How to paint a room for beginners in the UK. Painting ceiling and walls explained!

This is your how to guide for all the decorating newbies out there, looking to freshen up their space. Our "how to paint a room for beginners" will concentrate on ceiling and walls in this article. Also see our article for skirting boards and doors which we will link to this one.

We're going to keep things simple and not go too in-depth. Just set you up ready with what to buy and how to prepare and paint your first room.

What to buy before decorating a room for beginners?

Here is a list of items we recommend. All the items are mid range mid budget which will help you paint many rooms to come. A good trade off between budget and quality.

• Purdy Revolution 9 inch Roller Frame

• Purdy Extension Pole

• Hamilton Perfection Medium Pile Roller Sleeve 9 inch

• Cheapest 9 inch roller tray

• Axus Brush Set (3 or 4 piece)

• Plastic Fold Up Stool (or step up platform)

• Basic Paint Pail

• One Strike Filler

• Sanding Blocks

  Total price approximately £75

Preparation for decorating a room

You have the tools. Now where to start?

This first step is where most DIY decorators go wrong. Is the preparation. "It's all in the prep" as they say! The day before you're looking to do the painting it's a good idea to have a walk around the room and add filler to all the little lumps / bumps and holes that need smoothing out before painting. Really take the time to go around the room and fill all of these little blemishes as this will have the biggest impact on the overall result. Pay particular attention to deep hole as the filler will take our to dry in these areas (which is why we suggest doing the filling the day before).

Also when filling any holes or dents, try to over fill slightly, leaving some filler to sand back, which ensures a smooth finish.

Process for decorating a room

It's the day you start decorating. First job cover up the floor with old sheets, then grab your sanding blocks and smooth off any bits of filler you applied yesterday. Also look for anything else which which benefit from a quick sand. Then you will be ready to move onto actual painting!

Now for the paint. Unless it's a box room you will need 2.5L of white paint for the ceiling. Something like Dulux Trade Vinyl Matt in Pure Brilliant White is ideal, although there are many specialist ceiling paints out there, if you prefer to go down the "pro finish" route.

For the walls you will need 5L of Matt Emulsion for a medium size bedroom. Again a Dulux Matt Emulsion is ideal for this. You can have this mixed to any colour, so even if you see another brands colour you like, you can get it mixed to this!

Now you have the paint, half fill your paint pail with the white ceiling paint, it's time for cutting in! This is the most feared job for most beginners, but not to worry yet!. For the ceiling dont worry when brushing in the corners next to the walls. We recommend you paint around 1-2cm down the walls so the corners of the walls are completely covered in paint. Paint around the edges and around any lights, then you're onto rollering.

When rollering the ceiling, make sure you use the roller pole. A mistake DIY'ers make is to not use a pole while rollering. A professional decorator will never use a roller without a pole!

Start roller from a corner and roller around 1.5m strips across the ceiling ensure you're overlapping your previous section. Once you have the entire ceiling covered in paint it can be a good idea to smooth out the paint doing long strong with the roller from one of the the room to the other to remove roller line.

Painting Walls

Once the ceiling has had 2 coats of paint, you're ready for the walls. Get your paint ready and then it's time for cutting in. The best advice we can give is on your first coat is to stay slightly below the corner of the room and move up to the edge on your second coat. Also use the stool to get your head near the ceiling and just take your time. Ensure the paint is smoothed out for each section before moving on. Once you've cut in the top ceiling edge of the wall, work around next to the skirting boards and the corners of the walls. Also add a thin layer of paint over any areas which have been filled to ensure the filler doesn't show through your finished paint work.

Now you've finished with the cutting in, it's time for rollering. Again make sure you have the pole attached to the roller and work in long stroke from the ceiling to the floor. Make sure you even out the painting while keeping long strokes top to bottom.

Painting the Last Coat on the Walls

For the second coat on the walls you basically repeat the what you did on the first step with one change. Cut in the ceiling and down to the skirting boards BUT, for just one wall at a time before rollering. This ensures the paint is still wet between cutting in and roller which will leave a smoother finish (pro tip). Then work around each wall repeating this until completed.

Conclusion

If you've completed these steps then you will be well on the way to getting a pro finish. Using the right tools and the right paint will make your life easier while getting a better finish. That's win, win in our books!

If you're having problems, take a look at our tips and tricks section. We'll have you covered if the unexpected arises! Happy Decorating!