Now that spring is finally here, it's the ideal time to refresh your home with a new coat of paint. And if, like me, you're looking to save money by tackling the painting jobs yourself, you’ll need to know how to paint a room like a pro.
While I enjoy painting (when I have time), I always dread the clean-up afterwards. Let’s face it, nobody likes cleaning out messy paint trays — especially if you quickly need to reuse them for the next room.
This is why my trusted decorator shared a simple yet ingenious trader's trick with me. Not only is this a quick and easy hack, but it saves a whole lot of time and effort cleaning up gunky trays afterwards. Which, for me, makes all the difference.
Just be sure to avoid these top painting mistakes at all costs, or else it may cost you more.
Cover your paint tray with a plastic liner
So what exactly is this top trick of the trade? A common yet effective painting tip is to line your paint tray with a plastic sheet or trash bag before pouring the paint. This completely covers the tray. When the painting is done, you just remove and dispose of the plastic liner. Essentially, this keeps your paint tray perfectly clean and ready for future use, saving you time and hassle.
After watching my decorator do this on a previous painting job, I thought this was a genius idea. Plus, each time the plastic liner had collected a fair amount of excess paint, he just carefully tied the corners of the liner together to pour it back into the paint tin — so nothing gets wasted.
Another bonus tip he shared was to tightly wrap your wet paintbrushes with cling film between sessions, or even place them inside a sealable, plastic bag to prevent them from drying out. This is ideal if you want to store it away overnight, making it ready to go for the next day of painting.
Painting a room/s properly can easily take a few days, and honestly, scrubbing brushes after every session is an arduous, time-consuming task. So simply wrapping them is a much easier option.
Now that I’ve learned these tips of the trade, I look forward to revamping my home this spring — without the hassle of a big clean-up afterwards.
