Ready to Paint!

Painting is absolutely the easiest and cheapest of any home improvement project.  You can update the interior design of a tired room or add curb appeal to your home’s exterior at a fraction of the cost of most home improvement projects.

Choosing the right colors for you, your room and your furniture is the most difficult aspect of interior design.  The color choices today are endless, but thankfully experimenting with color is relatively easy with paint.  If you want to try something different, just buy a half-gallon and see how it looks.  Express yourself in your interior design.

After your color decisions are made, it’s time to get down to work.  The most important, and least appealing, part of painting is the prep-work.  These steps are time-consuming, but will pay off in the end:

• Remove switch and outlet covers.
• Spackle nail holes.
• Tape off windows and other areas difficult to paint around.
• Cover furniture.

Another time-saving up front step you can take is to make sure you have all the proper home improvement and painting tools at hand:

• Brushes (at least one smaller one with an angle tip for cutting in molding)
• Rollers
• Roller pans
• Edgers
• Rags for spills and drips

Edgers are great time-savers for painting up against ceilings or up to door trim.  As long as the wall texture is not too thick, an edger will help you make a clean line transition, a hallmark of excellent interior design.

Remember, paint top to bottom.  Paint the ceiling first, then all of the trim, finally the walls.  After all of the preparation is done and the right tools are available, the actual painting goes very quickly and the look of your room transforms in front of your eyes.  A simple coat of paint, done well, could be just the right home improvement project for your house.

(Photo Credit:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/booleansplit/3366476478/)