Interior Paint

Interior painting turns out the best when all of the preparation is done properly and in advance.  All the walls and trim must be clean and all dents, nail pops, nail holes and cracks should be repaired before any painting is done. This is meticulous work and you must have knowledge of drywall adhesive and caulk and how to apply them properly. If you do not know how to sand drywall patch surfaces hire a professional or you will be very unhappy. New paint will show every uneven or rough dry wall patch and the newly painted walls will look terrible. The whole idea of interior painting is to make the space look better not worse.

Applying interior paint requires skill and the proper tools and supplies that most people do not have. Paint brushes and paint rollers look easy to use, but in reality they are very tricky in their use. Cheap paint brushes give a drug on look and cheap rollers do a terrible job. There are paint brushes and rollers for different surfaces and the right one makes all the difference. Then there are the ladders, drop cloths and clean-up supplies. Professional painting contractors have the skill, supplies and know which tools to use. The finished job will show the difference. Quite frankly, do-it-yourself paint jobs look like do-it-yourself paint jobs.

A trip to the paint store can be an intimidating experience, hundreds of colors and finishes, a dozen different prices and every kind of tool to apply the paint that you can imagine and most of the tools are unnecessary.

Selecting colors and finishes is very difficult, winter white or autumn white, golden yellow or sunshine yellow. And interior paint comes in various finishes, flat, which is almost a chalk board finish; matte, which is flat but with some depth to the finish; satin, which has depth and a little glow to it; semi-gloss, which has a slight shine to the finish; and gloss, which is shiny.  Today all of these finishes come in latex paint and latex is easier to work with, than oil base paints.

Picking finishes is a tricky business as the finished job will reflect the light in the space in different ways; gloss finishes reflect every imperfection. Flat finishes are the hardest to clean and gloss the easiest. All of the finishes come in all grades of paint, but the best paint does the best job. The tiny paint chip samples are going to look different than the paint when it is on the wall. Buy a small can of the brand, color and finish you think you like and do a test on your wall.

And then there is the question of how much paint to buy. Remember opened paint and custom mixed paint is not returnable. If you hire a painting contractor take them with you when you buy the paint. It is always surprising how little paint it takes to cover an interior when a pro does it as compared to the armature.

Using a painting pro may seem more expensive than the do-it–yourself route but you will find out the professional’s experience in buying paint and you not having to buy all the tools and clean-up supplies will result in less paint and supplies expense in the long run and the job is done quicker and with a much better looking result.