Painting Ceilings and Walls

Let’s begin with some general guidelines: As you paint, be methodical so you won’t need to touch up missed areas. Paint top to bottom: Do ceilings, walls, trim, and baseboards before doing doors and windows. Paint back to front. Many painters go to the deepest recess of a room—often, a closet—and work methodically toward a door. Paint inside to out. If you start painting in the backs of built-ins and cabinets, your final brushstrokes on the outermost edges will be clean and crisp.

Once you’ve prepped the surfaces, masked off baseboards, and spread drop cloths, it’s time to paint.

Painting the ceiling

Begin by using a brush to cut in a 2-in. to 3-in. border where the ceiling meets the walls and near all moldings. This cut-in border reaches where a roller can’t and thus allows you to roll out the rest of the ceiling without getting paint on the walls. Later, as you roll within 1/2 in. to 1 in. of the ceiling–wall intersection, you’ll cover the brushmarks, so the paint texture will look uniform. This operation goes much faster if one painter on a step bench cuts in, while the second painter rolls on paint, using an extension pole to reach the ceiling.

To avoid obvious lap marks, paint the ceiling in one session, working across the narrowest dimension of the room. Roll out paint in 3-ft. by 3-ft. sections—about one roller-load of paint. First, roll the paint in a zigzag pattern, which distributes most of the paint in three or four strokes, then go back and roll the paint evenly. When the roller is almost unloaded, slightly overlap adjacent areas already painted. Keep roller passes light, and don’t overwork an area. Once the paint is spread evenly and starting to dry, leave it alone so its nap marks can level out.

For a smooth finish, use a standard 9-in. roller cover with 3/8-in. to 1/2-in. nap. Thanks to the extension pole, you can reach the ceiling easily, without needing to stand directly under the roller and its fine paint rain. To minimize mist and drips, run the roller up and down the bucket ramp several times when loading. But don’t fret about small, stray spots on walls because you’ll cover them later when you roll the walls.

Painting the walls

The wall-painting process is nearly the same as painting ceilings—cutting in with a brush and rolling larger areas—except that you can load more paint on the roller. To reduce spatter, roll up on the first stroke; the excess will fall back to the roller. Continue rolling in a zigzag pattern to unload the roller before rolling out the paint. A 6-in. hot-dog roller can paint the areas over doors and windows that are too narrow for a standard 9-in. roller. Rolling is always faster than brushing because you don’t need to dip a roller in paint continually. If you’re careful around electrical outlets, you can also use a hot-dog roller there.

With more paint on your roller, you can cover slightly larger expanses of wall, say, 3 ft. by 4 ft. If you start at the top of the wall and work down, you’ll roll over any drips from above. Cover brushmarks by rolling within 1/2 in. to 1 in. of the ceiling; this is important when applying darker hues because rolled-on paint reflects light differently than paint that’s been brushed on. Slightly overlap adjacent sections. To avoid unloading excess paint along outside corners, lighten up as you roll.

Finally, sand lightly between coats when you apply oil-based paint, especially enamels on cabinets or trim. On walls, use 220-grit sandpaper or a dry sanding block. It’s not necessary to sand latex paint, unless you’ve waited several weeks between coats; until latex is 100% dry, new coats adhere easily.