Wall preparation, door, window and skirting board preparation, walls painting, how to paint door and window..more info »

Some guides for paint choosing and where to buy, more tips on painting and decorating..
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The first thing what needs to be done before starting any painting job around house is to cover with dust sheets all floor properly, move as much as posible stuff to the centre of the room.

..and also cover all furniture with plastic sheets  -   them you can buy at any local DIY shop for few pounds, it would prevent your property from paint spill and safe your nerves and time :)

..don't forget that good preparation for painting is nearly half of the job, it isn't difficult but very important stage, now you can start prepare walls, get some sanding paper, recommended is P60 or P80 grade

wear mask when sanding, it's for your own wellness. Also wear some gloves when sanding, this would save your hands as well. When fill in the holes, think, less filler means you won't be struggling so much

before start painting it is useful to clean up the rooms so dust won't go on the walls and ceiling and easier to move, ensure you have right tools for painting, ones for interior and others for exterior, get all you need.

It is usual to start painting from the ceiling, because you may want to apply different colour on the walls, don't you? This way you won't make mess to the walls and it is much easier to start cutting in from the top than bottom.

When you paint on new plaster it would be useful to give a miss coat firs, for miss coat use any cheap white emulsion added water with ratio 3 or 4 parts of paint to 1 part of water. It dries very quick when good conditions. Now you can start paint.

When the first coat is finished on the walls, leave it for an hour or two, it usually depends on conditions of the walls and weather outside, when is raining give more time to dry, also don't paint on wet filler - paint would peel off.

Usually it is enough 2 coats when you paint with good paint and don't add too much water to paint, but for white it might need an extra coat. Also matt paint covers better than silk. Better preparation means less paint will be required.

Drying time for water based emulsion paint is from 30 min to 2 hours, but to dry completely it needs a day or two, mainly it depends what is the weather when you paint and wall condition. You shouldn't try to paint another coat too quick.