House Painting

How to Keep Paint Consistent

house paintingHave you ever finished painting a room or a wall and then looked over your work and noticed that the paint didn’t look very consistent? Maybe the strokes were showing, and you could see that you had painted in different directions. Perhaps the colour was inconsistent, and you felt like you had to repaint everything to make it look uniform.

If these problems have ever happened to you, then we have some suggestions that can help for the next time you are painting.

Mix Paint Together
If you are going to use multiple buckets of the same colour paint in the room, then you should mix them all together into a larger bucket. That’s because paint colour can vary slightly from one bucket to the next. It happens more often than you might think, and to avoid having multi-coloured paint on your finished walls, you can simply mix all the buckets of paint you will be using into one bucket. You may need to buy a larger bucket in order to do that, but if you take a little time to mix it all together, you will get a consistent colour that looks great when you are finished.

Keep a Wet Edge
Whether you are painting with a roller or a brush, you should keep it wet as you paint. This prevents dry, crusted paint from coming off onto the walls and creating a bumpy look to the finished work. If you keep the brush wet, then it will allow paint to go on smoothly and coat properly. You can end up with lap marks if you paint over dried paint, as you end up layering wet paint over the top of it and creating an uneven surface. By painting one wall at a time and painting when it is still wet, the paint will layer evenly and not lap.

Paint the Height of the Wall Each Time
As you paint from top to bottom (which is the right way to paint), be sure to paint the full height of the wall. The is especially important if you are using a roller. You may be tempted to paint from shoulder level and up along the length of the wall, but this can give you two separate layers of paint that stand out from each other when the work is done. Instead, start at the top and paint all the way down the walls, then move over slightly and do it again, all the way down the wall. This is called painting the height of the wall, and it allows you to apply paint in an even and consistent manner..

These are some of the best tips we can get about keeping your paint looking consistent. If you have tried to paint before and were not pleased with the results, then you should employ these methods next time. You will be much happier with the finished result, and while it may take a bit more time, it is definitely worth it for a better looking home.

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