Interior Painting

Painting the interior of your home is great for cleaning out dirt and debris, and for giving your home a fresh new look.

When you begin choosing what kind of paint to use consider what the different kinds of paints are for. Satin and egg shell paints should be used in areas that get the most traffic, such as the hall, dining room, and living room. Semi-gloss paint should be used in bathrooms or laundry rooms, or on woodwork, such as cabinets. The master bedroom, the dining room, and the closets could use matte painting finishes.

After you've chosen which paints work best in your home being preparing to paint.

When painting the interior of your home there a few things to consider when formulating a plan, which includes obviously picking a color, or multiple colors of paint, figuring out how much paint you will need for your project, and collecting all the materials necessary such as paint brushes, rollers, paint pens, and drop cloths.

In the world of painting a good brush can be defined as a brush wiith many split ends. This characteristic is important for retaining and spreading the paint, while reducing the amount of brush marks left on a surface.

Of the types of filaments there are to choose from there are animal (hog) bristles, nylon bristles, and polyester bristles.

Animal bristles and nylon bristles both can be used for all types of paints, but best used with oil paints.

Polyester filaments are the best choice for any kind of paint, because they last longer, are easier to wash, and don't retain as much water as animal or nylon bristles.

Also consider using canvas drop cloths instread of plastic drop cloths, a premium paint brush and/or roller, rags and sponges instead of paper towels, and not using a liner in the paint tray. This will save you a bundle on money, because these items will last longer until your next painting project, and you help save the environment by conserving on the amount of plastic and paper used.

When you have decided which materials to use it's time to begin preparing whatever area of the house you are going to be painting. Fist set down drop cloth, and then begin removing chipping paint with a scraper; be sure to wear safety goggles to prevent debris from getting into your eyes. Then wipe down the area with a mixture of trisodium phosphale solution water, and let dry. When the area you are about to paint is fully dry, fill in all cracks with putty, scrape out excess with a putty knife, and again let dry. After drying if you feel the surface isn't smooth enough yet for painting, you can run sand paper over the dried putty filled cracks until you have achieved desired smoothness.

This is the general process of prepping. However for more complex painting projects you may need to develop a more complex prepping plan.

When prepping is finished its time to paint. There are many different types of painting techniques to choose from. The basics that you should remember for doing simple painting projects are knowing how to paint with brushes, rollers, and power sprayers, and “cutting in.”

When painting with brushes and rollers you should use a straight two inch brush for the trim, and when “cutting in.” Rollers and power sprayers should be used for larger areas. When using a sprayer double check your masked areas, and make sure that they are secure.

“Cutting In” is a simple painting technique for achieving clean lines at the corner and edges. All you need is an angled trim brush thats about two inches to make short strokes away from the edges where the walls or ceiling and wall meet.

Once you've mastered the basics you can expand your horizons and try out whatever painting technique you desire. Here several choices to try out:

• Color Washing: is a mixture of latex paint and wallpaper paste brushed areas where there is heavy traffic, such as bathrooms or hallways.
• Faux Wall Painting/Faux Finishes: is done when mixing paint and glaze together and applying the mixture to walls with certain tools, making your average dry wall look as if it is made of a different kind of texture. Thus, this technique is called faux wall painting because the idea to make the wall look like it is made of something else, when it is actually a fake replica.
• Faux Sponging: is a painting technique that uses a solid base coat. Then using sea sponge dip partially into a tinted glaze that matches the background and lightly and evenly go over the walls.
• Faux Metallic: this painting technique should make your walls look as if they are metallic by using a gray latex base coat, and then paint over the latex base coat with a silver glaze.
• Faux Spattering: type of painting can include a base paint, but doesn't have to. You may use as many colors as you want. All you really need is a brush and a paint stirring stick, although spraying the paint will make the job go faster. The directions are simple, just dip your brush in the paint you want to spatter, and holding the stick away from you and perpendicular to your body hit the brush on the stick and watch the paint spatter onto the wall.
• Faux Stamping: when faux stamping you may use one or two colors. If you do use two, one will be used as the base paint and one as the color you will be stamping with. You can buy stamps from a local craft store. Rubber stamps are preferred, because if there are any flaws on the wall the rubber should form to it.
• Faux Striping: a painting technique that is suppose to make your regular walls look as if they have wall paper by using an acrylic paint as the base, and then choosing a second color mixed in with the glaze that will be painted in vertical stripes over the base coat.
• Stenciling: is a painting technique that needs only as much paint as you want to stencil and a stencil design. Tape the design where you want it to be, and then dab paint lightly using a brush onto the the stencil, and then remove stencil when you finish.
• Rag Rolling: this painting technique is done exactly as its name says it. You need to first paint a base coat. When you finish painting the base stir in about a third of white paint in the base paint color. This lighter base color will be for the rag rolling. Take a rag and dip into rag color, and let it soak. When it is completely filled with paint right out excess paint back into the rag color bucket, then open the rag, and roll into a ball in your hand. Now take the ball in your hand and using varying wrist movements gently dab rag over the wall's surface.
• Painting walls with a roller: when painting walls with a roller the recommended technique is to load your roller with paint, and roll a three foot wide “W” on the wall. Then without lifting the roller off the wall, fill in the “W.” Next repeat steps and continue to work horizontally across the room moving from side to side.

However if you decide that painting is not for you and you feel like the job should be done by a professional consider these tips when looking for someone to hire.

Nobody wants to be swindled, so make sure when planning your painting project that the professional you hire is someone you can trust to do the job right.

Remember that when hiring a professional it is important to interview at least three prospective contractors and to obtain estimates, references, and quotes from each of them.

Keep in mind that the best service won't always be based on whether the contractor charges more or less. What's important is that you verify that there are at least two references before signing any contracts.

When interviewing ask the contractor for documentation, and if he or she is licensed, bonded, or insured. Ask the contractor and make sure that he or she is willing to work with first class finishes, and doesn't mind letting you choose what brand of paint to use.

When checking references be sure to not only look for positive feedback, dig deeper and check out the Better Business Bureau's perspective