Painting your walls seems to be one of the easiest and cheapest ways to change the look of your home. No wonder we are so eager to reach for a roller and a pack of paint to give the rooms a bit of color
What if we overdid the amount of colored walls and we would like to introduce a toned, neutralizing accent? Or maybe you’re renting an apartment and need to repaint all the walls a standard color before moving out? Or are you moving into a new place and you don’t like the choice of colors? There are many reasons to go back to neutral white.
You think it’s obvious? Not necessarily! Many people forget that walls can be dirty and greasy. How to start this kind of cleaning? All you need is warm water with grey soap and a cloth. This is the best, proven way to thoroughly clean the walls.
In home improvement stores you can easily find shampoos for walls and if stains cannot be washed off – a suitable paint which will thoroughly cover the dirt. It will work great for streaks, grease stains or scratches.
By washing the walls, you will also find out the quality of the paint that was used to paint the walls. If it begins to peel when exposed to water, it is a sign to only gently dampen the walls, and scrape off patches of old, poor quality paint. Otherwise, the paint will fall off during painting, remaining on your roller.
If you want to get a good coverage of the previously existing color on the wall, you should start with priming. This is a proven way to make the white paint take well and the wall less absorbent. By priming, you won’t have to apply ten coats of white color.
Before you get down to priming, make sure the wall is suitable for it! You can do this in a really simple way. Just rub the surface of the wall with a dry finger. If there is any residue on the wall, you can prime it
The priming paint should be applied with a brush or a roller, in vertical downward and upward motions. It will be most convenient for you to start with the areas that are hard to reach, and then move on to the areas that you will be more comfortable painting. Remember not to get any streaks!
You can skip this step if you are repainting pastel and delicate colors. It will be unnecessary in case of blue, light pink or classic ecru. However, if you want to repaint a wall, which is covered with an intense color (for example, navy blue, purple or red), use the help of a primer. You may find that using a white paint directly over the color – or even a primer – will not give you a satisfactory result.
When choosing a primer, first of all take into account the type of wall you are painting. If the substrate is strong, a latex paint will be the best decision. If the substrate is weak, an acrylic paint will suffice. On the package of primer paint you will find precise instructions, after what time you can start painting with the actual paint
The wall is washed, the primer is applied and so is the undercoat. Get your roller ready for the paint job! The first coat is behind you and… What’s next?
How many layers you should apply depends mainly on the color you want to paint. If the wall is covered with light, pastel and not intense colors, one or two coats are enough – depending on the quality of your paint. Medium saturated colors should be covered with two coats of good quality paint and up to four coats of weaker paint.
For intense or dark colors, you’ll need to be prepared to paint your walls at least three times, although four or more coats of paint are usually needed.
Main photo: Joe Woods/unsplash.com
