Paint a Room

Remove anything attached to the ceiling or walls you plan to paint: light fixtures, cover plates, art, switch plates, outlet covers, heat registers and curtains. Gently remove all nails, screws and hangers from your walls. For objects you can't easily remove — a sink, for example — protect the edge along the wall with blue painter's tape.

Next, remove as much furniture as you can from the room and move the remaining pieces to the center. If you're painting the ceiling, cover the furniture with plastic tarp. Spread a drop cloth on the floor under the area you plant to paint first.

Then, set up your paint station — put a tarp, cardboard or newspaper on the floor or a work table, and place your can of paint and painting tools on it.

First, vacuum cobwebs and any other loose dirt from the walls. Then mix a cleaning solution of TSP substitute and warm water in a bucket, following package directions. Wearing rubber gloves, wash one wall with the cleaning solution, from the top down. Rinse the wall with clean water and a sponge, before going on to the next wall.

Paint doesn’t hide many flaws, so repair holes and cracks. Cover holes and cracks that are more than about ½-inch wide with adhesive mesh tape. Smaller openings don't need the mesh.

With a putty knife, spread a thin layer of patching compound over the hole or mesh. Use the putty knife to remove excess compound and then let it dry, as specified on the product label. Reapply another layer if the hole or crack isn't completely filled.

Use a sanding sponge to lightly remove excess patching compound, so the surface is smooth and flat. You can also sand off any old paint drips and other bumps and flaws on the wall or trim.

Use blue painter's tape to mask the intersection of areas to paint and areas you don't want to paint:
If you're painting the ceiling, tape along the wall where it meets the ceiling.

• If you're painting walls, tape along the ceiling and trim where they meet the wall.
• If you're painting trim, tape the wall where it meets the trim.

Apply the tape in a straight line and press the tape into place gently so paint won't bleed under the tape.

The instructions in this step and the next apply to primer as well as paint, although for simplicity they refer just to paint. Similarly, they apply to the ceiling, even though they refer to a wall.

Open the can of paint with a paint key or screwdriver. If more than a day has passed since you bought the paint, thoroughly mix it with a stir stick. Pour some paint into a small container that you can handle easily when standing on a ladder, such as a plastic cottage cheese tub.

Starting in the corner, use a paint brush or edging tool to paint a 3-inch band along the edge of the ceiling or wall — depending on which one you're painting. When you reach the next corner, stop and paint the wall or ceiling (as described in the next step) before the edging paint dries, overlapping into the wet edge. (If you wait until the edge is dry, the overlapped area turns out darker, a flaw known as hatbanding.)

Edge the wall next to windows, doors and baseboards. Paint the adjacent wall before the edge dries.

Wipe up drips and spills immediately with a damp rag.

If you're painting the ceiling or upper wall, screw a roller extension pole into the roller's handle. Fill the roller tray about 2/3 full of paint and roll the paint roller through the paint until it's heavy with paint, but not dripping.

Starting in the upper corner, roll a W shape on the wall that's about 2 feet wide, and roll across the W to fill in the gaps. Apply enough to cover the area well, but not so much that the paint drips. Reload the roller — don't stretch the paint into thin layers. Repeat on the adjacent unpainted area, slightly overlapping the previous area.

When finished, paint the wall on the opposite side of the room. 

When the walls are dry, inspect them under good light to determine if they need a second coat. Most latex wall paints require a 4-hour drying time before recoating.

When the final coat is still slightly wet, gently and slowly pull off the painter's tape; stand on a ladder when removing tape on or near the ceiling for better leverage. If the paint begins to pull away from the wall, use a utility knife to slice the pulled paint from the tape.

Once the wall paint dries completely, lightly apply painter's tape to the wall where it meets trim around windows, doors and the baseboard. Using a narrow, angled paint brush, paint the trim, working from top to bottom. When painting at the edge of the taped area, keep the tip of the brush moist and glide it along the edge.

When the paint dries, apply a second coat if needed. Remove the painter's tape while the paint is still slightly wet.

Remove excess paint from tools by scraping the roller cover or brush with a putty knife over the open can of paint. Remove paint from the inner lip of the can, replace the lid and tap the lid closed with a hammer. Wash paint tools as recommended on the can of paint: for latex paints, use soapy water and for oil paints use a solvent such as mineral spirits. Do not pour mineral spirits down the drain.

Clean up the work station. When the paint is completely dry, reattach switch places and outlet covers and hang pictures and curtains.