Is painting the house hard?

[Anonymous]

We are considering painting the home ourselves.
Is a DIY job obvious?

[Anonymous]

Outside or inside? I've done both and it's easy, but time consuming.

[Anonymous]

Painting the interior is an easy DIY job that you can do for a fraction of the cost it would be to pay someone for it. But it still requires a lot of care, time, and effort. Maybe you should start with one room and see how it goes? You'll improve as you go along, and you'll find out if you hate it.

One tip: don't paint all the edges first, and then go back with a roller because you'll end up with brush strokes dried in that you can't get rid of.

One more tip: wear gloves. Latex paint is hard to get off your hands.

[Anonymous]

The prep work is the hardest part.

[Anonymous]

I DIY, the only part that is hard is doing the cut-in for the ceiling and trim. Mine never looks great but good enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Painting the interior is an easy DIY job that you can do for a fraction of the cost it would be to pay someone for it. But it still requires a lot of care, time, and effort. Maybe you should start with one room and see how it goes? You'll improve as you go along, and you'll find out if you hate it.

One tip: don't paint all the edges first, and then go back with a roller because you'll end up with brush strokes dried in that you can't get rid of.

One more tip: wear gloves. Latex paint is hard to get off your hands.

Latex paint comes off in the shower or after a day or so. The harder part is getting it out of your hair but the spray foam is far worse than any of it.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Inside is what I am womdering about.
My home is worth 1.5 mil in an area where 700k is average so I dont want to cheapen it. Will it be noticeable? I feel I can always tell when painting has been a DIY job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Inside is what I am womdering about.
My home is worth 1.5 mil in an area where 700k is average so I dont want to cheapen it. Will it be noticeable? I feel I can always tell when painting has been a DIY job.

Dumb question. It all depends on how good you are at painting. If you are a good painter, it will look fine. If you are not, it will look bad.

[Anonymous]

Painting is not hard, but you definitely get better the more you do. Try doing a small room, like a powder room and see how it goes. A pro can cut (roll along an edge) and finish super fast, but I tape/prep everything. I think it looks nice, but takes forever.

Also, I think that a lot of the things you notice in a bad paint job relate to patching badly so that you can see odd spots under the paint. So, before you paint, patch holes carefully, using as little spackle as possble and sanding any extra material.

[Anonymous]

99% of doing a good painting job is in the prep work. If you do a good job taping and covering then rolling it on the walls and ceiling are easy. More time consuming is the trim. I always find myself getting annoyed with the time it takes to get things prepared but if each and every time it turns out looking great. If you haven't done it before - start with a room or a space that is easy- regular ceiling height, not too many corners and see how it goes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:99% of doing a good painting job is in the prep work. If you do a good job taping and covering then rolling it on the walls and ceiling are easy. More time consuming is the trim. I always find myself getting annoyed with the time it takes to get things prepared but if each and every time it turns out looking great. If you haven't done it before - start with a room or a space that is easy- regular ceiling height, not too many corners and see how it goes.

Also, one-coat paints aren't really one coat. One of the things that makes DIY painting look crappy is where the paint coverage isn't good enough and you can see primer or some other color peeking through. A pro will primer + 2 coats, and you should too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Inside is what I am womdering about.
My home is worth 1.5 mil in an area where 700k is average so I dont want to cheapen it. Will it be noticeable? I feel I can always tell when painting has been a DIY job.

I just painted my dining room after a week of prep - taping, sanding, patching, and washing the dust from sanding. It looks good. I decided to do it myself because a pro redid my bathroom and the paint job is crap. I figured mine couldn't be worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Inside is what I am womdering about.
My home is worth 1.5 mil in an area where 700k is average so I dont want to cheapen it. Will it be noticeable? I feel I can always tell when painting has been a DIY job.

I just painted my dining room after a week of prep - taping, sanding, patching, and washing the dust from sanding. It looks good. I decided to do it myself because a pro redid my bathroom and the paint job is crap. I figured mine couldn't be worse.

Careful with the sanding if there's any chance you have lead paint under there, especially with the trim.

[Anonymous]

Honestly, if you have a 1.5 million dollar house, I don't know why you wouldn't use a professional. I've spent countless hours painting, but I dread it every time. It's not necessarily hard, but it is extremely time-consuming to do the work (especially prep work) to get a professional looking end product. I find ceilings and bathrooms especially challenging. Also, any area that has special architectural features (e.g., really high ceilings, wall mounted light fixtures, drapery rods, hard to reach areas, etc.). Add in furnishings (obstacles), and it becomes quite a job.

You're talking about painting what sounds like a large house. I'm not sure you realize just how big a job that is. If you do decide to do this yourself, buy quality paint and roller/brushes (they're worth it), plus lots of easy off blue masking tape and drop cloths. Meticulously prepare the walls, then prime (at least the patches), and apply two coats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, if you have a 1.5 million dollar house, I don't know why you wouldn't use a professional. I've spent countless hours painting, but I dread it every time. It's not necessarily hard, but it is extremely time-consuming to do the work (especially prep work) to get a professional looking end product. I find ceilings and bathrooms especially challenging. Also, any area that has special architectural features (e.g., really high ceilings, wall mounted light fixtures, drapery rods, hard to reach areas, etc.). Add in furnishings (obstacles), and it becomes quite a job.

You're talking about painting what sounds like a large house. I'm not sure you realize just how big a job that is. If you do decide to do this yourself, buy quality paint and roller/brushes (they're worth it), plus lots of easy off blue masking tape and drop cloths. Meticulously prepare the walls, then prime (at least the patches), and apply two coats.

Because I am not rich. I have other things to spend money on. Also, I work three days a week, so I have time.
It is 4000 sq feet, not all of it needs re painting. We could also do one room at a time.