! About 3 or 4x the price!

I love painting rooms. If you are covering tiny holes you need to repaint the whole room though. Including any gloss. Otherwise the older paint looks crap next to the nice new stuff.

The magic white paint is an absolute must if you are painting white on top of white - particularly ceilings.

I reckon it takes two full days to do a room. Day 1 is mostly prep (emptying room, cleaning properly, filling holes) and also doing the gloss. Day 2 is ceiling and walls.

Dulux do a magic white - it goes on pink so you can see it and dries white.