How to prep before painting!

It’s SPRING BREAK!! I love this time of year. It is going to be 80 degrees here this weekend! YAHOOOOO. I live in paradise for the next couple of months before the burning inferno of summer hits in June. I live in Southern Utah, so the weather is more like Vegas than Salt Lake City, and although I LOVE where we live, summer can get a bit hot. As the weather starts to get warmer, project mode goes full boar around here. Does that happen to you? It starts to get warm and all of the sudden you have 103 projects on your “to do” list?
 
Well, I’ll be honest, our project list is always long. I can’t help it! I left for the weekend to visit my family, and Dan painted almost the entire main level of our house while I was gone! I was thrilled! I cannot wait to show you. But, first, I get to giveaway some fun stuff to help with your next painting project. Thank you to The Home Depot and P&G for partnering with me for this giveaway!!
 
When you prep a wall for painting, the first thing we do is make sure it is clean, and our trusty Swiffer Sweeper is our best friend in this process. If you don’t get all the dirt, dust and grim off of your wall prior to painitng, it is possible that your paint will not stick properly. So, I would suggest to a Swiffer Sweeper in a heartbeat. I use mine all the time for mopping floors with the wet pads when I have need it for a quick cleanup too.
_DSC0647
My sexy hubby does everything for me that involves a ladder being too high. I am terrified of heights for some reason. I get so scared I shake! So, bless his heart, he dusted the whole wall by himself while I was taking pictures!
_DSC0651
Do you think we get some use out of our swiffer? Mine is COVERED in stickers from my kids!
Next, you need magic erasers to help scrub that stubborn food, crayons, markers, or all of the above if you live at my house before you paint. I honestly buy these bad boys in bulk. Our 2-year-old Creed has an obsession with markers. Good times.
IMG_4544[1] IMG_4542[1]
The magic erasers work wonders to get off excess paint from trim and baseboards.
_DSC0656
Stay tuned for some fun reveals of our painting projects!

What is the prize?
DIY Painting #ReadyDoneClean Prize Pack from P&G and The Home Depot, it includes:

How to enter?

All you have to do is leave a comment telling me what painting project is on your to do list! 
xoxo,
Brooke
winner-$50-home-depot-swiffer-magic-eraser
Winner info Comment #207

My basement family room!!

 

Published on March 12, 2013

225 thoughts on “How to prep before painting!”

  1. My next paint project is to spray a desk to use as a nightstand/laptop desk in my master bedroom. Plus we’re going to repaint our whole condo. The trick is getting motivated to get up and do it!

  2. I need to paint the inside of my screen porch. I got an estimate to do it professionally- $500. I think I can do it myself. I would rather spend $500 on something else.

  3. I’m thinking about painting my kitchen cabinets with chalk paint. First, I think I’ll try one of the bathroom cabinets. Thanks for sharing.

  4. We are planning on starting a painting over-haul of our house this spring. It is time for something new! I’m thinking navy and grey walls. I’m a sucker for both colors! Thanks for the opportunity to win something!!

  5. I have a nasty giant craigslist mirror that will be AWESOME once it is painted & faux-finished. So many painting ideas…so little time!

  6. Where do I want to paint? It’s a list. The most pressing areas, however, are the common areas and bathrooms, since the contractor-grade paint that our builder used is horrible, not to mention flat – it shows every mark and when you try to wipe the marks off you get the bonus of taking off the paint, too. So kids’ bathroom and guest bathroom, plus main hallway, foyer and – why not? – the great room could all use a paint job. And if I have time before this baby arrives, maybe even the nursery.

  7. I painted my kitchen green and after a year decided it’s NOT the green I wanted….too much yellow undertones…..I wanted blue undertones, so I have to start over! SOON!!!!

  8. What a great giveaway!! I would paint my teen boys’ room. We sold their bunk beds and the wall where they were is now all grimy. I guess it always was but now we can see it. There are also BB dents in the wall by the corkboad. And there is also the whole that I knocked in the wall moving a dresser. That room needs some serious TLC.

  9. I am ALWAYS painting!! I redo furniture so right now I am painting my bedroom furniture and painting living room, my hallway and stairs. I live at Home Depot, so this would be awesome!!

  10. My husband wouldn’t paint anything unless I begged him to, so I’m kinda jealous that your husband did all that!

    My next painting project is in process. The previous owners left behind an outdoor metal bistro set. The paint was peeling badly, so I’m currently stripping it to paint. It’s my first time using paint stripper! 🙂

  11. The painting project next on my list is to finally FINISH touching up the paint on my hallway…that I started months ago…

    phall0106 at yahoo dot com

  12. I’m updating rooms in my parents house. The upstairs bathroom is next on the list! The walls need to be sanded down before painting along with the baseboard and vanity. This bathroom was originally pained bright teal(I surprised my mother by painting the room when I was 12 on Christmas break and when she was at work). It’s been repainted since to a lovely aqua but she still not a fan of the color so hopefully third time is the charm 🙂

  13. My next painting project is our bedroom. We’ve lived in our house for close to 15 years, and we still have the horrible builder’s chalky white paint on our walls. I’m going to paint them a soft gray. I can’t wait to see the results. Thanks for the chance to win this prize.

  14. my stepson and his wife bought a house that had one of those wooden wishing wells…they didn’t want it!!! ah, man…it is mine now! but it’s in need of help. so i’ll be painting that baby. have to figure out what colors…but i’m excited!

  15. Welllllll….since we are remodeling a home built in 1978, we still have to paint the laundry room, master bedroom, and ALL the ceilings! I really want to do my laundry room first, since I am in there all the time. P.S. Sad to see those swirly designs in your kitchen disappear, but I LOVE the new color you chose. Thanks!!!!!!

  16. we are in the midst of painting lots of trim for our new master suite. As soon as the drywall is finished, we will be painting a whole lot of walls too!

    1. Oh my gosh…I forgot! My oldest son’s name is Creed. It’s a family name and I’ve never heard of another besides the “other” Mullins men who’ve had this wonderful name. I’m sure your little guy is as special as my 17 year old!

  17. I am about to move out of the house I’ve been renting for 3.5 years. My husband and I painted one accent wall, without permission, because we couldn’t stand the pale yellow that adorned every wall in the house anymore. We painted the one wall navy – “midnight blue” and it was a good decision because it kept me from going insane! Now that we are moving out though we have to paint back over it with the pale yellow. Yes. It’s going to be a big job. Thanks for the opportunity to win!

  18. Our guest bedroom, or as the grandchildren call it, “our room”. 🙂 I think I’ve picked the colors, need to pick up some paint samples. That room hasn’t been painted for 17 years! ‘Bout time!

  19. I would really like to paint and then stencil the powder room. And right now I have two old windows I want to paint and then hang in my bedroom.

  20. I’m always working on some sort of project! My next two painting projects are a dresser, repurposed into a TV stand, and a piano!! I’m dying to paint my piano baby blue! You should come help me! 🙂

  21. My whole house! We inherited a house from my in-laws and are in the process of remodeling to make it liveable after the last tenants destroyed it. Inside & outside everything is getting a new paint job.

  22. My whole house! We inherited a house from my in-laws and are in the process of remodeling to make it liveable after the last tenants destroyed it. Inside & outside everything is getting a new paint job.

  23. Our front room has a beautiful rock fire place with rock all the way up to the ceiling. The problem is, the color in the room is this dark brown color that was put on using who knows what to make a textured look. It’s awful and I would love to brighten the room up so people actually notice the room when the walk in the front door.

  24. My kitchen wallpaper has been sadly hanging in there for almost 18 years (my youngest son was a baby when I hung it and he is now a senior in high school), so I think the time has come to bid a fond farewell to the wallpaper and bring those walls back to life with a beautiful paint color.

  25. Our whole entire house is the same color, so we have multiple rooms to paint, but I think that we will start with the kitchen. After removing the border we will paint the walls and also the oak cabinets.
    thefaulks1997 at earthlink.net

  26. My kitchen wallpaper has been sadly hanging in there for almost 18 years (my youngest son was a baby when I hung it and he is now a senior in high school), so I think the time has come to bid a fond farewell to the wallpaper and bring those walls back to life with a beautiful paint color.

  27. My dining room is one of the many things on my list to do! After taking the wall paper off several years ago it has been way past time to do something with it- seems something else more important always seems to come up- new roof needed etc.!

  28. Last fall we painted our entire main floor. This summer we want to tackle the 2nd floor, with a special paint project in my office!

  29. I would love to paint our living room and kitchen. We’ve been in our house for 2.5 years and we still haven’t painted!
    Thanks for the great giveaway!

  30. I am have a complete bedroom set and dining set to paint! This is my first ever set of furniture, so I am going to make it fabulous and completely my own! I bought so wooden overlays and new knobs for ikea Tarva dressers, my sister in law gave me her old metal bed frame, and I have some hermnes nightstands that are going to be given the over lay treatment too! Spray paint the dressers krypton jade, and add a fabulous glaze. Hopefully in the end they look vintage. The metal dresser is going to be painted rust oleum jade. I got the knobs and overlays for a steal at dr.lawless hardware’s website.

    After I am done with at, I have my eye on an inexpensive vanity on amazon for 150, that I will paint a matching shade of green, and of course add matching wood overlay’s!

    Then is the kitchen. Again an ikea set, A table and four chairs, solid pine, 149. I want to paint the legs yellow with some wood overlays on the beams? I want to paint the top cream, with a yellow damask pattern on top. Then I am going to add more wood overlays to the chairs, and paint them a fabulous blue (haven’t QUITE decided on a shade).

    When all that is said and done, I am going to paint my lack coffee and side table. I haven’t decided if I am going to change the maint color from white (possibly go with cream, to match the kitchen table) and put on a damask patten on them as we’ll. Most likely the same blue I paint the kitchen chairs.

    Lately, there is my computer desk. It functions really well, and I got it on sale, and that I love. However, it is an ugly black and white (only color option on sale). So I am going to repaint it with some pretty patterns. Hoping to make the days I have to work from home less drab!

    My goal is to have all these done before November 2013, when my lease is up, I move away from my horrible roommate, and have a place of my own! I moved across the country for this job with nothing but a suitcase, knowing only my brother and sister in law. Getting my apartment decorated is the first step to get to make a small town girl start to feel at home in a big unforgiving city!

    Btw, this blog is proving to be a god send! My budget is crazy tight (city rent, yikes!) a and it is nice to know I can still have a nice home (even in a big city) without having to eat ramen every day!

  31. I’m currently working on refinishing one of those tables with a sewing machine inside. This was passed on to me when I moved out. It originally belonged to my grandfather who passed a few months before I was born. It’s not a sad thing, but I have grown up hearing so much about thus wonderful man and was so honored to have received what I’m planning on making a family heirloom. This is my most important project thus far and probably the closest to my heart 🙂

  32. I need to repaint my master bathroom–have been meaning to for months!

    Do I spy light blue paint in your kitchen?? Eeek! So exciting!!

  33. I have a dresser in my sewing room that, at some point in it’s history, was beat with the Ugly Stick. Or as my daughter puts it: “It fell out of the Ugly Tree and hit every branch on the way down”. Since our first option — putting a torch to it–would result in a bunch of my Important Stuff being stored in a pile on the floor, we’ve decided instead to paint it.

  34. Just finished painting the inside of the house and now it is time to paint the outside. Always more to do. Great giveaway. Thanks for a great blog.

  35. Great tip about the mr clean eraser on the trim! We’re getting ready to re-paint our front door, kitchen cabinets, and 4 rooms in our house! It’s going to be a long paint party here at our home! Great giveaway!!!

  36. Our ENTIRE first floor…didn’t paint when I moved in and I HATE the color scheme the previous owner did! Tan in one room and rose in the other…which wouldn’t be bad except for the hideous green trim that just makes me angry!

  37. My entire house. Have lived here since 2005 and every room is white! I’d like to add some color. We had new windows put in throughout the entire house so it’s time to paint. First up, a guest bedroom as we have family coming to visit this summer. The family room is at the top of my personal list as that is where my craft room is!

  38. My whole house needs some help but I would love to tear down some of this 70’s wood paneling and replace the sheet-rock!
    aesolecki(at)gmail(dot)com

  39. I am in love with your new wall color!! I’m currently painting our kitchen and living room. Oh and the kitchen table and chairs – next up is the cabinets!

  40. I just finished my daughter’s room yesterday! It was in Hanna Montana Purple and Pink, and she is now 14 going on 15. It was time for a change, to say the least. Now it is a beautiful Blue Gray with a striking black bedframe and a union jack flag duvet cover. She has grown up from Disney Channel to BBC British TV!

  41. I’m getting ready to repaint all our trim work white (from another shade of white – omly somebody addicted to DIY would understand, right?) and all interior doors a dark charcoal. Your generous give away would surely go a long way with my impending project!

  42. We are currently working on getting a bedroom in our basement ready for our kids to move into (#3 is on his/her way soon) and though we aren’t painting the walls, we have had to paint trim, a door, and the shelves we’ve built in the closet.

  43. My husband and I are expecting our first baby. I wanted to wait until I was 6 months to make sure the baby is doing okay (we’ve had troubles in the past) to even think about the Nursery. We are so excited to transform our storage room into his nursery. I can’t wait to see my son sleeping in his crib in his room. :O)

  44. We are living in a rental home and it is Pretty old. There is one finished room in the basement and it has the worst sponge paint job. My husband wants to turn that room into his office and with your help we can do it!! Pick me!!!

  45. i want all the painted paneling down in the hall, living room, kitchen, mudroom. i want to replace with drywall and paint in a creamy tan color. i want the popcorn ceiling scraped, retextured, and painted a bright white. we also have a flooring project we want to do. but it ALL runs together and seems like a huge overhaul!! lol

  46. We are just about to start painting our kitchen and family room. The entire house needs painting, but we are starting with these ares first. The hubby is not a huge painting fan.

  47. I’ve painted both of my kids’ rooms in the last 2 weeks, plus 3 pieces of furniture, so now I’m on a roll. Next up: the downstairs powder room!

  48. The trim in our guest room which I ruined when I attempted to use a product that promised to disolve the paint quickly and easily. Turned out to be a joke. Unfortunately, my husband didn’t laugh.

  49. I never thought of using a Swiffer, you are a genius! I’ve got a table that needs refinishing and possibly helping my mom paint her house! This prize would go a long way!! Thanks for the chance to win!

  50. I agree like most post…. my whole house, but I would start with my daughters bathroom. They had boys and painted it dark brown. It is so dark my little one won’t take a bath in there she says it is scary!!! haha

  51. I have 2 bedrooms and a bathroom to paint this summer! Painting over really dark paint in the 2 rooms, and removing wallpaper in the bathroom. Yuck.

  52. The entire outside of the house needs done! My spare bedroom, the hallway leading to the upstairs attic bedrooms, after I tear off the wallpaper! Augh!

  53. We have to paint our kitchen cabinets. The paint is starting to peel off! We will have a ton of sanding to do!
    mommy.2kidsnc(at)yahoo(dot)com

  54. The formal dining room! I’ve been putting it off… I’m thinking I would like to put in some form of wainscotting before I paint, but I can’t make up my mind! It’s the last room I have left to paint, I’ve painted every other room of this house in the past year.

  55. I was going to say my bathroom standard builder’s grade fixture’s including the faucets but then read the ambitious list of Rachel Orosz. WOW! Give it to her!

  56. woohoo! We are in the middle of painting our dining room, living room, bathroom…. oh, and I still haven’t finished the trim in the kitchen and bedroom!

  57. I have a few rooms in my house that have never been painted and one that was never finished. My sewing room is not completely painted after two years.

  58. We are going to be moving next week and the walls in the house are all white! I’d love to paint my main room/great room or my master bedroom! Let’s me honest, I need paint in the whole house:) hope I win!
    Brittny
    Lnkdup283@gmail.com

  59. Thanks for the endless tips and inspiration. Waiting for some warmer weather to paint my living room and kitchen. Just like you, I need to brighten and give it a light cottage color. Thinking about a gray color with white trim. Also have several furniture pieces I want to try to distress and paint. Thanks again!

  60. We need to paint our guest room before baby boy arrives next month. So much on our to-do list! This would really help!

  61. Our next painting project is going to be the kitchen. After 12 years of living in our house, we’re finally getting rid of the orange kitchen, circa 1985 – not your fun orange!

  62. I am working up to painting my kitchen. I am dreading the prep work. We moved into my late Grandfather In Law’s house. He smoked 3 packs of cigs a day and my grandmother in law cooked greasy eggs and bacon every morning. For 60 years!!!! I can not find a product that will clean the walls and not poison my family with noxious fumes at the same time

  63. We are re-doing the basement. We have to drywall, then it is paint time!! I want to get it done before carpet is laid, so I have to hustle!! Plus we have to paint the stairwell heading down…and it is CRAZY tall over very steep, very slippy stairs. That will be a husband job!!

  64. Great job on the kitchen, it looks fabulous! Love the color. I’d been thinking of the same color for our own farm house kitchen, as we have lived with the same four white walls for nearly 13 years. When I saw your photos, I knew I was on the right track, and now am more eager than ever to get up and do. But, when I mentioned to my hubby that I’d like to paint the space, he asked, “What shade of white would you like to paint it?” Any tips on how to proceed?

    –Whitewashed

  65. Our kids/guest bathroom. I want to rent a steamer to remove wallpaper but have to wait a few weeks.So ready to have it looking better!

  66. I am waiting for our basement to be finished. We are 2 months over schedule and still too much to be done. But when it is done I’m going to paint stripes in my girls new room.

  67. My Family Room…. it has been tapped off since Christmas! I am having a hard time choosing a deep beige color that will work with the reddish undertones of my oak trim (without adding a pink hue). The walls are currently painted a deep crimson red, they have been that color for 12 years and I’m looking to brighten the color and room.

    and then my son’s play room, I have primed the walls, removed all the trim, switch, socket, window coverings… sadly it’s been like this for 3 years! HELP

    I’m open for suggestions and any input would be appreciated!

  68. I need to finish painting our media room, our family room, the master bed and bathroom and my kitchen. Oh my, way too many rooms that need to be painted. Our house came with builders grade paint and it must be the worst paint on the planet 🙁

  69. Oh, man absolutely my kitchen! The main wall and island are painted a deep dark red, which I loved 8 years ago when I did it, but is now outdated. I’m dying to get a new color in there!

  70. My entire downstairs (kitchen, living room, dining room, family room) and all the ceilings upstairs (from a leak from poor plumbing) and the rest of my bedroom. When we moved in we thought it was a flat enamel in a beautiful clean yellow color.

    Turns out is was just tinted drywall primer.

    We also need to do the ceilings too.

    Anyone have a $500 gift card?

  71. I have to paint my basement from a dark brown cave to something lighter so it can be my daughters room. I love your blue kitchen. (alysia23@hotmail.com)

  72. Currently painting new bathroom cabinets my super handy boyfriend built (he’s a carpenter by trade…lucky me!!) It’s my first time painting cabinets and we’re trying not to cut corners and do it right so we’re not going back and doing it again. Swiffering the walls…..why didn’t I think of that! Good thing we started in the bathroom….I still have the rest of the house to paint once we finish these cabinets.

  73. My next painting project is part of the kitchen remodel. We’ll need to paint the wood that we’ll use to plank the ceiling, paint the walls, chalkboard a cupboard and replace the flooring and ceiling lighting. Can’t wait! It will be my hubby & moi’s first “large” DIY project! Maybe we’ll get adventurous and paint the laminate cupboards and remove the tiled counter!

  74. I am just finishing up painting EVERY ROOM in our house a very nice but boring white. I am in love with the Kilz paint for covering all of my blues, greens and pinks. Next week we’re listing our house, and I can’t WAIT to find a new house and start all over with some color. I could use some help with all of these supplies!

  75. Like you, I change my house decor/colors often. Right now I am planning to re-do my kids’ bathroom with a Sherlock BBC theme. It is their current obsession. When that grows old,…who knows what is next!

  76. I’d love to paint my patio table to give it a spruce. I rent, so unfortunately I can’t paint my apartment walls.

    Thanks for the chance to win!
    sandralclark at outlook.com

  77. I have had painting my kitchen cabinets on my to-do list for about two years. Once the weather warms, I’m going to finally tackle this project.

  78. With the weather warming up we are hoping to tackle the basement of our rental (though we are just repainting it white, it will be nice to have the same shade throughout). Wish we could do that lovely blue you just did your kitchen. *sigh* Maybe when we get a home 🙂

  79. I did built in bookshelves in my husband’s office oh… almost a year ago. I STILL need to caulk and paint those suckers. What is WRONG with me!?!?!?

    Do you want the rest of the list? I just bought a couple of gallons of touch up paint for the house. We built a house and closed last February and I have been using a lot of touch up paint until I decide what to do with colors. Oh, and I want to pop the cap off the half wall in the upstairs hallway and do something there… I may build lidded boxes for storage? I’m not sure yet. But What I do know is those puppies are coming off and I am also going to rip off drywall and put some bookshelves in that half wall. There are never too many bookshelves!

  80. My house hadn’t been painted since we bought it. . So I need .t.o paint the living room, play room, hallway and kitchen but I have no idea how to start!

  81. We just moved into our house in June. We’ve painted the master bedroom and added an accent wall in the living room. Next on the list is the kitchen!

  82. There are so many painting projects in my house! Removing wallpaper and painting in one bathroom, touch-ups EVERYWHERE, filling holes and painting the living room, and all bedrooms. Years of work ahead of me.

  83. I just finished a master bath painting job-which was more difficult than it should have been! Repainting with the same color, but a different finish is harder than it looks (previous owners used eggshell in the bathroom-it was causing water mark issues). My next project is the 3rd bedroom, and then on to the kitchen! Later down the list is painting the kitchen cabinets with gel stain.

  84. We’re hoping to paint our son’s room ASAP! We closed on our first home when he was 3 months old… 6 months later, we STILL havent put his room together. This would be the perfect boost to give him his room!

  85. i have a whole house to do! my mom passed away in december and i need to fix the house up in order to put it on the market. this would certainly help – especially with the hints!

  86. Living back with my parents for a few months. (and I’ll be 50 next month! NOT something most 50 year olds want to do) Can’t wait to have my own place again so I can get creative!

Leave a comment!

Keep the conversation going! Your email address will not be published.

*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.