Paint Ceiling or Walls First?

Painting a room is more challenging than it appears. The task involves arduous processes like preparing the surfaces to be painted, buying the right supplies, and painting the room following the proper procedure. Nevertheless, it would be best if you had enough skill and effort to get the best results. 

Robo Painting, a leading painter in the greater Phoenix area, prepared this guide to help you paint a room’s ceiling, walls, and trim like a professional. With the post, you will know whether to start painting the walls, ceiling or trim.

Prepare the Room for Painting

A paint job’s success starts with preparing the ceiling, walls, and trims. The prep work removes obstacles like artwork, light fixtures, cracks, dirt, and anything else that could prevent you from applying paint evenly. Furthermore, preparing the surface before painting helps paint stick properly, giving you a flawless finish. 

So how do you prepare your room’s wall, ceiling, and floor before painting?

  • Remove drapes, photos, artwork, and anything hanging on the walls
  • Remove light fixtures and switch plates on the wall and ceiling
  • Recaulk doors, baseboard, windows, and doors
  • Seal holes and cracks on the wall and ceiling
  • Sand uneven parts on the walls, ceiling, or doors
  • Clean the dust and dirt on the walls, ceiling, and trim
  • Prime the walls, trim, and ceiling

Get High-Quality Paint and Painting Supplies

Low-quality paint easily fades, flakes, blisters, or chips, inviting frequent repainting. Therefore, if you want your paintwork to last for a reasonable period, get paint made from premium materials that can withstand moisture, chemicals, and other elements for a long time.

Besides the paint, purchase high-quality brushes and rollers for better painting results. For one reason, professional painters discourage low-quality brushes and rollers — they leave bristles and fuzz on surfaces, giving a less-appealing finish.

Start Painting the Ceiling

Our painters in the greater Phoenix area suggest starting with the ceiling for two primary reasons. One, the practice shields already-painted walls and trims from accidental paint splashes. Two, the ceiling-first method eliminates the hassle of wrapping painted surfaces to protect them from accidental splashes.

For best painting results, cut in the four edges of the ceiling and the area around light fixtures before you begin painting. Afterward, use a roller with a double-arm frame to apply two coats of paint to the ceiling.

Work on small sections, approximately one square meter until you cover the entire ceiling. To avoid unsightly lap marks, advance from one section of the ceiling to the next quickly before the paint dries. 

Proceed to Paint the Walls

After painting the ceiling:

  1. Proceed to the walls.
  2. Use a paintbrush to paint corners, baseboards, and the tight areas around light fixtures and ceiling.
  3. Use a roller to paint the wall in an overlapping ‘W’ motion to curb roller marks. 

As a rule of thumb, start painting walls from top to button and finish painting one wall before moving to the next. Leave the wall to dry for some minutes, and apply a second coat to get a professional makeover.

End With the Trim and Doors

With so many corners and edges, painting the trim and doors is the most challenging and time-intensive part of painting a room. Therefore, you need the right tools and superb detailing skills to get flawless results.

With a suitable hand brush, paint the trim with back-and-forth brush strokes, making sure you do not splash paint onto the wall. After painting the entire trim, use a roller brush to paint easy-to-access door parts like panels and a hand brush for edges.

Want to Simplify Painting? Contact Robo Painting

Painting a room by yourself is laborious, costly, and time-consuming. You must prepare the room accordingly, purchase quality paint and accessories, and then paint the room from the ceiling to the trim.

If you do not want to take chances painting on your own, contact Robo Painting to get the painting job done perfectly and at a budget price. We have helped beautify Phoenix’s business and residential premises for the past 20 years.

Image: AleksNT on Shutterstock