In this post, I’ll share some of my best tips and tricks for painting your home! Not only will these tips making painting easier, but it will help with clean up too! I love to paint, but it can get messy really quickly!
The power of paint is an amazing thing! I have been painting since I was very young. I remember when my parents built a house when I was 12. I was insistent that I wanted to paint my room myself and my mom let me!
This is actually a really big deal because my mom is very much a perfectionist and likes to be in control of things like this but she showed me how to paint my walls and let me do it on my own. I had a vision of how I wanted it to look: each wall a different color and ALL of them pastels!
I was very proud of how it turned out and because my mom painted the rest of that house on her own I’m sure she was just glad to have one less room to do! Haha!
Of course, 20 years later and I’m still love painting walls. It’s the easiest and quickest way to transform a space.
When we moved into our home, every inch of it needed paint. I spent two weeks painting the whole thing (I declined help because it turns out I’m not that different from my mom) and wow – what a difference!
Most recently, I added some trim box molding to a wall in my entryway and painted it an accent color. I shared some tips and tricks on my Instagram account, as well as answered questions. To keep it all together in one place, I thought I’d write up a post with all my tips for easy reference!
Save on liners with Press n’ Seal
I’m sure you’ve heard of using tin foil for saving on liners, and that works too! That being said, when I found out Press n’ Seal was another option, I quickly tried it out and I’m SOLD. I’ll never go back to tin foil!
Not only is Press n’ Seal much easier to work with than tin foil, but it also sticks to the paint tray as well as each other. If you need to use two sheets (which I do for my larger paint trays) it sticks to itself to create a seal so the paint doesn’t leak through.
One roll lasts a really long time and if you paint fairly often, it’s much easier and more cost effective than buying liners. Plus, if it’s something you use in your household anyway, you’ll always have it on hand in a pinch!
Use a quality brush
I’ve tried every type of brush out there, and my personal preference is definitely Zibra paint brushes. You can get them off their website here, Amazon, and they have some at Home Depot as well (just not as much variety – at least in my local Home Depot).
The reason that I love the Zibra brushes so much is that the brush strokes are virtually non-existent compared to other brushes and they wash out insanely easy. If you take care of this brush it will last YEARS.
Here’s a quick story for you: when I was painting my office, I did board and batten. The board and batten was a dark color, above it was a light color. I had two paint trays with a brush and roller in each. After the first coat of paint, I wrapped everything up with the intention of doing my second coat the next day.
Life happened and I left everything there for two weeks- yikes!! I do not recommend doing that!
Anyway, everything was dried up except the Zibra brush. 🤯
Mind. Blown.
From that day on, I was converted to a die-hard Zibra fan. I was able to wash the brush out and still use it! Worth it’s weight in GOLD in my opinion.
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Storing your paint supplies between coats
If you are NOT going to leave your paint supplies sitting around for two weeks, you can easily wrap everything up between coats.
I like to use a garbage bag to wrap up my paint tray. I leave the roller right in it and cover the whole thing up. This also makes clean up easier because the roller will be discarded into the garbage bag as well as whatever you use for a liner.
For your paint brush, I recommend putting it into a ziplock baggie and sealing it. Some people place it in the fridge to last longer. I don’t simply because I’ll forget about them! If you do forget about them, just grab some Paint Brush Rescue – add some water and wash out the brush. It will save it!
Cut in before rolling
Everyone has their own preference for painting a wall. Mine is to cut in first, then roll. This way, if you DO have brush strokes, the roller will take care of them!
I don’t personally tape around my trim or ceiling when cutting in, a quality brush helps make this easy! The softer the bristles, the easier it is to get a clean line!
Paint in a W shape
This was one of the first things I learned about painting! Always move your roller in a W shape in order to evenly distribute the paint and give the best finish. This will prevent crease lines, drips, and the coat of paint will be more even.
If you’re painting a very large wall or area, you can consider upgrading your roller to an 18 inch roller – this is on my wish list! It will cut your paint time down significantly!
Get the crispiest lines with these two tricks
I don’t often use tape when painting but when I do, I want my line to be crisp and clean!
I’ve tried all the brands and I don’t have a preference like most people. To me, all of them bleed at least a little bit. Luckily, there are two ways you can prevent bleeding when using tape!
Paint the edge of the tape with the existing color first
The first way you can prevent bleed is by painting with the existing wall color first. That way, any bleed that happens will be with the color that’s already on the wall and it won’t be visible.
Then, when the paint dries, it’ll seal the edge and prevent the next color from bleeding.
Use a tiny bit of caulk along the edge of the tape
If you don’t have the existing wall color then you can use a little bit of caulk. Make sure to just use a very small amount and use a damp paper towel or baby wipe to smooth it out. You want to make sure the caulk doesn’t create texture on the wall, so making sure it’s smoothed out is an important step!
Be sure to let it fully dry, then paint! I tested just using regular tape, using paint, and using caulk on my instagram stories and caulk gave the best result in my opinion (although the paint trick was pretty perfect as well!)
Save paint by getting the excess from your roller with this trick
If you have a 5-in-1 tool, you need to know about this trick! There’s a curved spot that fits a roller perfectly. You can press down and grad the tool over the roller and a TON of paint will come out.
Paint is not cheap! Especially if you’re spending a few extra dollars on the more durable paint with better coverage. You won’t want to waste a single drop!
I never thought that there would be a ton of paint in the roller, but the first time I used the 5-in-1 tool to clean out the excess, I was sold! I couldn’t believe how much paint I saved. Plus, if you’re someone that likes to clean out their rollers to get a few uses out of them, this will save you a ton of time!
If you want even better bang for your buck, skip the 5-in-1 and get a paint brush comb which has spots to get excess paint off rollers (one like this has a spot for multiple sizes of rollers)
Paint clean up tricks
This leads me to clean up! I already mentioned that I usually wrap my paint tray and roller with a garbage bag and then use that for clean up.
Once the excess paint is cleaned from the roller, I’ll stick it right in the garbage bag. Then, using my hand on the outside of the garbage bag, I’ll take hold of it and pull it off. The roller will be in the garbage bag with no paint on my hands!
Then, I’ll throw the Press n’ Seal in the same garbage bag (after emptying any extra paint back into the can). Any other items that need to be cleaned up can also be put in the bag and then the whole bag can be disposed of. Super easy!
Tips for washing out your paint brushes
I don’t usually invest in solution for cleaning my brushes (unless it’s the Paint Brush Rescue and I’m desperately trying to save a brush I almost ruined!) I simply use warm water and dish soap.
If you really want your brushes to last (who doesn’t) then I highly recommend a paint brush comb. Like I mentioned above, this comb also has curved sections so you can get the excess paint off your rollers!
You can also mix a tiny bit of fabric softener with warm water and stir your brush in it for about 10-15 seconds to keep the bristles extra soft!
One more tip! If you’re using tape, make sure you remove it while the paint is still wet! You can do as many coats of paint as you want, just make sure to pull the tape off when the last coat hasn’t dried yet so that it doesn’t pull or chip.
Time saving and money saving paint tips!
Painting can quickly become an expensive and frustrating task! Using the proper tools, with a good technique, and taking care of your materials will help a lot! Hopefully, these tips have helped give you some ideas!
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