House painting checklist: Your guide to a fuss-free project

So, it is time for your house to be painted again. If this sentence makes you roll your eyes, it only means that you have had some bad experiences with this before. All that fuss, the misunderstandings, the money spent and the so-so results.

That’s what happens when you don’t have the carefully coined “attack plan”. Seriously, now, you just need a little bit of organisation, a cheat sheet here and a checklist there, and you’ll get this project rolling in no time.

Why would you even start? Here are some good reasons:

• You will have that like-new feeling while spending time in your home.
• You will drastically increase the value of your home
• You will create a healthier environment for you and your family

Each of these reasons is good enough on its own to get you started on your renovation project. All three of them are in combination – it’s time to get started.

This is where people usually ask – how? Where to start? Here are the answers:

Where to Start? Your Step-by-Step Guide

You start with a pen and some paper. In other words, you should start planning your project. It is easy to get lost in preparations if you don’t have a solid plan. You end up wasting time that could have been used for the actual painting. You can find a lot of printable checklists here that you can and should use to make your life easier.

Anyway, the entire project is done in three stages:

• Choosing the paint colour and the finish you want
• Picking the right man for the job
• Preparing your home for the painting

Let’s turn this into three steps that get into the specifics of each one:

Step 1 – Choosing Colours and Styles

Painting Home Exterior: The outside of your home is the first thing people see. How you paint your house is one of the main factors that contribute to its curb appeal. You can expect a well-painted exterior to add around 5% to the value of your home.

However, it is not curb appeal if it is not appealing. You need to make sure that your roof, house walls and windows are in colours that go well together. Use this cheat to make the right choice and combine your colours perfectly.

Paint Home Interior: Different rooms in your home require different colour schemes. For a while now, interior designers have used the psychology of colour to make such choices. This idea is based on the theory that different colours have different influences on us and dictate our mood to some degree.

Following that logic, you want a bedroom colour palette that will help you relax and a colour palette in your study that will stimulate your mind. Take a look at the following colour scheme and what it all means:

Keep in mind that all your rooms are a part of your entire home, and while you should choose the colour scheme based on the intended room use, try and create the flow from one room to another. For example, stepping from a blue kitchen to a red dining room several times a day can be a bit confusing.

Colour Finish: Simply painting your room is not enough. You need to pick the colour finish, as well. Your room paint can be completely flat or entirely glossy, with a wide range of options in-between.

The glossier your finish is, the more imperfections show on it. Every little irregularity on the surface of your wall will throw its little shadow and become visible. On the other hand, you can wipe glossy walls and remove dirt from them easily.

They are more resilient to the wear and tear, as well. The flat finish doesn’t allow for wiping with a dump cloth, nor does it work well against scratches and similar damage. With these in mind, take a look at the following chart and see the recommended finishes for different rooms:

Now, you have decided on your paint and on your finish. When choosing the colours, take a look at the house paint catalogues and note down the brand name and the colour code.

Moreover, ask for a chip of paint so you can include it in your house painting order. Print out these forms and fill them out. You can give them to your house painter and reduce the misunderstandings to a minimum.

You will notice that you need the wall dimensions for each of the rooms. Even when you have windows and doors on these windows, include them in the general estimate, but also include their surface as well. They can influence your house painter’s estimates.

Now, you have all you need on paper, and all the important decisions have been made. It is time to choose the right man for the job. You need a house painter who is reputable, gets the job done, and reasonably prices his work. That is our next step:

Step 2 – Choosing the House Painter

In order to be able to discuss your project with your painter, you first need to know all about the project yourself. You already have a nice sheet with all the colours and room sizes you need and that makes a great start.

However, a lot of painters will want to come over and see your home before they can give you the right estimate. The dimensions you give them and the colours and finishes will help them, but they need to see if there are some repairs needed beforehand or some other factors that influence their price.

So, you know that the painter will ask you about the dimensions of your walls and the numbers of your rooms, but what should you ask them? Here is a checklist of questions that you should definitely have with you when talking to your painter. It may help you decide on the right painter for you.

You will get a lot of answers from different painters. To make the best choice, it is advisable to get all these answers and quotes in one place. That is the most efficient way to get a clear picture of who is the best house painter for your project.

By now, you have done the following:

• Measured your home
• Chosen the paint and finishes
• Written all that, together with other specifics, in your printable cheat sheets
• Contacted several house painters with your specs and got quotes for your project
• Filled out the comparison chart with your painter’s answers
• Picked the right man for the job

Step 3 – Preparing Your Home for Painting

This is something that you should ask them in advance, and it should definitely be one of the questions on your list. However, if you want to do something to speed up the project, your help in preparing the home will be much appreciated by your painter. Moreover, there are some estimations that you can save up to 10% if you do the prep work on your own.

Here are some things you can do yourself. Discuss with your painter whether they decrease their price per project or even cut down their working hours if you are paying them hourly.

1. Do the Cleaning

You will come to some sort of arrangement with your house painter about who will wash the walls. However, what you could do is clean the parts that are not that easy to reach. These spots are usually behind the toilet and behind heavy furniture.

2. Remove the Clutter

If you want your house painter to focus on their job, clear their workspace for them. Especially if you are paying them hourly, don’t make them waste their time removing the little stuff you left behind. Remove all the spice racks, soap holders, loofahs and other similar items that will just be on their way.

3. Protect the Outlets and Switch Plates

In some cases, this is something that your house painter will do on their own. However, if they do not perform any of the prep work, you should do this yourself. One of the ways to protect these items is to cover them in nylon. The other way is to simply remove them until the painting is done and then reinstall them.

4. Move Your Furniture

Your house painting will be much faster if your painters don’t have to climb over the furniture and move it back and forth. Ideally, you can move them to a different room or your garage. If that is impossible for any reason, move it all to the centre of the room so that the workers can walk around them and easily reach all parts of the walls.

Moving furniture also means moving the paintings, wall decorations, clocks and all other items that you may have hanging on your walls. That is the surest way to have them protected and to be 100% sure that they will not be damaged in any way.

5. Take Care of Your Pets

It is completely understandable that your cat or your dog is used to moving around your house in any way they like. However, this can be very inconvenient when your house painter is working. Find a place for your pets to stay for a couple of days until the job is done. That will be far less stressful for both pets and your house painters.

6. Make a “Storage Area” for Your House Painters

While most of the house painters will come and go taking their tools with them, they would appreciate it very much if you could have some space ready for them to ‘set up shop’. That is the area in which they could leave some of their tools and buckets behind, have a break and/or move things out of their way.

7. Trim the Bushes

Bushes and shrubs will be on the way for the exterior painting jobs. Allow for at least 50 cm of free space between the bushes and the wall so that the painting can be done without problems.

Disclaimer: Our cost estimates are based on quotes for house painting services and are useful as a guide only.