A newly decorated interior can give home owners as much of a new lease of life as the building. If you are getting ready to sell your property, a full interior decoration is really a must, as it can actually increase its value. First impressions really do last, so whether you are entertaining visitors or potential house buyers, it is important to make sure the interior of your home is nicely decorated.
Many people will use professional painters and decorators, whereas others will do the decorating themselves. Get it right and you can save yourself a lot of money, get it wrong and the cost of lowered property value or even calling in the professionals to put it right, will add up to a pretty penny. Here are six handy tips that will help the budding DIY decorator get it right first time:
- Preparation – Make sure that all surfaces to be decorated are prepared correctly, before opening your first can of paint or unrolling your first roll of wallpaper. Walls should be stripped of all old paper. Steamers that make this job so much easier can be hired for very reasonable day rates. Any holes or dents in the walls should be filled and rubbed smooth once the filler has dried. If darker coloured walls are to be painted over with a lighter shade, undercoat can be used first to reduce the number of layers of top coat required. Woodwork should be filled as necessary and rubbed down to give a slightly rough surface for the new gloss paint to adhere to.
- Right tools – As with all DIY projects, having the right tools for the job can make such a difference. They will ensure a high standard of finish, in a shorter period of time, with much less effort.
- Good quality materials – No matter how good a decorating job you do, if you use cheap or inferior materials, it will show in the finish. Buying cheaper paint will always be a false economy, as you are almost certainly going to have to put on more coats to get full coverage.
- Cut in first – Cutting in refers to brush painting around the edges of a large painted area to ensure a neat finish. Some people cut in first, some cut in last. The professionals will always cut in first to get the very best finish and we recommend you do too, every time.
- Roller large areas – If you are planning on painting your walls, invest in a good roller. It speeds up the process of getting paint on the walls many times over. It will also ensure a far better finish than brushing could ever achieve.
- Good quality gloss brush – Once you have painted the walls and are ready to move on to glossing the woodwork, a good quality brush really does make a difference. It is really down to the bristles, how they hold the paint and how durable they are. A cheap brush will make painting nice neat edges much more difficult, and there is nothing worse than bristles coming off your brush and being left in the painted surface.
So, when taking on interior decorating projects, follow these few simple rules and you will get a far better finish in a much shorter period of time, every time.