Planning and preparing for your paint

With the change of season comes a change of colors invariably. For many, this means putting away the brown, black and grey hoodies and sweaters and breaking out the bright blue, lipstick red and garden green t-shirts and polo shirts, but it’s also a popular time to change the vibe of your home with some new color.

 Summer is a hugely popular time to paint, both interiors and exteriors, and give the home a lighter tone and whether you’re doing it by yourself, with friends or family, or hiring a painter to do it for you, being prepared for the job at hand is the most important facet of the painting process. An unprepared paint job can result in a botched job, with paint bubbles and bad trim work, or even a lessening of your home’s value, if paint dries on the floor or splatters and dries elsewhere.

 So, how do we ensure a nice looking paint job without any aesthetic casualties?  First, you want to get every piece of furniture out of the way of your mighty brush. You can put it all in adjacent rooms or, to save time, just put it all in the middle of the room and cover it with a large piece of plastic sheeting, a tarp or a drop cloth. Be sure to cover as much of the flooring near the area you’re painting with a drop cloth, newspaper or the ilk as well, and cover any smoke detectors with tape or a plastic bag as well.

 This is the part that might sting: turn off your air conditioner and any fans. It might sound like crazy speak but you’ll want the air conditioner or fans off when you do the next steps. Sand down any spots that are incongruous, whether because the area is flaking or chipping, and use putty and a putty knife to fill any screw holes or other uneven spaces. (In rare situations, you might need to use caulking to fix cracks and epoxy filler for extremely damaged woodwork.) Wait for the putty and other materials to dry, then wash and rinse the areas you will be painting and allow them to dry.

Use colored tape to cover light switches, outlets, moldings, doorknobs and any moldings or frames around doors and windows. Also, take out any vent cover you might hve in your air conditioner. If you’re painting your ceiling, remove or cover any light fixtures you may have with tape or sheeting; this all depends largely on what kind of lighting fixtures you own.  Some people will tell you to shut off the electricity to that part of the house. It’s a nice precaution and makes things just a bit easier but is far from necessary at the end of the day, especially if you’ve covered all fixtures, switches and outlets in the room.

 After all the tape, plastic and sheets are down, you should be ready to get painting. Of course, lighter colors are more appropriate for summer, to match the bountiful colors of vegetation in bloom, flowers and gardens. The more important task, however, is finding a color that suits and matches you, which fucsia and sea foam might not necessarily do for everyone.