Author: Bob Alexander

Sometimes you feel as if the worries of the world are piled on your shoulders and it’s killing you! You come home from work dead tired and still you can’t relax. Your mind keeps revisiting the errors of the day and predicts doom for the days ahead! Your wife reminds you that it’s your night to take the kids to music practice or karate school or any of the endless extra curricular activities that consume our children’s time! There’s never enough time for everything you have to do!

You need a break! You need to do something enjoyable that will take your mind off all your troubles. Painting one of your rooms is such a project. You probably have more than one room that desperately needs painting, but we’ll start with just one. We wouldn’t want this project to seem like work, would we? Obviously there will be a few folks who will disagree with me and categorize painting as something akin to the pain involved in a root canal. For those people I offer a few small bits of wisdom that could help them get over their fatalistic thoughts about painting a room.

We want a stress free painting experience so we’ll only buy a few things we need instead of spending a lot of money. Spending money to most of us is stressful so we’ll do as little of that as possible. You’ll need a good paintbrush, probably one that will use latex paints, since that is the overwhelming choice today for paints. You will also need a roller and a roller handle along with a paint tray. You will also need a small can of spackling paste to patch holes. Other than some kind of drop cloths to cover the floor and furniture, that’s all you need to buy! I didn’t mention a step ladder because you can find one of those small 2 step ladders in most homes today. If you need a putty knife, buy it; they’re cheap!

If we’re going to paint the ceiling, we’ll do that first. You don’t want paint spray from the ceiling on newly painted walls. One of my rules is “If you don’t want to put it back together, don’t take it apart!” There is really no need to take down light fixtures, ceiling fans or vent covers when you can paint around them. I know, you think you’ll get paint on things you’re not supposed to paint. Don’t worry! You’re probably better at trimming around a ceiling fan than you think you are.

The key in trim work is to do it with soft swift long strokes. Short strokes show mistakes easily. If you do it rapidly, you’re don’t have time to second guess your performance. Just keep painting and believe that you’re good. You don’t need masking tape to paint a ceiling’s edge. Just do it! If you concentrate too much, you’ll mess up! By this point your cares and anxieties are probably gone and the only thing you’re thinking about is painting that room!

One thing you do need to take down if you’re painting the walls, are any drapery material or curtains that you have in the room. If you’re only doing the ceiling, just spread something over the drapes to avoid droplets from the ceiling.

Most ceilings need two coats, so roll on the first coat as well as you can. The second coat will cover any thin spots you might have. Wear a cap that will cover your glasses if you wear them or else you’ll have little drops of paint all over them. If you didn’t buy a drop cloth, use old sheets, old shower curtains or buy a couple of those cheap plastic things you spread over furniture. There is one rule irrefutable rule in painting: “Where you don’t have a drop cloth, that’s where a drop of paint will fall!” See how much better you’re feeling already? You’re just about ready to start and you haven’t spent a lot of money.

You may as well plan on filling a few nail holes and scratches with spackling paste. All walls have them. Only use a small amount of the filler for each hole, and then scrape most of it off with your putty knife. After it dries put another layer over the first. Scrape it off again and hit it a few strokes with sandpaper after it dries and you’re ready to paint! See how easy that is? Feel the stress starting to fade? You’ve already saved yourself a lot of work just on filling nail holes. This is one of these cases where less is definitely more!

If you’re painting doors and windows in your room, paint them first. It’s best to use a deglosser on wood work before you apply paint. It cleans grease and dirt off the wood and paint adheres better.

Author: Hans Hasselfors

If you’re seriously interested in knowing about home improving, you need to think beyond the basics. This informative article takes a closer look at things you need to know about home improving walls and ceilings.

Removing stains, mildew, or peeling paint, as well as repairing your home is great for preserving the homes equity. When you take the time to repair or remodel ceilings or walls you are conserving energy while blocking outside noises that pollute the home.

If you have holes in the walls or ceilings, you will need plaster, or else materials for repairing the entire area. Sometimes you merely need replacements. Plastering is time-consuming, thus if you have larger holes replacements may be worth your effort rather than consuming your time filling in the holes. As far as tools, you will need paint-scrapers, sandpaper, glue and heat guns, adhesive type, tile pliers, stud finder, utility knives, wall-cover roller, wallboard saw and knives, syringe and awl.

Removing stains will require solvents. Generally, you can purchase the good stuff at any home improvement stores. For tuff stains, you may need to reapply new paint. If you need to remove mildew use water and dish soaps or other soaps for removal, unless the walls have spores, then you will need a bleach solution.

If you are peeling off old paint, you will need to patch the areas peeling by reapplying new paint. Use a putty knife to peel off the old paint. You can also use a paint-scraper to remove the paint peels from the wall area. Spackle the around the edge of the chipping paint and once finished using sandpaper, sanding down the area; Once the patch area is dry sand down the area, clear the area free of dust before painting.

If you have dents in the walls or ceilings and/or holes, you will need to have scrapers, plaster, knife, spackle, cloth, sandpaper, and paint. Once you have the proper tools and materials you can start the procedure to fix dents, cracks and holes. You will also need the patches that come with plastering kits in the event some of the holes require additional attention.

Those of you not familiar with the latest on Home Improving now have at least a basic understanding. But there’s more to come.

Before you start with the spackling, make sure the area is clear up dust and crud. Apply a coating of sparkle to the area in need of repair and wait until it dries. Once the area is dry using your sandpaper sand the area where the patch and spackle was applied again dust the area freeing it of dust.

If the wall or ceiling area has, large holes you may need larger patch to insulate the area before plastering the area. Again, you will need to clean the area before applying the plaster.

Improving walls and ceilings will bring back the life of your home. The materials for repairs are cheap, and the process is simple, thus hiring contractors will only cost you a fortune. The price you will pay for repairing the home on your home is less the price you will pay to have someone else do the job for you, and in turn, equity of your home while increasing will bring you far higher rewards.

The equity of homes is essential for maintaining, since lenders will consider this first before issuing you a loan. If you have around 95%, equity on your home you can get a loan near the estimate value. Likewise, if you consider selling your home you can sell the home for what it is worth, rather than lower the price and taking a loss.

The kits purchased for home repairs and/or improving often have instructions included. Thus reading the instructions can help you move along with the process of fixing your home. The instructions are important; since following the instructions will help, you get the most out of money and work.

Note
It is important to remove any nails or other sticking up objects before starting repairs or improving of your home. If the wall area has nail holes, you can fill those in with the plaster. Making sure the surface is smooth is important also before applying plaster, paint, or other repairing solutions to walls, floors, ceilings, et cetera. Furthermore, when you apply new coatings or repair the areas damaged it will help prevent deterioration of the home.