Painting the living room: tips and tricks for home design

painting work
Do you want to paint your living room? These are the most important steps

A new coat of paint breathes new life into the living room

© svetikd / Getty Images

The living room needs a new coat of paint every now and then: if the wallpaper looks faded or if you are about to move house, reaching for the paint bucket is unavoidable. Before you start painting, you should prepare well. Here you can find out what to consider when painting.

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Before you paint the living room, you should know roughly how much paint is needed. In order to calculate the consumption, the walls (including the ceiling) must be measured. On the paint cans you will find the exact information for how many square meters the content is sufficient. Please bear in mind that a second coat of paint may be necessary or that small repair work may be required. Once you have found out how many liters are needed for your living room, you should think about the paint. Which wall color is best for the room? And what accessories are required? The most important questions are answered below.

First steps: You have to consider this in advance

1. The preparations

  • You make the painting work a lot easier if everyone (or at least the small ones) Furniture can be temporarily stored in another room. If this is not possible, move the furnishings to the center of the room and protect them cover film. It is important in any case that the walls must be exposed for painting.
  • Then it’s on masking from baseboards and sockets, window frames and doors. Use a special one for this painters tapethat protects every corner and edge from paint drips and splatters. Then it’s the turn of the floor: take a tarpaulin to protect the parquet and carpet, laminate or floorboards from the paint on the wall.
  • Remove all nails and screws from the walls before painting the living room. To achieve an even result, you should use the visible holes (which are no longer needed) or also possible cracks with something putty to fill. However, wait until the mass has dried before you start the first brush stroke.
  • Get what you need accesories for painting, such as small and large paint roller for the walls and a telescopic rod for the ceiling. In old buildings, a long ladder is also very useful. In addition, round-shaped brushes are for small areas and flat paint brush particularly useful for corners.

2. The underground

  • If there is no wallpaper on your walls, you should plastered surfaces prime before painting. The so-called plaster base contains no solvents and is therefore low-odour. It evens out unevenness and ensures that the absorbency of the subfloor is reduced. So that the paint adheres better to the walls.

  • Most wallpapers can be easily painted over. However, if these have a particularly coarse structure, the paint may not stick to them evenly. In this case, the glued strips must be removed. If these cannot be deducted, you can hedgehog roller including wallpaper remover.

3. The wall color

  • According to the current living trends 2021, pastel tones are currently in fashion. If you want to paint your living room, you can – in addition to the classic white – also choose a modern emulsion paint in mint or Lemon macarons, antique rose or Coffee Cream to attempt. It has a high opacity, is breathable and odorless.

Repaint the living room: Here’s how to do it

So that the paint can dry faster, it is best to open the windows while you are painting the living room. If it is too cold for this, you can ventilate the room (well) even after painting. And what else should be considered?
These are the most important steps:

  1. Paint the ceiling first and then the walls to avoid stains or paint splatters ending up on the freshly painted sides.
  2. Then take a flat brush in your hand and paint all edges, corners and edges in the living room.
  3. Now it’s the turn of the large areas: Use a large paint roller here and paint the walls evenly, strip by strip.
  4. Even out any imperfections before the paint starts to dry. You can then carefully peel off the masking tape.
  5. Allow the paint to dry for at least 12 hours before moving the furniture back to the walls and hanging the pictures.
  6. Ventilate extensively after painting so that the paint fumes can escape from the living room more quickly.

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