Staging your home to sell involves many projects that, if tackled all at once, can be daunting. Professionals tell us that breaking the big job of making your home ready for the market into smaller pieces makes it easier overall. The old adage comes to mind – it’s a bit like eating an elephant. Take it one bite at a time if you want to succeed.

Previously, we discussed the eight steps necessary to making your house ready for painting, one room at a time. We talked a bit about proper preparation of the walls and ceilings, including filling holes, sanding, cleaning, and taping. Today, we want to share the four steps professional painters use to create a beautiful, freshly-painted room.

Step 1 – Ceiling

• Cutting In: Beginning at the corner of the room, begin the process of cutting-in at the ceiling. Using an angled brush designed for this task, apply a three-inch strip of ceiling paint along the perimeter where the ceiling and the walls meet. Cut in one section at a time, alternating between the brush work and rolling the paint onto the ceiling in order to maintain a wet edge and prevent a visible line of texture-difference between the cut-in area and the rest of the ceiling. Start painting near the corner of the room, blending the coating into the ceiling line you previously painted. When your room has been outlined with both brush and blended with a roller to avoid lines, you’ll be ready to roller the ceiling.

• Rollering the Ceiling: Tip: By painting across the width of the ceiling, rather than the length of it, and being careful to roll in a direction across your body, not in line with your body, you can avoid straining your neck and back.
Every time you return to the paint tray, thoroughly wet the roller on all sides with the paint then carefully remove the excess by rolling the brush back and forth on the ridges on the paint tray. Too much paint in any one spot may drip or cause other unwanted eye-catchers. When the ceiling is complete, allow it to dry and apply a second coat if necessary.

Step 2 – The Walls: When the ceiling is dry, return to the spot where you began painting. You will do just one wall at a time. Once again, use a trim brush to carefully cut in along the wall-ceiling line. Do the same around windows, doors, and mouldings, extending your line about six centimeters away from these features. After you have cut in around one entire wall area, use your roller to fill it all in.

Professionals at staging your home to sell tell us you can save your back by starting in the corner of a wall and rollering a one-metre by one-metre W pattern, filling it in before you lift the roller for best results. Continue this way, in sections, until you’re finished two coats on each of your four walls.

Step 3 – The Trim: When we prepared the room for paint, we placed painter’s tape along the edges of the top mouldings to prevent them from catching drips and spatters. Now it’s time to remove those, and reposition the tape-line. Begin by using a utility knife to carefully cut between the new paint and the tape. This will prevent peeling of the wall paint when you remove the tape.
Position a new line of tape to your very dry wall, to give the trim paint, which is often done in a different sheen or finish to the walls, a nice, clean line.

If you have a steady hand and hope to do lots of painting in the future, you can skip the taping of the room and use the time to practice your brush work. For the sake of expedience and a sensational end-product, the painter’s tape may be your best bet. Tip: Remove the painter’s tape shortly after the painting of the trim is complete in order to keep it from peeling.

Step 4 – The Big Finish: After finishing each wall, use a nearly-dry roller to roll straight down from ceiling to floor to do a final evening-out of any paint-overloaded spots or to catch and distribute drips.

An excellent paint job, according to experts at staging your home to sell is one of the biggest and best impact factors you can undertake in preparing a home for sale. Fresh, clean paint is a top focus of home buyers, so take your time and do it well.

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