14 tips to paint with confidence with Harris Brushes

Do your walls need a bit of a refresh? Giving your home a fresh coat of paint is a relatively inexpensive way to reinvigorate a room so if you’ve noticed paint flaking, colours fading or you just fancy making over your scheme with a new fresh shade, now is the time to take action! But where do you start?

Getting started

It can sometimes feel daunting starting a DIY project from scratch, but don't worry, painting a room can be carried out easily once you know what you’re doing.

As with any DIY project, you need to plan it out properly. Taking a little time to prep beforehand is going to make a huge difference, it's often the little things that make a huge impact down the line. Small mistakes still take time to remedy and can cost a significant amount of money if you have to hire a professional to fix any errors.

If you’re using the right tools, you’ll be painting like a professional in no time. Here, we break down exactly what you need to do with a few simple pointers approved by Harris experts.

All in the preparation

You certainly don’t want to stain any of your furniture, so, before you even touch a paintbrush – make sure the room is covered. A good place to start is laying a Double Protection Dust Sheet on the floor in your work area. This’ll help to ensure a smooth surface for painting, removing any old flakey paint, varnish or wallpaper.

These early stages are also the time to repair holes, cracks or gouges in the walls. Use a tool like a chisel knife to open the crack, creating a V shape groove for the filler to adhere to, then try a Harris Ultimate Filling Knife which has a flexible high carbon steel blade to fill in the cracks. Let the filler cure then sand smooth with a Harris sanding block.

If you're working with previously painted wood, give it a quick sand to improve paint adhesion. Next, wipe away any dust with a damp microfibre cloth. Finally, tape off any areas you don’t want to paint, using Harris Ultimate Fine Line Masking Tape for clean edges without seepage.

Painting walls and ceilings

Now that you’ve got all your surfaces ready, it's time to get going. Start with painting the edges and make sure you use a brush that is designed for ‘cutting in’ – this just means painting edges – such as the corner of the room, around light switches, window frames, and skirting boards.

The Harris Ultimate Walls & Ceilings Blade Brush is perfect for this because of its tapered bristles to create an edge as thin as a blade, giving absolute control. The patented Harris NO-LOSS™ technology also means no pesky, loose bristles.

Begin by painting with the Blade brush and work in 1m segments placing its wide tip against the edge and pulling the paint along. Then use the Blade brush as normal to create 5-10 cm of paint from there.

Once the edges are complete, switch to the Harris Ultimate Powercoat Roller for fast coverage on large areas. Start a foot from where you’ve cut in, for a fine finish with no ‘framing.’ Use a W motion to overlap the area you’re working on. Pair your Powercoat roller with a Harris extension pole for even faster painting. The pole helps you cover a much larger area and means you don't need to bend down to load up on paint or climb a ladder to paint ceilings.

Painting woodwork

Smaller-scale woodwork can be a bit be fiddly to paint so get a selection of brush shapes and sizes to use for this kind of work. The Harris Ultimate range of woodwork brushes includes flat, round and angled brushes for flat surfaces, curves and spindles and for really tricky areas, triangular and angled brushes are ideal.

You may also want to opt for the smaller Harris Hobby & Craft brushes, again in a selection of task-specific shapes. For a flawless result on woodwork, apply a primer to prevent stains from coming through and use an Ultimate Angled Gloss Brush following the grain, then you just need to leave it to dry.

Next, lightly sand using Ultimate Fine Sandpaper and wipe the surface down before using the Ultimate Angled Gloss Brush to apply the topcoat of gloss, eggshell or satin. The Ultimate Angled Brush head will cut in at the top of a skirting board or edge of a window frame providing a seamless finish.

For more information plus invaluable hints and tips on all key decorating projects, visit harrisbrushes.com