Home Interior – Painting a Room

Posted on July 30th, 2010 by Jennifer Marcial-Ocasio

You are moving and already imagined how you want your new home to look like. There are easy and affordable ways to make a house look nice and with minor improvements, it can look like a totally different place. The first thing you need to do when you get to your new home is clean. Yes, this is the least exciting part of it all. But, you need to make sure that your new household is impeccably clean before you do anything else. Not only will this make the house look better, but your health will not be at risk once you get rid of all the dust and dirtiness around the house.

An easy and affordable way to make a room experience a quick change is by painting it. Color revives the walls from a dull, boring off-white, to a more vivid or even a serious dark tone. Whichever your color of choice is, keep in mind the size of the room. Remember that small rooms will benefit from light colors. It is going to be refreshing, gives an air of freedom and promotes space. Meanwhile, a dark-colored room will give a sense of closeness. There are may rooms that will look impeccable with a tone of dark color but this needs to be balanced with the decorations or even by doing just a dark-colored wall mix with a light-colored one to make a little bit of contrast. But now, the magic question; what is the proper way of painting a room? It is not rocket science but there are indeed a few tricks and tips that will make your painting experience a hassle-free one.

You don’t need to be a professional painter to make your room look good. Nevertheless, you need to be careful on the way you execute this task. You don’t want a wall that is very evident that paint was dripping and that might end up with patches. Color changes everything. A Poorly executed paint job is easy to spot. You need time and patience to make this work. Plan ahead. Don’t just run to the store, buy a gallon of paint and crack it open. Give yourself a day of preparation and pre-painting procedures.

What materials you’ll need:

1. Paint
2. Rollers
3. Paint
4. Brushes (small, medium, and large)
5. Large tarps (to cover carpets, flooring and any furniture around)

Time to Go Picasso

1. Remove all wall art, move the furniture and start covering all the outlets.
2. Start off by sanding the walls.
3. If there are any holes, make sure you cover them.
4. Cut in around the edges. Run a line of paint along the wall to start painting and covering the corners.
5. It is time to use the roller to fill in the wall left.

Many people think that the best way to paint a room is by going in a vertical manner, from left to right. This is far away from being the adequate way of painting a room. It will leave room for chaos. The paint will be accumulated in ne area and this is what causes it to drip. The best way to paint the wall and have it looking nice is by rolling a W or M shape on the wall. This might sound weird to you but trust us, by doing so you will be distributing the bulk of the paint evenly.

Once you do the W or M, you start overlapping vertical strokes to spread paint evenly between the lines. Continue painting the wall using this style until it you cover the entire wall. Don’t forget to extend to the boarder paint you did before. Cover a bit of the cut-in edges to help blend away any visible brush marks. Now, your room must be looking fabulous.

Company: AFM Safecoat® Naturals

Item(s) tested: Safecoat Pearl Zero VOC interior paint in white ($24.99 to $29.99. for 1 US quart).

Where can item(s) be purchased:

• Click here for US locations.
• Click here for Canadian locations.

The claim of the product: Safecoat Pearl Zero VOC is a premium quality, fast curing paint designed for interior surfaces where a soft sheen and superior film formation are needed.

How do you use it? Just like you would a normal paint. We tested white, but you can add pigment of your choosing to be mixed. Remember to ask for non-VOC tinting — some locations do not offer this so double check before having your color mixed.

What was great about the product:

1. The product is certified by the third party SCS (Scientific Certification Systems).
2. The product is LEED qualified.
   
3. A variety of finishes are offered with the same third party certification and qualification, including: flat, eggshell and semi-gloss. AFM also offers exterior paints and several varieties of primers that will cover all your household projects.
4. The product is biodegradable.
5. No lead in this paint.
6. The consistency is just like regular paint, as is the coverage.

What was NOT so great about the product:

1. The product states it is organic, but there is no third party organic certification and we could not find "organic" in the ingredient list. It was not clear if organic simply referred to the product's plant-derived ingredients or the farming practices used.
2. The ingredient list. We have put this under "not so great" due to one specific ingredient: "metallic driers." We could not determine what this consists of, though with SCS certification and LEED qualification we know that it cannot contain lead or mercury. Here is the full ingredient list: soybean oil resin, water, titanium dioxide, flaxseed oil, soy derivative, aluminum silicate, thistle oil, metallic driers, polysiloxance polymer.
3. The smell. There is an earthy scent to the paint, though it is less "chemical" than regular paints. Still, take note if you are sensitive to odors: this paint is far from odor free.

Grade from Green Living: B+