Home Home 10 Common House Painting Mistakes Almost Everyone Makes – 2024 Guide

10 Common House Painting Mistakes Almost Everyone Makes – 2024 Guide

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If you’re planning on painting your house yourself there are a few things to consider beforehand. Mistakes are a part of life and they’re bound to happen, but, it just so happens that some happen more often than the others when it comes to painting. If you would like to minimize those mistakes and end up with a job well-done without any hiccups along the way, we’d suggest you stick around with us for a couple of minutes since we’re going to go over some of the most common mistakes made while painting. Without further ado, let’s get right to it.

1. A lousy preparation

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This is a common mistake in every field of work, not just painting. Sure, it understandable that you’d want to start as soon as possible and you’re eager to see the results of the makeover, but, some things need to be done beforehand. For instance, make sure your walls are clean. A dirty wall will not be as absorbent as the clean one and you might end up with some discolourations or spots on your wall or even some dirt trapped under the paint. Make sure you clean your walls properly and cover up anything that stays in the room with old sheets or plastic wrap. Don’t forget to check for holes or any damage to walls before you start painting so it can be fixed in advance.

2. Using bad tools

If you’re doing it yourself, chances are you don’t have a professional painting tool and you don’t really think it’s that important. However, using the right tools, quality tools is a very important factor during painting. No matter how good the paint is, if it isn’t applied properly it would live up to the expectations and you’ll end up unsatisfied.

3. Going off of the booklet

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While the shade or the colour is pretty much properly represented in the catalogue or the booklets, it’s necessary to try it out before painting. One thing to remember is colour is affected by the materials and the lighting. So, even if it does look good on paper it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’ll look the same on the wall. Wall simply has a different texture than the paper. Paint a small patch on your wall and see how it turns out. You’ll also be able to see how the colour looks like in different lighting – under the sunlight and under a light bulb.

4. Mismatching your furniture and your walls

Unless you’re just refreshing your old colour, it’s important to keep in mind what other colours are you working with. Keep in mind what shade are your curtains, your sofa, rug or anything in that room for that matter. It’s easier to match the colour of the walls to the palette you’re already got going than it is to replace the furniture because it doesn’t look right. We’ve all did it in one way or another at some point, but it’s important not to do it again.

5. Not protecting your floors

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If you hire a professional painting service like the guys from this website here, they’ll definitely remember to cover your floors with the tape so it doesn’t get dirty. On the other hand, most of the DIY painters often forget about that part and end up spending hours trying to scrub off the paint off of their floors. If you’ve ever done this, you know how gruesome this process is – paint is supposed to stick around, it’s hard to get it off. If your floors are tiles or wood, you may even do okay, but please, don’t risk it with the carpet. It’s never coming off.

6. Not protecting your paint

What we seem to forget is that the paint is just a chemical that is affected by the environment just like everything else. For instance, we tend to leave out the can of paint open for a really long time – which is bad. If the paint is left in the direct contact with the air for too long, it’ll start to dry up and it’s not supposed to unless it’s on your wall already. Another thing that happens, usually when the painting is done outdoors is – paint is left to sit out in the sun. Having paint sit in the high-temperature conditions and under direct sunlight will affect its density. Don’t ruin your precious paint, keep it closed and cool.

7. Not applying the primer

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It’s the same thing as it is with makeup, don’t skip the primer. It makes the wall more paint-friendly and absorbent. On top off all of that, it keeps the texture smoother so painting is easier. Applying the primer will speed up your job and provide you with richer colours.

8. Rushing

Whether it’s the eagerness to see the results or just impatience, we tend to apply both coats of paint right after one another. The first coat of paint will serve as a good foundation for the second one, but only if it’s properly dried. That means at least 24 hours. If you wait that long, you can expect a more vibrant colour and a better look overall.

9. Overpainting

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If you’re painting with a brush, you might be tempted into overdoing it. The paint looks different after it dries, so even though it might seem like a good idea while you’re painting, don’t brush the same spot way too many times, once it all dries out you’ll end up with a patchy wall and unless what’s what you were going for (and you probably didn’t) you’re not going to like it. Paint in even strokes all throughout for a more even look.

10. Working in badly lit conditions

As we’ve mentioned, colours look different under different lighting conditions. This means you should approach painting unless your room or a wall is properly lit. This especially means don’t do it in dim conditions. You’ll manage in very bright conditions, even though that’s also not recommended, but, if you’re working in a badly lit environment, you’ll miss the important details and end up with a patchy, uneven painting job.

Follow these steps, or more precisely, avoid these rookie mistakes and you’re definitely going to be satisfied with the end results. Who knows? You might even end up loving painting so much you make it an annual thing.