This painting and decorating advice and ideas blog shares our Leeds painters decorators experience and offers useful tips for homeowners, landlords and those who:
Want great results and neatest finish when redecorating their rooms and homes
Are unsure of how to get started or are struggling to decide on a colour scheme to refresh their rooms
Are unsure of all the steps involved in painting and decorating, and whether to go the DIY route vs employ the services of professional Leeds painters and decorators
Want a step by step decorating guide and checklist to ensure their decorating work is carried out safely and properly
Important: if you are considering painting and decorating yourself then please read all this blog right through, including the health and safety section near the end.
Painting and decorating – all in an afternoon’s work?
OK it’s Sunday: “I’ll have a lie in, pop down to the DIY store, pick up a tin of emulsion and I’ll be done by teatime” (said no professional painter and decorator in Leeds ever). If only it were that straightforward…
"See I said I'd have this done by teatime... I just failed to mention by which day!"
Importance of planning your painting and decorating in Leeds project
Yes, I know the temptation to load the roller and start seeing your beautiful new colour on your walls. However the [some may feel more boring] critical planning and preparation stages will ensure your painting and decorating project runs smoothly to get you the best results and beautifully transformed freshly painted rooms.
If you aim for approximately a third of the time for planning, a third for prepping, and the remainder for the actual painting and decorating then you shouldn’t be far off.
Painting and decorating project checklist:
Ok, so courtesy of Love Your Home Leeds home improvements specialists - the following is a cut out and keep (or for the more eco-minded please bookmark) guide to your painting and decorating projects. So please put your rollers down and read this first:
(Some or all may be relevant, and some are questions, interspaced with painting and decorating suggestions, ideas, advice or tips).
Painting and decorating planning
Remember the P’s: Proper planning prevents poor performance.
(You could also add patience and practice for perfect painting to the above – if you want more P’s).
Painting and decorating inspiration
Are you happy with your existing colour scheme (and want to simply refresh)?
Or are you looking to change the mood, inject your personality and create a new look and feel for your rooms
Top tip: get colour ideas and inspiration from: google images, a colour chart, or a restaurant or hotel room that you like, a friends house, a property programme, decorating or interior design books or magazines…
(A professional painter decorator in Leeds 'should' - Love Your Home Leeds 'would' - be able to help guide you through your best colour options).
Agree the scope of the painting and decorating work
What is the reason you are decorating? Have you just moved in? To enjoy your home more? Or to stage your property to help sell?
Do you want to decorate part of a room, a single room, rooms, or the entire house?
Do you need to: paint the ceilings?
Paint the walls?
Gloss the woodwork (doors, door frames, window sills, window frames, skirting boards, any picture rails)?
Paint the radiators?
Choice of paints and finish
Will you use emulsion for the walls and ceilings
Will you choose silk (more of a sheen) or matt (a flatter less reflective finish)
Top tip: matt is often viewed as the more modern choice. Matt paint is more forgiving and helps hide any imperfections on your walls or ceilings.
Will your woodwork be glossed, or stained or varnished
Will you choose a high gloss, satinwood (semi-gloss), or eggshell (flat) finish
Will you require any undercoats or will you opt for self-undercoating paints
Do you want your paints to be extra tough or durable (for high traffic areas) or for use in kitchens or bathrooms and or wipeable
Painting and decorating budget
What is your decorating budget?
Will you choose budget paints or higher end branded paints
Will you be hanging any wallpaper?
Will any walls be wallpapered?
Will there be a feature wall
Will there be any feature alcoves
Will you be adding or restoring any architectural or period detail?
Such as cornice or coving, any picture rail, architrave around doors or windows, a new fireplace or feature fireplace surround, a ceiling rose etc. as part of your Leeds redecorating project?
Will you be adding any new electrical sockets, switches, light fittings?
Important: now is the time to decide this ‘before’ painting and decorating
Trust me: no one wants to have electricians channelling through their walls to rerun cables spoiling their new designer wallpaper!
What about flooring?
Are floors staying? (well, erm, yes we need something to support us and walk on!)
OK what I meant is: are you keeping or updating floor coverings such as:
Carpets, or floor tiles, or solid wood (or wood effect) floorboards
(Or if you’re lucky enough that they’re in good condition) to expose the original floorboards and sand, paint, wood stain or varnish
Any new furniture or furnishings as part of your Leeds painting and decorating project?
Any shelves or storage?
Check your overall painting and decorating colour scheme and interior décor design
Make sure you’re happy with the new look of your room before buying paints and materials
One way is to create a moodboard using the colours (or closest match) that you intend to use
Moodboards can be created by printing or cutting out and creating a collage (think glue pens or sticky-backed plastic and Blue Peter)
Or moodboards can be created on your pc or tablet using free design software
Check your colours
Colour charts and colours on the front of paint cans are one thing. The way paints dry and look on your walls with your levels of lighting is another
So please do invest in tester pots to ensure you’re happy with the finished colour
Painting and decorating preparation
Calculating your paints and decorating materials
Don’t be tempted to rush round your local DIY store like you’re on some competition trolley dash… instead invest some time [yes, some may feel more boring planning] before we can start the exciting stuff:
Work out the areas of your walls, ceilings, or floors to be painted or wallpapered
Width multiplied by the height will give you the area (e.g. wall length 5m, wall height 2.5m, then area is 12.5m2). Repeat for the other walls then add the areas together
Most paints, glosses, varnishes will give you the coverage (either on the tin or by researching online), usually the area that each litre will cover
Remember to double the area of your walls, ceilings, or floors if you are going to apply (the usually recommended) two coats of paint
Top tip: if a paint claims that it covers, for example, 10m2 per litre (which is usually some ideal theoretical coverage on a perfect surface), then for safety half this, when you’re calculating the amount of paint that you need as the paint rarely covers what it says on the tin. The last thing you want to do is run out of materials part way through the job.
Remember to allow for pattern matching when calculating wallpaper, as there may be extra wastage of paper to remove before the pattern matches on the adjoining length
Buying your paints and decorating materials
You may have some leftover paint (from a previous project) you want to use
Top tip: check the paint is still in good condition and that you have enough and that you can get the same paint should you need more
You can buy your paints online, and collect or have delivered
Or you may choose to pick up your paints and materials yourself from a DIY store
Top tip: it’s always safer to buy more paint and materials than you need and keep the receipts in case you need to return any after your project
Tools and equipment you may need for your Leeds painting and decorating project
Paint brushes
Top tip: a pack of small, medium and large sizes will give you most flexibility for your decorating.
A cutting in paint brush (will often be smaller or angled) to get the neatest edge and neatest finish
Paint rollers, roller trays
(Disposable) paint tray inserts (if you’d prefer to not to have to wash out paint trays)
An extension pole for painting those high walls and ceilings
A screwdriver (to open the paint tins)
A stick to stir the paint
Dust sheets to protect furniture and floors
Masking tape (to help tape down dust sheets and protect surfaces and or for neat lines e.g. painting a skirting board next to a tiled or wooden floor)
Top tip: it’s safer to be over cautious in covering and protecting things, than spend hours at the end of the job painstakingly scraping and scrubbing paint splashes from surfaces.
A clean damp cloth to hand (to immediately wipe up any stray paint)
Sturdy step ladders (non-conducting are always safer)
For removing any old wallpaper, you’ll need:
A decorators stripping knife (spatula type looking object)
A bucket, sponge, warm water, and a dash of fabric softener
Or a professional wallpaper steamer
For wallpapering, you'll need:
In addition to above:
Tape measure
Spirit level (for marking vertical lines)
Pencil(s)
Bucket
Wallpaper paste
Paste brush
Paste table
A clean wallpaper brush (to smooth the wallpaper onto the wall and remove air bubbles)
Sharp scissors
Sharp craft knife (with spare or snap off/disposable blades) for a really neat edge
Top tip: read the wallpaper hanging instructions in readiness, as some are paste the paper and some are paste the wall wallpapers...
“So can we start decorating NOW???” (In the same voice as a small child from the back seat of a car asking ‘are we there yet?’)
Short answer: no
As there’s still more painting and decorating prep to be done:
Clear the room to be painted and decorated as much as possible
The clearer and emptier the room, the safer the working environment, the quicker the work (i.e. the less fiddly bits to paint around), and the less risk of any damage (read: paint spills)
Remove any wall art or pictures
Remove any curtains, blinds, nets etc.
Remove all ornaments off surfaces to be painted
If you have wall shelves, then if (easy enough) and possible, remove these as it will simplify painting the walls
Try get furniture into other rooms
As an absolute minimum remove any valuables or objects easy to be knocked over
If furniture is too big or heavy to move into other rooms, try move into the centre of the room
And as above cover and protect with dust sheets
Paintbrushes and rollers at the ready: 1, 2, 3, GO
Well, actually it’s 1, 2, 3, NO.
There’s still more important prep to be done and this can make or break the look and (hopefully) professional finish of the painting and decorating project.
Small holes and cracks must be free of dust and any loose material
A ready-mixed filler can be used to fill and smooth any imperfections (and best to leave this slightly proud)
(For this blog we’re assuming your walls are sound. If the plaster is blown or falling off – usually 'conveniently' reveals itself 'after' you have removed any wallpaper – then the whole area, wall, room or in a worse case whole house may need to be replastered or overboarded and skimmed. This could delay the decorating project for week(s), depending on the availability of a professional plasterer, plus (yet more) preparation, plus drying time, plus skips, and significantly increase your decorating budget)
Wood filler can be used to help repair woodwork
So yes, please add decorators filling knife (metal or plastic spatula) to the above materials list
Also add fine grit sandpaper (and sanding block) to rub the area down smooth once hardened
All previously painted surfaces walls, ceilings, woodwork should be lightly sanded to form a key (for the new coat of paint to adhere to)
(As there may be small bumps, imperfections, drips etc. from previous decorating work)
Sugar soap (not actually sugar, more an acid) so please do wear rubber gloves, diluted down to (wring then) sponge wash the ceilings, walls, woodwork etc.
Top tip: the cleaner the room the better the paint finish. Get into every nook and cranny and pay particular attention to walls and ceilings in and around kitchens which may have a build up of grease. Dust, hoover, sugar soap away any dust and cobwebs that may only be visible once furniture has been moved, (as you don't want these being caught by your paint brush or roller once you're in the middle of painting). Behind radiators, and the tops of any picture rails etc. is also an area for hidden dust which must also be all cleaned before opening the tins of paint...
Then use a cloth (again wring first) and clean water to wipe away the sugar soap off all surfaces
Decorators caulk, applied with a caulk gun, can be run along any long gaps or cracks where skirting board meets wall, coving meets ceiling, wall meets door frame etc.
Leave to all dry…
Top tip: subject to walls being sound, if the above filling, sanding still leaves walls that you’re not entirely happy with (but you don’t want the expense of re-skimming the walls), then a heavy gauge (thick) lining paper can be applied to help disguise any imperfections.
What if there is a stain such as wax crayons or a water mark from a burst pipe?
Top tip: important do not just paint over a stain or mark as (even after multiple coats) it will still probably show through.
As well as all the above prep it’s important to firstly ensure that the source of the stain or mark is addressed
So if there is a leak, for example from a burst pipe, ensure a plumber has stopped this, and time (think days) has been left for everything to completely dry out
(And if there are children with crayons in their hands… hmm, a plumber is not going to be able to fix this…)
Finally use a stain blocker such as Zinsser BIN primer sealer
Water damaged ceiling before - and after pic having used a stain blocker
What if there is and how do you paint new plaster?
Firstly ensure any new plaster is completely dry. (It should turn a pinky colour)
If you paint straight onto new plaster there is a risk of the newly applied paint bubbling
So instead, apply a mist coat (emulsion diluted with half water – and best to mix this in a separate container) first with a brush or roller
Take care as this is a particularly 'splashy' painting task (think doubling up of dust sheets)
Can we start painting NOW?
Yes... but only after understanding:
Health and safety considerations when painting and decorating
This applies to the above preparation work also
Always wear appropriate safety clothes when painting and decorating
Wear: old clothes (you don’t mind getting paint splattered)
Long sleeves preferable/where possible to cover your skin
Remove any jewellery, and wear an old hat or cap (if you don't want your expensive hair do having extra highlights of paint in)
Safety work boots
Work gloves (and or rubber gloves)
Dust mask (when sanding or for fumes)
Safety goggles or over specs
Ear protectors if doing noisy work
Knee pads (or a knee pad to kneel on)
Take extra care on ladders or when working at height
Never overreach
Take care when lifting (especially trying to move heavy furniture)
Take regular breaks (to relax, stretch or get some fresh air)
Keep workspace clear and free from trip hazards
Ensure workspace is ventilated
Display safety signs and warn family, residents and visitors that work is in progress and there may be trip and other hazards
Read ALL instructions (on paints, materials, tools, equipment)
Switch off electricity before decorating around plug sockets, switches and electrical fittings
As above, be VERY careful when using water and liquids around anything electrical – whether you are stripping wallpaper with a damp sponge, sugar soaping walls, applying paints or wallpaper paste – always switch off electricity at the consumer unit first
Read more detailed DIY books, watch online videos, read health and safety advice – plenty of online resources – some provided by the Government, that can go into far more detail than a single blog. So please do your own research…
Love Your Home Leeds or other professional Leeds painters and decorators are more than happy to help with your decorating projects. The information contained within this blog is supplied in good faith, to hopefully give you extra tips and considerations and help get you the best results. You can even use the above checklist to ensure your work is being carried out thoroughly and safely. We do not know your set up or skill level – so are not advocating that anyone decorates themselves.
I’ve put your tea in the microwave…
So never mind getting this done on a Sunday afternoon, to do this properly and professionally, with all the planning and prep we’re now probably into day three…
The actual painting and decorating
Start with painting/emulsioning the ceilings
Then painting the walls
Then painting/(glossing, staining or varnishing) the woodwork
And, if necessary, painting/glossing any radiators
(i.e. you do not want ceiling splashes on your beautifully decorated walls and gloss work!)
Floors (if to be wood stained or varnished) could be painted last
Top tip: Wallpapering – a finishing touch – could imho also be done at the very end i.e. it’s easier to wipe wallpaper paste of a varnished floor, than to get any floor varnish splashes off any expensive designer wallpaper!
Carefully and neatly emulsion around the (wall edges) first and any plug sockets, light switches etc. with a small paint brush
Top tip: have your roller and paint tray ready... (You want to minimise the time between painting the edges and filling in with the roller, so that the edges are still fairly wet when you roller up to and overlap them, for a better more even finished look to your paintwork).
Then load your roller with paint, and fill in the large areas with a paint roller
(Some recommend rollering in an ‘M’ or ‘W’ shape and or you can go horizontal, and finishing with vertical strokes)
(Painting in different paint roller directions will increase the chance that all the surface is covered – and we’re aiming for an even coverage)
A small/mini emulsion roller can be used for smaller areas
A radiator roller (longer handled version of above) can be used for painting behind radiators
Let each wall fully dry before cutting in with a different paint or colour
Between coats, brushes can be wrapped in tin foil, paint rollers in plastic bags and paint trays wrapped in a large black bin bag to help prevent the paint from drying
Let each wall or surface fully dry before applying a second or top coat (as per manufacturer’s instructions)
Carefully inspect your new paintwork as you go along and catch and smooth out any paint runs or drips
Any paint that has accidentally overlapped onto glass (such as windows or glazed/paneled doors) can be carefully scraped off when fully dry with a decorating scraper blade
Clean up at the end your paint brushes and rollers as per paint manufacturer’s instructions
Ensure you dispose of any waste in an environmentally friendly way and take to your local council recycling site
Stand back and admire your new room...
(And once dry and furniture is back in place, you can sit back and admire your new room...)
Clearly more than an afternoons work in totally transforming this dining room...
Should you DIY or employ professional reliable and recommended Leeds painters and decorators?
A professional painter and decorator in Leeds should - Love Your Home Leeds would - consider the hundreds of above decisions, steps and processes to ensure your decorating project is carried out safely and with great skill
You will save more time by employing a professional painter and decorator
Admittedly, short term, someone could save money by doing the decorating themselves
However (and this is why I said ‘short term’) if the decorating finish is not neat and professional looking then there is a risk that if you ever try and sell your house it could put off prospective buyers
Whereas a beautifully decorated and interior designed home could attract more interest
Plus your newly painted and decorated - lifted and transformed rooms - should provide enjoyment to you, your family and guests while you choose to live there…
Love Your Home Leeds are based in Moortown LS17 and mostly help homeowners and landlords in and around North Leeds area. For any Leeds painting decorating advice and home improvements advice, ideas or tips to help transform your rooms and home please get in touch.
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