Top Tips for Painting or Wallpapering your Home

It’s time to dust off your overalls and prepare yourself for DIY season, with help from our handy guide. You’ll be painting and wallpapering like a professional in no time – simply prepare yourself well and enjoy giving your home a makeover!

Don’t Brush It Off

Arguably the biggest part of painting a door frame is choosing the right brush – you don’t want one which is either too big or too small, otherwise you might find yourself painting more than you want! It’s recommended to use a smaller brush, such as a 1.5", 2” or 2.5”. This way you’ll paint just the frame, and won’t end up with any small marks on the walls at either side!

B&M Top Tip: Wait for a dry day before you start painting – when it’s wet, the humidity is higher which can lead to drips and a slower drying time!

Tool Up

Painting requires more than just the brushes and paint, it’s also really handy to have extra tools which make the whole process far easier for you. Use masking tape to place over skirting boards and switches, ensuring you don’t get any paint droplets on them! Latex gloves help keep your hands nice and clean, stopping any pesky paint from making your hands sticky!

B&M Top Tip: Paint from top to bottom – this way you can keep painting over any mistakes as you work your way down!

Wallpaper

When wallpapering, make sure you’ve got all the right materials! Using a proper pasting table will help you layer your paste on cleanly, without any ridges – ensuring your wallpaper goes up like a work of art. It’s also easy to overlook the need for appropriate scissors for cutting your paper! You want as clean a cut as possible, without any rough edges, which will help your paper go onto the wall evenly!

Perfect Preparation

Before you begin your DIY job, it’s important to properly prepare! If you’re going to strip wallpaper, make sure you’ve got a stripping knife which will help to take old paper off easily. Dust sheets are a lifesaver, keeping any paint or paste from marking your furniture – Harris’ heavy duty cotton dust sheet is perfect for this job, thanks to the seep resistant backing!

B&M Top Tip: If you get any paste on the front of your wallpaper, use a damp sponge to gently remove it!

Thanks to the lovely people at Harris, you can win a £50 B&M voucher to help with all of those DIY jobs. Enter here for your chance to WIN!