Painting a room by yourself is easy and something to be proud of. Don’t pay someone hundreds of dollars to paint your home. You can do it and I will tell you how to do it better than those people you see on Trading Spaces.

First pick a paint color. Finding the right color is the hardest part. Find a color that will coordinate with fabrics in your room, or you could just paint it white again, but that is boring. There are basically three types of interior paint: flat, satin and semi-gloss. Semi-gloss is for kitchens and bathrooms where you might encounter moisture. It is easy to clean and holds up well to steamy bathrooms. For other rooms of you house flat paint is fine, but I prefer satin for a fine finish and it is cleanable. For a 12’ by 12’ room one gallon should be enough unless you are using a different color. Darker colors will require two or maybe three gallons if larger than 12’ by 12’.

Next go to home improvement store to buy paint and supplies. You will need these items:
Paint
Roller
Roller Nap ½” or ¾” (fits the roller)
Roller pan
Extension bar (basically a wood broom handle that screws into the roller handle)
2-1/2” angled paint brush (buy a good quality, I like Purdy)
Drop cloth (or use an old sheet)
Spackling
1/2” wide painter’s tape

Once you have everything ready, move your furniture to the center of the room. Remove anything hanging from the walls. Using a screwdriver, remove the light switch and outlet covers. Now fill in any nail holes with the spackling. Leave a smooth finish or you will have to sand any uneven areas down. This is very easy to sand and can be done with an emery board. Use a broom to remove any cobwebs in the hard to reach places.

Next comes one of the slowest parts without seeing any results. Using the painter’s tape, cover your baseboards, crown molding, door and window trim up to the edge of the wall. Taking your time to do this right will really pay off. How well your paint line looks against the trim will depend on how well you tape it off, try to make straight lines. If you are painting your walls a contrasting color to the trim the edge will be very noticeable. If your trim is white and you are painting the walls white you can just skip this process, you be careful when cutting in.

Now you are ready to start painting. Place your drop cloth along the wall, extending out a few feet. Shake your paint can a little more then pour it into the pan. With your fresh nap securely on the roller and the roller screwed into your extension bar roll some paint up your pan and get the nap thoroughly soaked with paint. Step over to the wall and begin about the middle of the wall high. Roll straight up, use caution not to touch the ceiling, and back down at a slight angle, then straight up again. Your two straight up rolls should slightly overlap. You might get three or four rollers wide before you run out of paint and need to go back to the paint can. You can roll over this same area several times and notice how the paint is laying on the wall and how it thins out the more you roll it without getting more paint. Once you have finished the painted area should be about 3 or 4 feet wide and half the height of the wall. Get some more paint and start another square, coming back and overlapping into the first one.

I usually roll the top half of a wall then come back to do the bottom half, making sure to overlap painted areas. This keeps me making the same movement over and over, perfecting it. You may have to refill your paint pan several times before you are finished with the walls. Whenever you pour paint ALWAYS BE SURE TO CLEAN OUT THE RIM OF THE PAINT CAN WITH A BRUSH. By keeping the rim of the can clean you can reseal the can and save the paint for several months, maybe years. It is a good idea to let the paint dry for several hours before applying a second coat, if needed.

Now you are ready to cut in the areas around the trim with the paintbrush. You can use the paint can or another container that you feel more comfortable with. NEVER FULLY WET THE BRISTLES OF THE BRUSH. Dip the brush in no more than one inch, then wipe one side against the can to remove excess paint. Keep the dry side to the area not being painted or covered by the painter’s tape. You will need a step ladder to reach the area around the ceiling.

If you ever need to stop for a short time wrap the brush and roller in a moist paper towel to keep them from drying out. Since you are using latex paint the brush, roller and pan can be rinsed out with regular tap water and used over and over. Return the brush to the paper holder it came with after cleaning and it should last you for years. Good luck.