What Supplies Do You Need When Painting ?

With the holiday period on the horizon, many people use the time off to get the house in good working order. The sad truth is that a house requires a lot of maintenance and hard work if it’s going to be kept in tip top shape, and January and February are the perfect time to get your tool box and get your hands dirty. This can mean everything from working on the garden, putting in that deck you’ve been wanting to all year and repainting some of the rooms in your home.

If you are planning on getting busy painting, there are a number of tools and instruments you don’t want to forget to keep handy. A professional is sure to get the job done properly (most of the time), but by taking the job into your own hands you almost owe it to yourself to not take any shortcuts and ‘brush up’ (see what we did there) on what you need and what you’ll need it for. Here are some of the less obvious things you’ll want by your side when you decide to get to work with your paint brush!

Tape Measure

You’re doing the paint work yourself – rather than going with a pro – so obviously you want to get it done as inexpensively as you can. It’s important to ascertain how much paint you’ll need for the job and your tape measure is your best friend in helping you find out. After all, you don’t want to buy paint you don’t need. Measure the room’s length, width and height and keep in mind that a litre of paint covers roughly 15 square metres, and you’ll have a good idea of how much to buy. You can also check out Dulux’s paint calculator here: http://www.dulux.com.au/products/paint-calculator.

Drop Cloths

This is an obvious one, but as well as putting out sheets on the floor, you should strongly consider a plastic covering for furniture. This provides them with the most protection and ensures your DIY painting experience doesn’t end in disaster.

Big Bucket

For a particularly large room where any litres of paint are required, it can be inefficient to have to keep mixing cans. Having a single large bucket can be ideal to ensure consistent colour all over the room, as you’re only using one mix.

Painters’ Tape

Having tape of some kind is an absolute must for any interior job; it can be used to protect trim and walls that you don’t want to paint just yet. Masking tape can be used, though it has much strong adhesion properties, which can make it not ideal when you need it to come off quickly. Remember to remove the tape before the paint dries.

Hole Filler

Ensure you get a clean, smooth finish and keep a hole filler on hand. As the name suggests, this tool allows you to scrape always loose paint and fill any cracks, holes or gaps that inevitably come about.

Screwdriver

The last thing you want is to be mid paint only to realise that you’re going to have to go out to the garage, sort through all your tools and find a appropriately sized screwdriver to remove lighting fixtures. You want to have everything ready prior to painting so make sure any ceiling plates and air duct fittings are removed before you roll your sleeves up.