How to Prepare a Room Before the Painters Arrive

Painting looks like the job, but preparation is the job. A wall that has been filled, sanded and cleaned takes paint evenly and holds it. A wall that has not will show every skipped step once the light hits it from the side.

What we do before opening a tin

We cover and protect everything that is staying — floors, fixed furniture, trim, floors again where there is any chance of a drip. Then the surface gets worked on:

• Nail holes, dents and cracks filled, then sanded back flush.
• Flaking or lifting paint scraped back to something sound.
• Glossy surfaces keyed so the new coat has something to grip.
• Walls washed where there is grease or smoke — paint will not stick to either.
• Gaps at trim and ceilings caulked, so the line reads straight.

What you can do to make it go faster

None of this is required, and we will do all of it if you would rather not. But a room that is already clear moves quicker:

• Take down pictures, mirrors, curtains and curtain rails.
• Move small furniture out; leave the heavy pieces, we will shift and cover them.
• Clear the tops of radiators, sills and mantels.
• Tell us about any damp patch, past leak or wall that has been patched before — those change what the surface needs.

Colour: decide in the room, not in the shop

A colour chip under shop lighting is a different colour on your wall. If you are undecided, put the shortlist on the actual wall, look at it in morning light and again at night, and choose then. North-facing rooms pull colours cooler; a south-facing room will warm the same paint up considerably.

Between coats, and after

Paint is dry to the touch long before it has hardened. For the first while after we finish, treat the surface gently — avoid scrubbing it, and give it time before pushing furniture back hard against a freshly painted wall. Keep any leftover paint, labelled with the room it went in. Touching up later from the same tin is invisible; matching it afterwards from memory rarely is.