20 Painting Hacks (Plus the Start to a Laundry Room Makeover)

I don’t know if all 20 of these ideas are truly painting “hacks” but they are definitely tips and tricks that I do when painting a room.

This is the beginning of my laundry room makeover. Being that painting a ceiling and walls is not the most thrilling thing to witness, literally watching paint dry, I compiled a list of painting tips. Along with the room painting tips, I refinished the cabinet and reinstalled it in the laundry room. So keep scrolling to see that process!

Calculate Paint

All the math teachers out there are like, “I told you this would be useful in your life one day!”

Be sure to measure the room accurately and calculate the correct amount of paint so you don’t purchase too much or too little. Basically, find the surface area of the room. Multiply the length times the width of each wall (like a big rectangle) and add wall measurements together. Subtract the doors or windows using the same method for their surface area. Then multiply times two because we always do 2 coats of paint, right guys? The answer is yes. Two coats for the best coverage and color saturation. The final number will give you the square footage of the walls or ceiling. A gallon of paint roughly covers 400 square feet.

For further details on calculating the paint needed for a room, or to print off the worksheet to help calculate, go here.

Find Your Paint Color

I seriously need to get an affiliation with this company due to how often I recommend them. Anyway, get 12×12 inch removable real paint samples from Samplize to test out a paint color, or two, before you buy paint. This cuts way down on the little paint sample cans you have to buy to test paint and then store the left overs. Plus, you can move the squares around the room without having a paint patchwork look permanently on the walls. And when you are done, you can easily lend them out for others to try. Less waste! Pretty much a grown up version of a sticker collection.

Painting Tips — These 12×12 inch Samplize paint samples are like giant, repositionable stickers. Both useful and fun.

Color Match

If creating your own custom color, measure out the quantities of the colors you are mixing so you get the “recipe” or ratios that can be replicated later on. (I do this mostly for furniture painting) If you have fabric or an item you are trying to coordinate paint with, get it color matched at the paint store.

Painting hacks — When mixing your own paint color for furniture, crafts, or a room, be sure to keep track of paint ratios so you can recreate that same color.

Patch Holes and Sand

Now is a great time to patch any nail holes, fill holes from removing plastic anchors, and fill any dents or damage done to the walls. Small holes can be filled with spackle and your finger. Larger holes, like the ones resulting from anchors being removed with needle nosed pliers, can be filled with a fiber reinforced compound and a putty knife. Larger holes or dents may require more than one round of filling. Let dry completely and then lightly sand.

Patching holes in a wall — Remove plastic anchors with needle nosed pliers, if possible. If it doesn’t want to budge, cut it down with a utility knife. Fill holes with wall patching compound and sand rough edges.

Dust the Walls

Textured walls are especially prone to collecting dust or fibers on the uneven surfaces. Spiderwebs quickly form in corners that you don’t expect. Any dust or spiderwebs that are painted over will leave unwanted bumps or texture in your paint if not removed prior to painting. Easily dust walls with a vacuum attachment or a Swiffer duster. Laundry rooms are especially linty, as you can imagine.

Paint Prep — Dust off walls with a duster or a vacuum before painting for the best finish.

Wipe Baseboards and Trim

Use a clean damp rag to wipe down baseboards and trim to remove any dirt or dust. This used to be the punishment my boys would get when they would not stop fighting with each other. There was a time when I had extremely clean baseboards. Sometimes I miss those days but I definitely prefer them getting along.

Prep room for painting — Wipe baseboards clean with a damp cloth before painting.

While wiping the baseboards, evaluate their condition. My house has settled and left some cracks in the caulk at the corners of the baseboards. This is a good time to fix that. Look for the link at the bottom of the post for how to caulk baseboard like a pro.

Keep Track of Switch Plates

Remove switch plate and outlet covers prior to painting. Wipe off plates with a damp cloth and place in a plastic baggie with the screws. This way none of the small parts get lost.

Remove outlet covers — Store outlet covers and screws in a plastic baggie so they are all together when ready to reinstall.

Now is a great time to switch out any outlets for recessed outlets, or to update to outlets with USB chargers built in. Scroll to the bottom of this post for a link on how to do that.

Remove Vents

There may be vents on the ceilings or walls. Some vents covers have screws holding them in, just unscrew to remove the vent. Other vent covers have springs holding them in. Remove the covers by pulling down slightly, then pinching the pins of the springs together to release the hooks. Using painters tape, tape the screws to the vent. Wipe vent with a damp cloth to remove any dust.

How to remove a vent cover — Pinch the metal spring pieces together to remove the vent cover from the ceiling.

Use Towels or Sheets as Tarps

Painter’s tarps are great and can cover large areas. My favorite is one that is rubberized so no spilled paint will seep through. But you don’t need a canvas tarp to paint. Use old towels or sheets to protect items when painting. I like using old towels for the tops of furniture or televisions. Towels or sheets are lighter than tarps and can cover items that are too precarious for heavy canvas tarps.

Stir Paint Well

True, the paint store shakes up the can when mixing the paint. However,that shaking doesn’t guarantee a thorough mixing of pigment. Use a stir stick or a rubber spatula (dedicated for paint, not food) to stir the paint. Mix for at least two solid minutes and be sure to scrape along the bottom of the can and pull up every so often. This eliminates any hidden pigment or non tinted paint from hiding in the corners of the can. Can a cylinder even have corners? Well, whatever the inside edges of the paint can are called.

Painting Around Lights

For flush mount lights, loosen the light ever so slightly to create a small gap between the light and the ceiling. Now it is easier to use a angled paint brush to cut in around the light without getting paint on the edge.

Painting around a light — Cut in around a flush mount light and tape off the shade of a semi flush mount light to prevent the roller from transferring paint.

For semi flush mount, or hanging lights, tape off around the base of the light and protect any shade from paint by covering it with thin paper or plastic bags. A shopping bag was ripped open to make it flat and then wrapped and taped on to the glass shade in my laundry room. This protected the shade from any overspray when painting. I could have just removed the shade, but it was tricky to install and this was easier in the long run.

Cutting In

Use an angled brush, dip about one third of the way into well stirred paint, wipe off excess and then carefully pull the brush along the wall where it meets the trim or ceiling. Go back with a more fully paint laden brush and fill in to create a wide band around the perimeter of the wall you are painting. This wide band will keep the roller from getting too close to a surface you don’t want paint on. Cut in at corners, too. Cutting in the corners will make it easier when rolling paint on the wall. Eliminating the need to squish the roller into the corner to paint and creating unwanted drips.

Confession: I cut in first and then put tape on the trim. I hate removing painters tape to find areas where paint seeped under. With practice, cutting in along a straight line gets easier. So, I cut in first and then add tape to protect the trim from the sprinkle of paint from the roller.

Use an Artist’s Brush

In hard to reach or tight areas, like between a wall corner and the door trim, use an artist’s brush. Use any size that works best for the space. I recently painted around some pipes under a sink with an artist’s brush. The 2 1/2 inch paint brush I was using was just too bulky to fit without slopping paint where it wasn’t wanted. The little brush did the trick, especially since artist’s brushes often have long handles.

Artist's brush or tricky spots — Use an artist’s brush to reach tight fitting spaces that need paint.

Paint Tray Liner

It may seem frivolous, but it can be a huge time saver when painting multiple colors in one room. Use a plastic paint tray liner in your paint tray but under the roller screen to make for an easy clean up. No liners on hand? No problem. Line the paint tray with heavy foil instead. Pull up and discard when done.

Remove Lint From Roller

A new roller cover is soft and fuzzy. All that plushness means lint, the enemy to a smooth finish. You can use a lint roller on the roller cover to remove any fuzz. For convenience, just pull a length of painter’s tape without ripping it from the roll. Then move the roller cover up and down along the sticky side of the tape to pull off any lint.

Clean roller cover before use — Eliminate fuzzy bumps in your paint job by first removing any lint from the roller cover.

Small Rollers

Let’s face it, if I am painting a bathroom I am not going to remove the toilet to paint behind it. Often times there isn’t enough room for a regular roller to fit. However, using a thin roller and roller cover can make it easier and cleaner to paint behind the toilet.

Small roller for behind toilet — Use a smaller diameter roller to reach behind permanent fixtures that are close to a wall.

Plastic Wrap

Use plastic wrap on a brush or roller in between coats or if you need to take a break while painting. This keeps the brush or roller from drying out or creating dried paint bits. It also saves time by not having to wash out your brush or roller after each use. For example, I painted the first coat in the laundry room then stopped to go pick up the boys from an activity. Covering the roller and the paint tray while I was gone for 30 minutes made for a quick get away and nothing dried out. When I returned, I peeled off the plastic and continued painting.

Clean Paint Can Rims

Cleaning out the groove in the rim of the paint can will prevent a crusty can top later on. It also helps minimize rust that can form on paint can rims from paint that is stored for a length of time. For plastic screw on jars of paint, put plastic wrap on the clean jar rim before adding the lid. It will keep the lid from getting stuck on from dried paint.

Make a “W”

When rolling paint onto the wall, roll in a “W” pattern. As you would expect, the start of the roll has the most paint. Rolling in a “W” pattern helps to distribute that paint and give you better coverage without any overlap lines. Roll a “W” and then roll back over to fill in the block of wall you are painting.

paint in a w pattern — Eliminate overlap lines by applying the paint properly with a roller.

Wet Wipes

Wet wipes, baby wipes, or a damp (old) hand towel can come in handy when painting. Inevitably, the roller will get too close to the ceiling and leave a little “whoops” tag of paint. Quickly remove that accident with the damp cloth or wipe that you kept handy. No need to touch up when you can wipe it away while the paint is still wet.

Clean up accidents with damp rag — No one tries to drip paint or hit the roller to the ceiling, but it happens. Be prepared for a quick clean up instead of doing touch ups later.

Cabinet Refinish

The corner of the laundry room cabinet was not my friend. I seriously hit my head on that dang corner EVERY time I washed the dog, which was weekly. That sucker was getting moved up on the wall. An easy decision to increase storage by moving the cabinet all the way to the top of the wall to store items that are infrequently needed. Light bulbs, stain, varnish, left over paint- all items that needed to be stored but not accessed weekly. Later I will add open shelving below the cabinet to store the frequently used laundry items at a convenient level.

Refinishing Process

Since I was taking the cabinet down to place it higher on the wall and the stain was worn off on the one corner, I decided to paint it. I know, I know, the knotty alder is pretty. All the other cabinetry in the house is the same dark knotty alder, so this one cabinet being painted wasn’t going to ruin anyone’s life.

In a nutshell, I took the doors off the cabinet, removed the knobs, and then removed the cabinet from the wall. I filled any knots or pits in the wood with Bondo (see link about fixing the frame or door for info on that process).

laundry cabinet redo — Remove the cabinet, tape off shelves, fill holes with Bondo to prep the cabinet for painting.

Once dried, I sanded the spots smooth with a high grit piece of sandpaper. Used a green Scotch Brite pad and Liquid Sandpaper to degrease and degloss the piece and wiped it clean with a cloth. Next I painted two coats of Heirloom Traditions Paint in Polo with a high density foam roller and a craft foam brush for tricky corners.

laundry room cabinet storage — Once Bondo dries, sand smooth, degloss and wipe clean, then paint.

Once dry, I reinstalled the cabinet up higher. A few tears of frustration were shed because that cabinet was heavy and my arms were giving out. To make installation easier, attach a level ledger board into the studs for the bottom of the cabinet to rest on. Push the cabinet against the wall while anchoring the cabinet to the wall studs with long screws. After installation, the ledger board was removed, doors were attached, new hardware (double beaded matte black knob) was added and touch ups were made.

installing a wall cabinet — Use a level board attached to the wall studs to help hold the cabinet in place while attaching it to the wall. Re attach the doors and add new hardware.

Step 1 of Laundry Room Make Over Complete!

As I start this laundry makeover it is hitting me how many projects are involved. It’s both exciting and terrifying to have a timeline to meet each week to post for all of you. But in the end, I know that this room will be more cheery, functional and reflect me. Hopefully the task of laundry will be more joyful in a cute and stylish room. Doing projects and room make overs to reflect my personality helps me feel like I am making a house a home.