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In some home improvement project, time is of the essence. Occasionally even the most self-satisfied DIYer has to sacrifice the pleasure of the process to get the results fast. Fast painting can be one such challenge. Perhaps an unexpected situation arises in which a potentially long term house guest is suddenly sprung upon you; that guest room is in need of a rapid fire spruce up. Or maybe, you’ve made an executive decision to sell the house, but that one room just drags the value down. And the first showing is this weekend. OMG! So, the question arises: how to paint a room fast? Well, here are some room painting ideas, paint tips and tricks that will let you paint fast as need be.
7 Quick Room Painting Ideas
1. Protection: If we’re going fast here, we’ll be even more concerned about splashes and splatters than usual. Be sure to cover up the floor and the furniture. For the floor, here’s a thought, falling down and injuring yourself is hardly going to speed things up; try choosing a fabric drop cloth for the floor instead of plastic. I know plastic seems classic, but the truth is that it becomes slick with paint under your feet or, more dangerous still, under the ladder.
2. Cleaning: Sometimes the point of the fast painting is to cover up a dirty wall. However, remember that the adherence of your paint will be inhibited by a dirty surface. Those fingerprints, soot, dust, cobwebs can defeat your efforts to cover them up. Be sure to use a Swiffer-type mop to dry-dust the walls before the painting begins. Wipe down any extra-grimy parts with a wet sponge or cloth. Be sure that you get those higher areas, too, using the ladder.
3. Keep it Trim: Unscrew and remove the electrical outlet and light-switch covers. Also, if there are any areas you don’t want painted, for example moldings, baseboards, or window frames, create a border between them and the surface to be painted by running colored masking tape. Put it along the not to be painted surface so that its edge ends right at the start of the surface you will paint.
4. Skip a step: Now, here’s a great and valuable idea for fast painting. Usually, when you’re painting over a dark wall with a light color (or covering stains) you’d have to use a coat of primer and a couple coats of the paint. Plus, you’d need at least six hours of drying time. A new product on the market, though, changes the whole game. Benjamin Moore Aura is a self-priming paint that allows you to skip the usual priming stage and save a bunch of time and effort. Likely other paint brands will be coming out with similar products. Get those free market forces working and demand the same from other paint companies and retailers! This is not only a huge benefit for painting fast; think how much time and effort it could save painting the whole house.
5. And there is actual painting involved: After all the preparation, let’s not forget to paint. Use an angled brush or a sponge tool to paint a two-inch swath around the edges of woodwork and the ceiling. The importance and way to tape these areas off was mentioned in step 3. Once that is done, you can fill in the enclosed spaces with a roller. Use 1b/4-inch nap for smooth surfaces, 3/8-inch nap for semi-smooth, or 5/8-inch nap for rough ones. If you don’t get your tool right you’ll apply too much or too little paint. Stroke the brush in overlapping W- or M-shapes; this gives the best distribution. Another quick trick, to speed your cleanup, use a quick-release frame-handle roller. Other smart investments to get the project done fast and easy include an extension pole, the less time on the ladder the better; a paint-can opener; and a pour spout to lessen mess. Remember to let the first coat of paint to dry a few hours. You’re ready then for the second coat. (Between coats, cover the tray and brush with plastic wrap touching the paint surface, and refrigerate.)
6. Tying a bow on it: Once the second coat is done, you’re ready to wrap up and tie a bow on it. Rinse your paintbrush and roller (heck, if you’re in that much of a rush, just toss them). Decant the tray’s leftover paint back into the can; seal it up nice and tight. A good trick is to place a paper towel over the lid and tapping the lid edges with a hammer. Rinse the tray. When the bristles of the brush are thoroughly dried, return it to its paper wrapper. This will prevent the bristles from fanning out, leaving it ineffective the next time you have a paint job.
7. Whip up as you go: A great way to reduce the amount of post-painting cleanup work is to have a moist rag handy while you’re painting to wipe up any splatters while they’re still fresh. They’ll be much harder to clean latter if you let them start to dry out. Scrape off dried drips with a credit card. Remove masking tape before you call it a night, pulling it off at an angle, to avoid tearing the finish.
These room painting ideas are great paint tips and tricks that allow you to paint fast and easy. So, next time you need to know how to paint a room fast, just review these 7 quick ideas.
