Painting Tips :: Interior Walls & Ceilings

If you are ready to start painting, read on. For information about all-important surface prep, click here.
Interior Surface Prep Tips

Painting
When painting a room, begin with the ceiling. First paint the edges of the ceiling with a brush, trim roller, or pad painter to make a "frame" about 5-inches wide. This is called "cutting-in." Now you can paint the rest of the ceiling with a roller, beginning in one corner and working across the width or narrowest part, then back.

Extension poles (or "extension handles") can make roller painting faster and easier for hard-to-reach areas like ceilings. They range from 1-foot to 16-feet in length. Some, like the Sherlock® GT Convertible fibreglass pole, telescope or adjust for a multitude of painting situations. With an extension pole, you can probably stand on the floor instead of a ladder when painting ceilings.

To paint the walls, follow the same procedure. Paint the edges, then start in an upper corner of the wall and fill in the area. Finish one wall completely before you start the next. Don’t stop painting in the middle of the wall, or you could end up with lap marks.

Try an extension pole for walls.
You may find that you like to use an extension pole for painting walls as well as ceilings. Many pros use a short pole to paint walls with long, sweeping strokes—saves time and energy because you can use two hands to hold the pole.

Cleanup Tips
Remove tape from woodwork with a slow, steady pull. A damp rag wrapped over a scraper can be used to remove any latex paint drips that sneaked under the tape onto the woodwork.

To preserve the high quality of your Wooster paint applicators, clean them immediately after use. For detailed instructions, see the Cleanup page.

Make sure the paint has dried completely before refurnishing the room. Congratulations on your successful painting project!