How to Paint Your Home | The Everyday Hostess

Huge thank you to Sherwin-Williams for sponsoring this post. All opinions are my own.

Repainting your home or even a single room in your house can feel like a daunting task, but with these simple steps, this overwhelming process easily melts away and quickly becomes a rewarding and extremely exciting process!

Step 1 – Select Your Paint Brand

Between all the different home improvement stores and specialty brands, there are quite a few different paint options you can use to refinish your home. At the start of the home design process, Landon and I did more than our fair share of research and are so glad we decided to use Sherwin-Williams paint and products to give our home a fresh look. The paint itself is a ultra-high quality, which allows for richer colors, as well as better bonding and coverage. And, whether you’re dealing with the folks at the store or the online ColorSnap Visualizer, deciding on a paint is a hands-on, informative process.

Seriously, I could talk about this for hours. I never thought it was possible to know so much about paint!

Step 2 – Select your Paint Color

If you’re painting your house, you probably have an idea in mind for what color you want (or at least what color family) but this part of the process can be a bit more overwhelming than you may expect. Sherwin-Williams has dozens and dozens of shades of each color and each one will have a different impact on your home and its ambiance – especially in different lighting. Hop on over to our post about how to select the perfect paint color to help make this tricky decision a bit easier!

Step 3- Gather your Tools

Invest in the right tools for your painting job, and you’ll thank yourself later. There are thousands of tools on the market, but not every tape, Spackle or tarp is created equally. The most important (and the tools I’ve had the most success with) are listed below:

Step 4 – Prepare your Walls and Floors

So you’ve got the perfect paint, but don’t dive in just yet and start throwing it up on the walls. The key to a professional looking paint job is in the preparation process. Spend a little extra time here doing your due diligence and I promise you will have less flaws to correct in the long run.

Correct any wall blemishes

Start by filing all nail holes, cracks, and blemishes with a spackling paste. Allow the paste to dry, sand until smooth and if necessary apply a texturizer that matches the rest of the wall.

Tape all trim and floors

Now this may be one of the most dreaded and time-consuming parts of the painting process, but is by far the most important part. Invest in some high-quality painters tape. I personally really like this ScotchBlue Multi-Surface Painters tape, as I found it held a good seal that kept paint from bleeding through, but also removed easily and did not tear off any of my paint. Line any molding or baseboards with the tape of your choice within a day or so of when you want to start painting.

Tape down drop cloths and drape any furniture with plastic

Be sure to protect all of your furniture and your flooring by taping down your drop cloths and covering your furniture. Even the tidiest of painters has a spill or splatter here and there and the last thing you want to do is have to chip paint off your beautiful hand scraped wood or replace a chair with an unfortunate splatter mark across the fabric.

Step 5 – Paint away

You’ve got your tools gathered, a ladder nearby, the perfect paint colors, and all floors and furniture have been covered, so you’re ready to paint! Open up the doors and windows to allow for proper ventilation (no one needs a paint headache midday) and start with the ceiling first, followed by the walls and then the woodwork (trim, crown molding, etc). Allow the wall to completely dry, pull off the tape carefully at a diagonal to avoid chipping or bleeding, and step back and admire your gorgeous work!

Pro Tip – Painting is wayyyy more fun and enjoyable with friends. After you’ve prepared everything and trust the tape job, set up a breakfast taco bar for your besties and bribe them with a free breakfast and some mimosas or beer at the end for some extra help! And don’t forget to have speakers available to blast your favorite tunes!