Paint Like a Pro

Painting your home — or even just one room — can be completely daunting, but there’s no denying the transformative power of a new wall color.

To make the process simpler (and, dare we say, more fun), we turned to Paintzen‘s resident paint guru Kristen Chuber to tell us all about her trustiest painting hacks. Here are seven of her need-to-know tips:

1. CLEAN YOUR WALLS, BUT DON’T MAKE IT A HUGE UNDERTAKING.

“We recommend using a dry Swiffer. It will effectively remove dust and dirt from walls and you can easily just throw away the Swiffer rag when you are done.”

2. SKIP THE PAINT CHIPS.

“In order to select the color that’s closest to what you’ve imagined for your space, we recommend painting a small area on your wall and leaving it for a couple of days, so you can see what it looks like at different times of the day, against your furniture, and with the lighting of the room.”

3. DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT PAINTING IN A STRAIGHT LINE.

“A great trick for getting an even coat is to paint in a “W” formation, and then fill in the gaps — this helps distribute the bulk of the paint across the most space so no one area is too thick.”

4. TRY “BOXING” TO UNSURE LARGER PROJECTS WON’T LOOK PATCHY.

“If you need multiple gallons of paint, use a method called “boxing.” This means pouring each gallon into a five gallon bucket at once to ensure the most consistent color throughout. Each gallon can vary slightly since they are mixed individually.”

5. LIP BALM AND VASELINE ARE YOUR FRIENDS.

“There’s a great trick for painting around windows using lip balm. Apply lip balm on the glass pane of your window in the areas you’ll be painting the trim. Then, if any paint gets on the pane, it will be easy to wash off. When painting doors, put Vaseline on hinges and place plastic sandwich bags around knobs.”

6. WHITE PRIMER ISN’T ALWAYS BEST.

“If you are painting over a darker color on your walls, use a primer tinted towards the new, desired color.  It will help you achieve the best coverage with fewer coats of paint.”

7. FIGHT FUMES WITH A FRESH SCENT.

“If you hate the odor associated with paint, add a drop or two of vanilla extract to each gallon of paint. This will bring a much more pleasant aroma to the room you’re painting.” But don’t forget to open a window or wear a mask, too!