A paint prep guide with a difference
It’s not difficult to find a guide to preparing your home for an interior paint job. There are plenty of guides that lay out the practical steps, and they will include something along these lines:
1. Clear the room. Remove what you can; cover what you can’t.
2. Protect the floors with drop cloths and use tape for outlets, joinery, and other surfaces.
3. Remove old paint or wallpaper. Use a mild cleaner to clean the walls well then allow them to dry.
4. Repair any damage with an appropriate filler. When dry, sand the walls (and trim) thoroughly to create a smooth surface. Tape edges where needed.
This preparation guide is something a little different!
With a premium painter employed to carry out the job, our clients need not worry about much of the work outlined above. We will take care to move large pieces of furniture then cover, repair, and prepare your rooms to the highest standard—but there’s work to be done before that stage arrives!
It’s the pre-preparation that many of our clients find tricky! Here are some of the ways you’ll need to get your home and—perhaps most importantly—your mindset in the right place for a successful paint project.
Declutter your home (and your life, while you’re at it)
Getting rid of clutter from your home is a fantastic start to your redecoration preparations, but it’s something that so many people struggle with as they begin to make plans.
While the homes of hoarders featured in TV documentaries often inspire disbelief, the tendency to collect unnecessary items is fairly common—and not something to be ashamed of. According to this Psychology Today article, this can be rooted in consumer psychology and how positive emotions are often tied to particular items. Ownership of things can bring security and comfort. Additionally, it’s a big job, plain and simple. Many people experience decluttering paralysis and don’t know where to start.
Our advice is to see this time of decluttering as an opportunity! It’s a well-known fact that creating space in your home also creates space in your mind. Decluttering is good for your mental health and can increase your productivity and focus with fewer objects for you to manage and worry about. Don’t redecorate and hide the new design with all the stuff you had in your home before; use the motivation of a renovation to get a fresh start as well as a fresh look.
Here are some decluttering tips to help you get started:
Start early! Whether you have your painting project booked in or are still making plans, begin your decluttering process NOW.
If starting with a whole room is too overwhelming, start with a corner or even a singular cabinet. Get the ball rolling and create momentum.
Let go of the guilt. Easier said than done, we know—but remember that people don’t intend their gifts to be burdens and your kids won’t care that you didn’t keep every single piece of their preschool art. Also, you don’t get any of the money you paid for that overpriced appliance back by keeping it but not using it.
Having trouble deciding what to let go of? Try deciding what to keep instead; reframing the problem like this can help change your attitude towards it.
Brace yourself for a disruption
No matter how respectful and professional the painting crew is, you’re in for a disruption when the painting begins. Prepare yourself mentally to have people in your home and carefully consider whether it will be better to stay put or move out—this will depend on the scope of the work.
If you have children and/or pets, you’ll need plans in place to ensure they stay out of the painting area. This might mean temporary gates or barricades, making plans to be out of the house as much as possible, and arranging baby-sitting or pet-sitting. Talk to your kids about what’s going to be happening and why it’s important that they don’t touch any wet paint or equipment.
Start colour shopping
If you’re investing in a premium paint job with a provider like Wall Treats, you’ll want to be sure you’ve picked the colour of your dreams. This can take a while and involve swatches, visiting different paint shops, and some back and forth with the painters. Our premium service comes with a free colour consultation, and that can take some time too.
Allow plenty of time for picking colours, and let the painters know what you’ve picked will in advance so they can source the right amount of paint.
Redecorating your space is more than just slapping paint on the walls! We can’t take care of the things outlined above for you, but we’ll take care of the rest: moving furniture, covering what needs to be covered, repairing surfaces, and painting to the highest of standards to make your interior dreams a reality.