Blog

Learning how to paint a room properly is essential for beginning DIY’ers, new homeowners, and veteran home improvement experts alike. After all, it’s pretty painless, relatively inexpensive, and—should something go horribly wrong—easy to fix. But before you grab your roller and get started with your first coat, it’s essential to have a plan of attack – because we all know how annoying it is to be halfway through a project and realise you are missing vital products to complete it!

So from our experience in supplying the Painting & Decorating trade for over 30 years we thought we would give our insights in to what you will need for your next project.

Firstly lets take a look at PROTECTION –

This is an important and sometimes overlooked step when a project is rushed, unfortunately the consequences of not properly protected furniture, floors, walls, windows and more is often costly.

Below we have listed out the following protection that we would recommend before picking up that roller.

HARD FLOOR PROTECTION (such as wood, vinyl and concrete flooring) – there are multiple options here but we strongly recommend using something that is non adhesive thus lessoning the risk of leaving adhesive on those beautiful and expensive floors. HAYDN BUILDER BOARD is our go to for this type of flooring.

CARPET PROTECTION – as the name suggests the best option here is the CARPET PROTECTION FILM which sticks nicely to the carpet and doesn’t leave a residue when removed.

WINDOW & FURNITURE PROTECTION – pre taped film is the quickest and least time consuming option to protecting your Windows and any Furniture that you don’t want covered in paint splatter. This PRE TAPED MASKING FILM has a medium adhesion Washi Tape running along the top of the film which is perfect for anything interior.

Next we need to take a look at the tools used in the PREPERATION –

Depending on the surface you are decorating gap filling or sanding may not be required, if so then you can skip right down to our next step. But if you do have small holes that need filling or plaster that needs sanding then it is important that you get the prep right before painting as this can mean the difference between a million dollar look or that of a dilapidated bach! Yes it does take time but then again all good things take time right?

SMALL HOLE FILLER – there is a number of options of small hole gap filler that you can choose however we have picked the most common one which is PAL CONTRACT FILLER. A nice easy sanding gap filler and perfect for nail holes.

FILLING KNIVES – once again the range of filling knives used for applying the gap filler is large, however a very cost effective option is the STAINLESS STEEL SPREADER pack which gives you four different size options in the one pack.

SANDING – sanding is not everyone’s cup of tea however it is the key to a smooth looking paint finish. You are best to use DUAL ANGLE SANDING blocks for smaller areas of sanding and RADIUS 360 SANDING HEAD for larger areas of sanding – don’t forget the dust mask if it is getting a little dusty.

Right now you are prepped and ready to roll lets see what PAINTING TOOLS you need –

PAINT BRUSHES – cutting in is tedious but like the preparation it can mean the difference between a good and bad job. We highly recommend using the R&S brush range, not only because they are very price comparative to other brands but they are also highly rated by the trade for great performance and finishing when painting.

PAINT TRAY – options generally range from around 230mm wide to 460mm depending on the width of the roller sleeve that you are using. However with a standard bedroom you should be using either a 230mm or 270mm wide sleeve and roller tray. If you are using the Mini Roller Sleeves then you will need the small bucket trays.

ROLLER FRAMES – once again the range is larger, however with a bedroom we would recommend either 230mm or 270mm width.

ROLLER SLEEVES – these are the real stars of the show because the roller sleeves add the icing on the cake so to speak! As with all of the other products there are multiple options of roller sleeves to choose from however to simplify it down we recommend using the Haydn Microfiber roller sleeves as they provide a nice smooth finish especially the 6mm and 9mm thick nap sleeves.

MINI ROLLER SLEEVES – mini roller sleeves are a must for those small areas, kitchen cabinets and cutting in.

So now everything is prepped and you have all of the tools the final ingredient remaining is the PAINT itself –

INTERIOR WALL UNDERCOAT – before applying the topcoats you must undercoat first, the Paint Plus Sealcoat is an excellent and well priced undercoat for the job.

INTERIOR WOOD UNDERCOAT – got bare wood that needs undercoating? Paint Plus Quick Prep is what you will need before topcoating.

INTERIOR WALL TOPCOAT – this is where the colour hits the wall, our Paint Plus Easy Flow offers very good coverage and can be tinted in-house to just about any colour that you require.

INTERIOR WET AREA TOPCOAT – if you are painting a wet area such as a bathroom, or even your doors and trims then you will need what is sometimes referred to as an Acrylic Enamel. Our equivalent is the hard wearing Paint Plus Armour Guard which will last and provide the perfect finish.

So in a nutshell here is the checklist of all the products above – 

• Floor Protection
• Window & Furniture Protection
• Gap Filler
• Putty Knives
• Sanding Blocks/Sheets
• Paint Brushes
• Roller Frames
• Roller Trays
• Roller Sleeves
• Paint

As we mentioned at the start, R&S Trade Centre has 30 + years of advising the Painting & Decorating trade, so any questions feel free to give us a holler and we will see you sorted!