Painting and decorating tips

As well as light and dark shades affecting our mood, specific colours can also have an effect. Choosing the right shade helps you set the tone of a room.

• When used sparingly, yellow can bring out feelings of joy and happiness.
• For a cooling and calming effect, a tranquil shade of light blue works nicely.
• Green's connection with nature and the outdoors means that it can help with stress relief.

When you're deciding how to paint on walls for decoration, think about how you want to feel in that space. A busy family kitchen might benefit from bright, positive tones. But a home office might need something a little more grounded and neutral.

Bold colours are very impactful. But relying on them too heavily can result in them feeling overwhelming. To avoid them from competing with each other, balance out bold colours with neutral tones where you can. This stops a room from feeling too busy.

Going neutral on your walls gives you more of a chance to decorate your room with bold, colourful highlights. You can add these bright pops of colour on your lamps, pillows, blankets and more. If you do want to go bold on the walls, consider how to decorate a wall with paint to make a real feature. You might want to try colour blocking for a modern look.

Dark colours might seem a bit menacing at first. But they add a lot of personality to your rooms compared to white or light tones. If you're going to do it, commit to it. Avoid half measures such as just painting one wall or using a mid-shade. Go all the way and do all four walls.

When using dark neutrals, such as dark shades of grey, navy, black and brown, include some accenting colours. You might be surprised at how many colours complement them. Understanding how to paint and decorate with deeper shades is a brilliant way to make a large space feel much cosier.

You'll want to keep a sense of cohesion throughout your home. Feel free to give each room its own unique look and feel but try to tie them together by maintaining continuity in some small way.

Using complementary colours where rooms connect saves you from worrying about things looking out of place. A gentle transition from a dark hallway into a lighter kitchen creates a natural flow through your home.

• Dust sheets
• Caulk gun
• Paint roller
• Paint tray
• Palm sander
• Pencil
• Tape measure
• Caulk
• Masking tape
• Paint
• Sandpaper
• Dust mask
• Gloves
• Safety goggles
• Filling knife
• Cloth

If you’re painting your entire room, you’ll want to tackle all the different components in a certain order:

1. Ceilings: Painting your ceilings can result in paint being splattered around the walls, so you’ll want to tackle these first. This means you can paint over any splatters when you move onto the walls later. Just make sure you lay down dust sheets, so nothing drips onto your floors.

2. Walls: Once your ceilings have dried, you can move onto the walls. You’ll want to paint these before skirting boards and other woodwork as, again, paint can splatter on these surrounding fittings. Any small flecks can be painted over later, but it’s a good idea to wipe away large blobs that end up where they shouldn’t.

3. Skirting boards and door frames: Once your walls are dry, you can start on the skirting boards and frames. You’ll want to stick low-tack masking tape onto the areas that touch the skirting to help you achieve a sharp border and avoid getting onto areas you’ve already completed.

Painting your ceiling is the first step when it comes to painting your room, and we’ve got a few tips to make sure it’s done right.

• Protect your floors and furniture: When you’re painting your ceiling, gravity is something to consider. If any paint flies off your roller, it will likely end up on the floor or on your furniture. This is why it’s really important to cover your floors and furniture, so you don’t end up with a big cleanup job at the end.
• Tape around light fixtures and other fittings: Taping around your light fixtures will make it easier to get clean border lines.
• Paint in grids: If you’re painting your ceiling the same colour that it already is (e.g. using white paint to touch up a white ceiling), you’ll want to paint in grids. This makes it easier to keep track of what you’ve already painted. You can even get white paints that go on pink and dry white for this same reason.
• Overlap wet edges: Overlapping wet paint strokes will help to avoid roller marks and missed spots so you get a seamless finish.

Once your ceiling is dry, you can move onto the walls. Here are some top wall painting tips:

• Fill in holes and cracks: Make sure your wall is perfect for painting before you start by filling in any holes or cracks and sanding down any imperfections.
• Clean your walls: Use sugar soap and a sponge to remove any debris or grease that might stop the paint from adhering properly.
• Tape over fittings and borders: Apply masking tape to skirting boards and door frames to make sure you create crisp borders and don’t get paint on parts you want to leave unpainted.
• Start with the edges: Start painting the edges of your wall before you tackle the centre. Use a cutting-in brush to get neat edges.
• Paint the rest of the wall: Use a roller to get a smooth finish across your wall. Paint in a W-shaped motion to get smooth lines and ensure no spot is missed.

The final part of your room will be painting the skirting.

• Clean the skirting: Use a damp cloth to clean any dirt or debris from the skirting. This will make sure the paint is even and adheres well to the surface.
• Protect floors and walls: As with the previous steps, you’ll want to protect your floors with a dust sheet and tape off any areas you don’t want paint to get to. 
  • Skirting with carpet: If you’re painting skirting in a carpeted room, you’ll want to make sure no paint gets onto the carpet pile next to the skirting. You can do this by taping the carpet right up to the wall and using a filling knife or old credit card to tuck it underneath the bottom of the skirting.
• Paint the skirting: Use a cutting-in brush to get into all the crevices of your skirting. You can use a roller if your skirting has a large enough flat surface area.

The best paint brushes depend entirely on the job you're doing. Synthetic bristle brushes are great for applying water-based emulsion to your walls. Natural bristle brushes work much better for oil-based paints and varnishes on woodwork. You'll want a medium-sized brush for cutting in around your edges and a smaller angled brush for tricky corners.

The most efficient way to start is to clear the room as much as possible. Cover any remaining furniture and your floors with dust sheets to protect them. Prep your walls by cleaning, sanding, and filling any holes with caulk. Always paint from the top down. Start with your ceiling, then move to your walls, and finish with your woodwork.

Your basic painting toolkit should always include a paint roller, a paint tray, and a selection of paint brushes. For your wall preparation, you'll need sandpaper, a palm sander, masking tape, and some caulk. Remember your safety equipment too. Always use a dust mask, gloves, and safety goggles to keep yourself protected while you prep and paint.