Spruce Up Your Guest Room With A Fresh Coat Of Paint

The holidays are coming and so are your houseguests. You’d love to breathe new life into your tired and dreary guest room but your holiday to-do list is already as long as your arm. Should you change your plans? Nope – just your outlook.

It doesn’t take a lot of time or effort to spruce up your guest room. All it takes is a few hours and a couple fresh coats of paint. It’s a simple do-it-yourself project with a big payoff for you and your guests. To get started, visit your local True Value hardware store for all the materials you need, then follow our step-by-step advice below.

Color Your Guest Room More Inviting

There's no easier or more affordable way to decorate a room than by painting it. This is especially true with guest rooms, which are usually smaller than other rooms in your home. And don't forget the fifth wall - the ceiling. By painting it lighter than the walls, you can easily create the illusion of height and space.

Since no one lives in your guest room full-time, you can be a lot more flexible in your choice of paint colors. Have fun picking colors that are formal or funky, sedate or snazzy…or choose colors by the way they're said to affect our moods and perceptions. Here's an overview:

Green. Green, the color of nature, makes people feel more relaxed. Light green intensifies the effect, which is why it's an excellent choice for guest rooms and bedrooms.
Blue. Similarly, shades of blue, like the ocean and sky, evoke feelings of calm, tranquility and spirituality, so they're also good choices for restful sleep.
Red. Red is known for stirring passion, romance and appetite (something restaurants have known for a long time). Keep in mind, however, when paired with black, red evokes anger. So choose your room accessories accordingly.
Yellow. Cheerful and dynamic, yellow is a great choice to brighten up a small or dark guest room. It's also said to be the color of intellectuals.
White. White reflects light, so it can make your guest room appear bright, cool and spacious. But it's also the hardest room color to keep clean. Something to consider if your guests have kids and pets.
Purple. Various shades of purple evoke different feelings. Children typically respond to the energy of bright purple, while adults attribute gloom and sadness to dark purple, a traditional color of mourning. Light purple and violet shades, on the other hand, evoke feelings of romance and nostalgia.

Visit the Idea Center at your local True Value hardware store to find Idea Cards with professionally designed color palettes, as well as full-color brochures with removable paint chips you can use at home.

Helpful Tip:

True Value EasyCare^® brand paint is available in a wide array of colors in durable flat, eggshell, satin, semi-gloss and high-gloss finishes. True Value's Certified Color Experts^® can help you select the best sheen to suit your needs.

Prepare For Great Painting Results

Preparing your surfaces before you paint is key to better paint adhesion and wear. It also makes your painting job quicker and easier. Here's how to prepare:

Step 1. Protect
Place drop cloths or tarps on the floor and remove window coverings, switch plates and outlet covers. Remove furniture or place it in the center of the room and cover with drop cloths. Use painter's tape to protect windowsills, baseboards, door hinges and the ceiling perimeter.

Step 2. Clean
Paint doesn't adhere to dirt. Using a sponge or cloth, wipe down your walls with mild detergent and water and allow to dry.

Step 3. Repair
If your walls have cracks, holes or other damage, apply spackling compound or acrylic caulk with a putty knife. Sand with sandpaper once they're dry.

Helpful Tip:

If you need to make repairs, add an extra day to your plans to give the compound time to dry.

Step 4. Prime
You don't have to apply a coat of primer before you paint, but doing so will make the paint adhere and wear better. Additionally, priming is advisable if your walls are stained or you wish to use light-colored paint over dark walls. Apply primer with a brush or roller, using the same technique as painting.

Helpful Tip:

To prevent the paint from drying unevenly avoid stopping while you're in the middle of painting a wall.

Safety Alert!

Open the windows to make sure you'll be painting in a well-ventilated area.

Step 5. Apply Ceiling Brushwork
Pour paint into your paint tray (see Helpful Tips, below) and coat your brush with one inch of paint. Apply to the upper perimeter of the wall and to any areas you can't reach with a roller. Don't worry if you splash any paint on the wall - you'll cover it later. Use an angled sash brush to cut in at the edges where the walls and ceiling meet and lay on the paint about 1/4 inch from the edge of the surface. On your second pass, apply more pressure to carefully push the paint into place.

Helpful Tips:

When you're cutting in, look just ahead of the brush to ensure a straight line and give the paint a clean edge.
If you're using latex paint, cut in the entire room before you start rolling on the paint. If you're using oil-based paint, cut in only as much as you can roll over before the area dries.
When you're cutting in or painting other smaller areas, put some paint in a coffee can or similarly sized container instead of carrying a heavy paint can up the ladder.

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Step 6. Paint the First Coat
Okay, let's roll - ceiling first, then walls. Pour paint into the paint tray and coat your roller. Paint widthwise in 6-ft. square sections, using a zigzag pattern of overlapping "W" strokes. Move from right to left, then left to right, spreading evenly with horizontal strokes.

Feather (apply less pressure to) the edges of the squares to eliminate overlapping lines between each section. To ensure even coverage, use light strokes to re-roll across the ceiling and from bottom to top of each wall. If your paint has a flat finish, you don't need to blend. Otherwise, go over the entire surface (for very large areas, do two square sections at a time) with one-directional, overlapping, non-diagonal strokes once again.

Helpful Tips:

How much paint do you need for your walls and ceiling? One gallon of paint covers 300 - 400 square feet - and don't forget to double your measurements for two coats.
You can use a paintbrush, but a roller is a better choice because it covers more area and helps hide brush marks left from cutting in.
To roll close to the edge without making a mess, place your hand inside a plastic bag and grasp the paint-soaked roller handle cage so it extends about an inch past the roller knob end.
Slide the roller cover a little bit off the holder to get closer to doors, ceilings and windows.
Touch up any missed spots when the paint is still wet to ensure an even sheen.
Before you begin painting a new wall, make sure you have enough paint left in the can to finish the entire wall. The same paint color can vary slightly from one can to another, so try not to use two different cans on one wall.

Step 7. Apply Wall Brushwork
Use a brush coated with one inch of paint to do wall brushwork in areas your roller can't reach, like the corners and next to the doors, windows and molding.

Step 8. Paint the Second Coat
If necessary, apply a second coat of paint using the same technique as the first. You don't have to let the paint completely dry between coats, but your results will be better the longer you wait.

Step 9. Clean Up
Thoroughly rinse your roller covers and brushes in water or paint thinner until the solvent runs clear, then place them in a brush/roller spinner to remove excess liquid. Store in their protective sleeves or hang them on nails or hooks. Remove the drop cloths and pull off the painter's tape at a 45-degree angle to avoid removing any fresh paint.

For more projects, go to TrueValuePaint.com. >

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