Which Of These Painting Mistakes Are You Making?

Painting is certainly one of the best ways to make your home look better and to add a new life, that too without spending too much. Just by using a gallon of paint, some drop cloths, and a paintbrush, you can easily transform the look of your home in few hours, or maybe a couple of days. The best thing is that it is a very easy task to do, and even if you have no experience you can do this task on your own.

Painting is indeed a very simple task, but that does not mean there are no scopes for painting mistakes. There are many common mistakes that people make while painting their home that can easily mar an otherwise great paint job. Let us get to learn about some such mistakes that you too might be making but are not yet aware.

1. Not Testing Paint Samples in Your Room’s Light
When you want to select a new color for a room, what you usually do is visit your paint or hardware store, and go through samples of the various colors available. If you already have decided a particular color, then you will perhaps check the various shades of that color, and then select the shade that you find most attractive, and you also might purchase all the color you will need for the room straight away. This is one of the most common painting mistakes that most people make. Before purchasing a certain color for your Singapore home, you should first take a sample to check how it looks in the room you plan to paint. Colors may look slightly different depending on the conditions of light in a room, and so the shade that looked great in the store under fluorescent light, might not look that nice when you apply it on the wall of your room that receives lots of natural light.


2. Not Selecting the Right Finish
After selecting your paint color, the next step would be to choose the right finish of your paint. The kind of finish you select can have a great impact on the cost of the paint, and this lures many people into choosing the one that is the cheapest. The best finish entirely depends on the room you will be painting. Semigloss and gloss finishes are easy to clean and durable and thus are best for bathrooms and kitchens. Satin finishes are not shiny like the gloss ones, but they are durable enough to be used in high-traffic areas like the hallway, kid’s bedroom, and living rooms. Eggshell finishes are not as durable as satins so they are best used for areas that are not too frequently used like dining rooms, but you would not want a completely flat finish. Flat finishes chips easily, but as they do not reflect light but rather absorbs it, it is very forgiving and perfect for walls that have lots of flaws. While selecting your finish, do remember this fact, the shinier the finish of your paint, more will be the flaws it will show on your wall.

3. Purchasing Low-Priced Tools
People are of the opinion that a paintbrush is a paintbrush, why to spend too much on it when you can get it really cheap. This can be a very big painting mistake. When painting your room, you just cannot compromise on the quality of tools you use. Good quality rollers and brushes are necessary to help you get the best possible results. They will help you apply paint to your wall evenly and you will not have to worry about bristles shedding every now and then. Even though it is very natural for your new paint brush to shed some bristles when you use it for the first time, but you will not have to worry about good bristle getting stuck on your walls, drying there, and thus ruining the appearance. If you plan to use a tape to make a clean line, do not use your regular masking tape. Instead, get a painters tape that is created to help prevent paint from bleeding through, thus helping you get nice sharp lines.


4. Not Giving Enough Importance to Prep Work
You have your paint and tools ready, have covered your floor with a drop cloth, and so you should straightaway begin painting. Wait, do not hurry. Even though all this can be very tempting, proper prep work is important before you take the plunge. Prep wok may take a little more of your time, but at the end, you will understand all your efforts were worth it. Sand down uneven textures if required and patch up the holes before starting. Washing the walls before painting will help you get rid of any grease, dirt, or debris. If you will be painting on a wall that already has a coat of semi gloss or gloss paint, you should first use a deglosser or sand it down, or else it will be very difficult for the new paint to stick. If you will be painting on an already painted surface, then there will be no problems in using paint with built-in primer, provided you do not plan to make a very drastic color change. But, if you do prime your walls first, then it will help make your colors look exactly as they are.

5. Painting in Improper Lighting
Painting your room can be a fun task, but it indeed is time-consuming and does require loads of efforts. You certainly would not want to invest all your precious time and efforts, and then realize that you will have to do more work and fix a job that looked great before, but is not looking the same when you see it in brighter light. Sounds familiar? This is indeed a very common painting mistake. If you paint in low light then get ready for a disaster. To avoid this make sure you have lots of light when you are painting. If your room has many windows, it will be a great idea to paint on a sunny day. However, if your room does not get enough natural light, then you can use other sources of light so that you can do your job the right way, and be happy and proud of the perfect results.