Close-up of a beige wall upper wall and cream paneling on the lower wall.

Preparing a Room for Painting with Ruth Mottershead

Creative Director of Little Greene sitting next to three black paint pots in front of a wall composed of multi-colored cubes.

'Prepping is an important part of the process; this will save you time in the long run and all the preparation will make a big difference to the quality of your finished project. If you can, try to prep the room the day before you plan to decorate, so you can easily apply two coats on your walls and have the room back to normal in one day.'

'Firstly, remove or roll up any rugs or curtains. Take any accessories or smaller pieces of furniture out of the room to make space, and for larger, heavier pieces of furniture, move those to the centre of the room and cover with a dust sheet or drop cloth. To protect the floor, put down dust sheets or paper around the area you are painting.'

'Next you will need to remove attached hardware like wall sockets, switch plates, and door and window furniture. Have a look around the room and make sure you remove all loose paint, plaster or wallpaper. If you are painting over wallpaper, check that all the seams are properly glued.'

Hallway looking into a dining room painted in beige shade Portland Stone - Dark with bright green dining room chairs.

'Check for any cracks, screw holes, seams and imperfections and use filler where needed. Where the wall has been repaired, sand them down so that when the area is painted you achieve a seamless finish.'

'Where there’s glazing in windows and doors, mask the edges and do the same for all pre-painted woodwork using low-tack tape.'

'If you are painting baseboards in a carpeted room, mask the carpet with an overlap of tape, and use a scraper edge to tuck it well down between the carpet edge and baseboard.'

'Now you’ve done all the finicky bits, sand all areas very lightly so they’re completely ready for painting, then remove all dust and debris from the walls using a damp cloth and vacuum the area.'

Far Wall: French Grey Pale
Right Wall: Portland Stone Dark
Woodwork: French Grey Pale

Discover our advice for choosing the right undercoat and primer for your project.