Quick Tips For Painting Quickly

If you’re planning on painting a room in your house, you’re not doing it because you love the process; you’re doing it in spite of the process. You’re doing it because you know that the end result will be worth all the work that goes into it.

You may have heard the expression “Work smarter, not harder.” Today, we want to share some tips on how to do just that on your next big painting project, and to get you the results you desire as quickly as possible.

Smart Shopping / Going Green

When you’re shopping for paint, it’s tempting to go with the cheapest option. After all, it's easy for the unititated to assume that all paints are the same, and that going for the cheapest price per gallon is the simplest way to save money.

This is, however, a gross miscalculation.

First of all, cheap paint is often cut with thinners and fillers, which results in thinner paint, which in turn results in poor coverage. And when paint covers poorly, that means more coats. And more coats means more time and maybe even more money.

That's why we at ECOS Paints believe so strongly in the power of our  zero-VOC* paints. They're made without any of the additives that cause normal paint to emit those nasty fumes, and that also means that they have up to 1.5X the coverage of regular, non-organic paints.

So really, while the lower-end paint may be cheaper per gallon than its higher-quality counterparts, in the end it could force you to pay even more than you would have spent on better paint, both in time and finances.

Remember: A lower price per gallon does not equal a lower total cost, and it CERTAINLY doesn’t equal more time saved.

*Conforms to CDPH 01350 (VOC emissions test taken at 11, 12, & 14 days for classroom and office use). Learn more about VOCs and our commitment to healthier paints here.

Primed to Start

To truly get an even coat, you need to start with a good primer. Doing this step right the first time will save you a LOT of time later on.

If you’re a first-time painter, right now you’re probably thinking that adding on a major step to your project doesn't sound like a great way to save time, but we promise you that it is. 

The purpose of primer is to give the paint a better surface to adhere to while also covering up any stains, imperfections, or other undesirable features on a wall.

So if you’ve got a bad primer, there's a good chance that you’re going to have to spend a LOT more time applying extra coats of paint .

Plus, primer helps protect the overall durability of your paint, which means that properly applying the right primer will keep you from having to repaint that wall again in a year.

BUT, if you still think that sounds like a lot of extra work, ECOS Paints has you "covered" once again.  All of our wall, trim and furniture paints are 100% self-priming, so you can save time if you really don't want to add that extra step.

Use Some Professional Techniques

When it comes to the actual painting itself, take your tips from the guys who make a living getting paint projects done quickly and correctly. Professional painters have a variety of techniques at their disposal that anyone can use. Techniques like:

Boxing - Boxing simply refers to the practice of mixing your paint into a five-gallon bucket. Because paint is sold and mixed by the gallon, it is easy (and probably inevitable) for subtle pigment differences to occur among paints of the same color.

If you’re using several gallons of paint in your project, mixing all of it together (assuming it’s the same color) ensures a more even coat and can save you some time on touching up.

Cutting In - The quickest way to apply paint to a wall is with a roller, but there are certain sections of a wall that require a bit more finesse. That’s where “cutting in” comes in.

The idea is to leave a space of a couple inches around the edge of the wall to be filled in with a brush. That way, you can fill in the rest of the wall with a roller and still get a good, even coat without any blemishes.

Use Your Non-Dominant Hand - This one is a little less intuitive. The basic idea is to start on the side of the wall OPPOSITE your dominant hand (so the left side for a righty) and then work your way towards your dominant hand, three inches at a time.

So a righty would go from left to right, and lefty would go from right to left.

The bottom line is that painting a room is a slow process, but by doing it the right way the first time and by refusing to cut corners, you’ll save yourself a ton of time in the end.

And to save time even after the painting is done, see our previous article on making paint dry faster.  

Photo: timlewisnm / CC 2.0