11 Steps to a Professional Paint Job

by Kiersten Vogt

4 Materials

$50

4 Hours

Easy

I'm strange in that I LOVE TO PAINT! I actually dread painting closets (and ceilings kinda suck after a while too) but other than that you could hand me a paint brush any day of the week and I'd be happy. Check out my full tutorial on my blog - it covers an entire room from top to bottom including caulking and spackling!

The first thing I always do when I paint is cover the floor! I promise this is an essential step. I prefer to paint without outlet and switch covers on because that just makes more work when cutting in!

Next, I spackle! I hate spackling but it's a necessary evil when painting! If there's a crack in the wall, you'll need to tape it and spackle - but otherwise, make sure to spackle any and all nail holes and divers in the walls. You'll have to wait for everything to dry and then sand smooth. Make sure you do a good vacuuming and dusting before painting... you'd be surprised how far that spackle dust can go!

Next, you'll want to caulk. I always caulk anywhere trim meets wall and any other gaps I see (like where my heating vents touch the walls.) After caulking (and after you're damn sure it's dry) feel free to tape off... however, I HATE using painter's tape and have found that my projects come out worse when I use it. So I skip it and have taught myself to cut in without it. It's so much easier and a life skill I have now!

The next step is to (finally) start painting! You'll want to use a primer if you have a lot of spackle or if you're going over a dark color. After you prime the walls and ceiling you'll cut in the ceiling and paint it! Then you'll paint all the trim. After the trim is done you'll cut in and roll your walls! After all that, stand back and admire your work! For a more detailed step by step tutorial check out the full post on my blog! And follow me on social media, I love connecting with new people on Instagram!