Can DIY painting achieve a professional finish for halls and downstairs?

[Letthesunshine1234]

I have been quoted £15k to paint my hallway and downstairs in house. I don’t have the budget for this. Has anyone managed to master DIY painting to a professional standard and if yes how? I would need to do ceilings, walls and woodwork.

Blimey, that's a lot. I don't know how professional mine looks, but I've always decorated myself.

It's not that hard. Watch a couple of Youtube tutorials. And does it matter if it isn't absolutely immaculate? I couldn't bring myself to waste that amount of money on painting.

I don’t think it’s difficult. Use a tray and a roller. Don’t put too much paint on.

The stairs are harder than rooms usually due to height. One tip is using tape to get clean lines, cover things and you need two coats even the so called “once” paint, 3 sometimes. Paint quality matters, but my experience is the “posh” brands aren’t as good as dulux

DH has done all our DIY and decorating. It’s all in the prep - sand, fill and sand again, then paint.

When painting walls it’s 90percent prep, 10 percent finish (paint) what’s your walls like ? Are they in good condition?

15k?! Do you live in a stately home? I’d get a couple more quotes if I were you because that seems rather a lot

also, have you missed a decimal on that quote? 15k is ridiculous

@Letthesunshine1234good advice already but people never seem to talk much about paint pads for emulsion. I've found them to be a very good option to get a good DIY finish and less messy than a roller. Invest in a proper stair ladder too for safety. And definitely buy decent paint!

I’ve painted my house throughout. Inside and out.
Apparently to a v high standard. Top tip. Colour drench- no edges. Ceiling coving and walls the same colour. Attached picture is one coat in. I’ve even done a dark room, impossible to photograph but stunning.

Yes and make sure to sand and prime all woodwork before hand. I’m an advanced painter and decorator so any tips feel free to ask

Preparation is everything! Sanding, filling and sealing properly makes all the difference. Investing in the right tools for the job will help, too. There’s loads of tips and tutorials available online - I follow bobbysdecoratingcompany on Instagram, as an example.

Then for painting, choose the right paint for the room, mix the paint properly before use, load enough paint on the roller. Use quality brushes and roller. I think the painting part is simpler than the prep part but I can spend days filling and prepping

£15k sounds a lot but if you break it down per room and then take off materials, specialist equipment and time, it might not be a crazy price - hard to say without knowing the size of your house and the condition of the existing walls and woodwork!

15k!!!! Ffs that’s mad. Do it yourself

Also don’t use silk paint if your walls are bad as this show up any imperfections, use Matt for a nice flat finish

Thank you everyone - I have a large house, but not massive! I can assure you I have had more than one quote and this is definitely the going rate for professional painter and decorator in my area. I have to admit I love good paint work - I think it can transform a wall. I have not painted for around six years (done professionally), my children were young and now older so walls in hallway are quite bad, just normal wear and tear, kids scooting into walls and then the segways 🙈 rest of the walls not bad. Thank you all for your advice. I wish I could afford to have it done professionally but will have to take all the tips onboard and try myself.

I've always done my own decorating. I'm not sayings it's not worth it, but I wouldn't pay those prices. Always been happy with the result.

Do you have any tips for painting the ceiling and walls? Anyway to make it physically easier and any particular tools (brands) for rollers, brushes, tape, filler and sandpaper etc? I have a Johnson’s paint shop near me and can get stuff from there as my brother is a builder so can get a trade account. I looked to do a course but the only available one in my area are NVQ and I can’t do that as I work. If you have any insider tips that would be great 😊

I am a fan of Dulux Trade paint (available to the public from Brewers) but other trade brands may also be fine.

Prep, prep, prep is the first mantra. So magic sponge any marks to try and minimise over painting. If in doubt prime.

Frog tape (delicate) is the best masking tape, but even that can't be used on paint as new as it claims it can be.

I still bounce between cutting in just with a good brush and using masking tape to cut in.

Oh yeah, and buy good brushes for the woodwork and skirting boards. Makes such a difference. I find satin paint a lot easier than gloss for woodwork.

(btw I am not an expert and have never done a course but I have painted numerous rooms at my mum and dad's house growing up plus my own kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and sitting room.)

Stairs are the only time we get professionals in. I just cant get my head round the ladder requirements for the double height walls.
What woukd the quote drop to if yo did tge itger bits?

As others have said, preparation is key.

I’ve done pretty much all the decorating in our house. It’s not as good as a good professional but fine. I did the hall, stairs and landing about 5 years ago and it was a real pain as there’s so much woodwork and the height was tricky so I’m paying for that next time.

Painting isn’t difficult and neither is the prep. I know I take longer than a decent professional but I can achieve a similar result. There is so much info online - YouTube etc .
The quality of paint has improved massively over the years. I’ve used all sorts of paints included all the expensive brands but regular dulux is fine and if you get it on a special deal it is very reasonable.

I like using colours that compliment each other throughout the whole house.
once when we moved into a all white walled new build I got a ‘colour consultant’ in for one hour and showed her the colours I had chosen. She tweaked all the colours so they all looked amazing together. It was worth every penny.
I also think it looks great when you use a single colour throughout. That makes things really easy.
I haven’t done it yet but I wonder about painting bedroom ceilings the same colour as the walls. No cutting in would speed things up.

I don’t generally use tape but if I had straight walls I might.

If you have a lot of sanding to do then you should get a decent sander with a good dust extractor. It’s so worth it as you can sand and not produce hardly any dust at all.
You can rent one if you want.

It actually doesn’t matter if it’s not perfect. I used to want it all absolutely perfect but now I don’t bother as much and no one cares or notices. That saves a lot of time 😅

I painted all the walls, coving and skirting boards myself when I bought my house a couple of years ago after being quoted a similar ridiculous amount by tradespeople. I had no previous experience. I watched YouTube video for tips.

As people have said wall preparation is important and also keep in mind that it is easier to paint light paint over light paint. The most difficulty I had was to paint a box room that had violet (!) paint back to bright white.

You can get extendable poles for your paint rollers to reach higher spots and remember to get dust sheets to protect your floors and furniture while you paint.

Wow at that price! My tips if you do yourself are:

buy decent brushes the best you can afford, including rollers, and choose the right pile. Also a comfortable best quality extendable pole. After years of buying the cheapest this was a revelation!

Buy good quality paint - I use little Greene and yes it’s more expensive for a tin but it goes in beautifully, doesn’t splash or drip much, and great coverage so that’s value. Also low odour. And yes don’t skip the cutting in.

Finally invest in proper hessian type dust sheets they make so much difference. I bought 3 - you can get ones that are perfect for stairs.

I would definitely give it a go!

Full disclosure, I have no decorating skills whatsoever but did pay someone to paint our hall and stairs last year. Edwardian terrace house, reasonable size.

The whole area had been neglected for decades and the biggest part of the job was the preparation, stripping down, filling cracks, mending coving etc, stripping and sanding wooden banisters. They really needed to be careful on the stairs, because the ceiling is so high. That all took weeks and the actual painting was done in just a few days.

So it was a huge job, involving a team of 4 or 5 guys at different times. I don't think even a skilled amateur would have wanted to tackle all of it. Anyhow, they underestimated the size of the job and quoted too low (they admitted as much) but even so, it cost nowhere near 15K.

I think you need to get some more quotes.

I use aluminium pole extenders so I can leave the paint tray on the floor and not bend. I have long and medium size.
If you have big walls I might be tempted to try using the bigger trade rollers. I’ve not used them though.