right chaps, i've got a bit of time off and have been charged with painting a few rooms in the flat. being a bit handy with the DIY, this should not be too problematic, but i have not done interior painting before.

so, what do i need, what do i do in what order and how much paint do i need?

cheers! 😀

Some paint (more than you think), some sort of brushy thing.
Probably some other stuff too 🙂

Depends on size of the room usually.

Masking tape, newspaper, paint roller, stick to stir paint, paint, old clothes, edging brush. I think that's all I needed last time I painted a room. But that's if the walls are already painted, might be different if they have wallpaper on.

dust sheet. Paint tin will tell you re coverage. Better to buy good paint so you're not painting loads of coats.

Fill in any holes with filler. Sand, repeat as necessary.
Rub down everything with sugar soap and then rinse with clean water.
Paint ceiling, then woodwork, then walls.
Easy.

cheers chaps – they're already painted and pretty much holes-free so shouldn't be any need for any filling, just painting! nice one on the order of painting, makes sense.

If you've got two colours meeting at a corner, don't bother trying to mask one and paitn up to it. It never works. Just get a small brush and do it by eye.

+1 to buying good paint.

And professional decorator will tell you that it's the area where most people go wrong…so Dulux, Berger etc, not cheap homebase, B&Q stuff etc…or big "value" tubs 🙂

Go to your nearest Dulux Decorator Centre. Lovely paint (and it makes a difference how it feels to apply it, not just how well it covers) and good advice.

nice one, another thing – do we mask off things like light switches or is it better to take them off to be on the safe side?

Unscrew a bit, paint behind them, scrape off paint left behind by previous decorator, then re-tighten. Same with door handles, wall lights, any other hardware.

Totally agree on buying good quality paint. Fired Earth stuff is (surprisingly) worth the cash.

We got cheaper stuff recently to do our spare bedroom and it took 4 coats to cover what was there before!

Wilko paint is surprisingly good and pretty cheap. Goes on well and stays on, 2 coats is enough.

Fired Earth IS lovely though, especially if you have an older house, Ball and Farrow (I think?) are of a similar ilk.

Take off the switches if you aren't planning on swapping them.

Oh, and a radio. You have to have a radio.

excellent work all round. radio at the ready! 🙂

yo, yo – i've assembled all the bits and pieces and am ready for masking up and getting on with it, though this may yet not happen til monday 😆

one thing has occurred to me during the reccie, and that is "how the **** am i going to paint behind the radiator"? 😕

you need a rad roller!

(essentially a mini roller)

Dont go taking it off the wall. Total waste of time.

ah i see, a little roller on a long stick 😀

annoying, though – something else to buy!

ok, having painted my hall i have several conclusions. firstly, it took longer than i expected due to large numbers of door frames/skirting board to paint round. the roller bits were instant, the bruswh bits not so much. secondly, it looks much better dry than i thought it looked while doing it, it evens out a lot texture-wise more than i expected. thirdly, bianchi green is a nice colour for a hall. 🙂

the Bean method: stick of dynamite in paint tin in middle of room