[9. Paint the surfaces of a room in the right order: ceiling, trim—then walls.]
When you’ve got your paint and equipment ready to go, it can be tempting to start with the wall that’s right in front of you, but don’t. There’s actually logic to how a room is painted. “Ceilings come first because paint drips down,” says Brodkey. “If paint on a ceiling spots or drips down, you don’t have to redo a wall you’ve just painted.”

Leaving the walls for last ensures that the largest surface area of the room is as finished as possible. “I do the ceiling first, then put one coat on the walls,” says Josh Hearst, the owner of Ox Painting Contractors in Portland. “Then I caulk the trim to the walls, paint the trim and finish by putting one last coat on the walls to leave real clean lines.”


[10. put a little color on your ceilings.]
Most people put a shade of white or a cream on their ceilings, but ceilings are also a great place to add color to highlight architectural details or create a certain mood. “These days, a lot of clients are putting their wall color on the ceiling, too,” says Stan Wryn, the owner of Western Accents in Aloha, Ore. “Ceilings started to be painted white during the ’50s when builders started doing homes with walls that were only 7 feet tall instead of the 10-foot-tall walls that people who were living in houses built in the 1930s and 1940s were used to. Painting a ceiling white was supposed to make it look higher.

But a darker paint on a ceiling can look great. If you have a 90-degree edge with a flat ceiling going against the wall, when you make that transition, it actually makes the ceiling look two tints lighter.”
If the idea of having color on the ceiling intrigues you, but you aren’t sure you want to go through with it in a public room such as a dining room or a living room, experiment in a small room first. “A small space such as a powder room benefits from having color on the ceiling,” says Hoge. “It doesn’t darken the room. It ties everything together and creates a richer feel.”


[11. Invest in high-quality paint and equipment.]
As is the case with so many things, you get what you pay for. Often the true cost of a job isn’t just the paint, but in the associated costs of time and labor. “I always recommend people spend the extra money on the better paint because on a paint job, you’re mostly paying for the labor,” says Hearst. “It’s generally a $5 to $10 difference in the price per gallon, but you’re extending the life of the job by several years.”

You should splurge on supplies as well. Use cloth dropcloths rather than plastic. Not only can they be reused, they won’t slide around on the floor and cause you to slip. Use wool rather than synthetic rollers; the wool ones last longer and hold more paint. A high-quality paintbrush can last for years if well taken care of.

“When you shop for a brush, play with the bristles a little,” says Brodkey. “If the bristles snap back in place, those are good bristles, which means the brush will hold its form. Wash it with warm water and mild soap. Don’t use hot water because that will melt the glue that holds the bristles in place. If you’ve let paint dry at the root of the paintbrush, use a wire brush and push it in the direction of the bristles to get out the paint. Be thorough until the water runs clear.”


[12. If nature inspires your paint colors, look to the environment you live in rather than the one you wish you were living in.]
The outdoors is full of beautiful shades that you can recreate in paint. While you may be in love with a Southwestern palette, you should look closer to home for colors that will actually work. “In Oregon, people often choose colors that are harmonious with the environment outside their home,” says Brodkey. “I lived and worked in Maui for a while and the palette there completely changes in terms of color choice. It’s amazing how the paint colors that work in one area can look out of place in another.”


[13. Opt for some of the low-VOC paint lines to eliminate off-gassing and other environmentally unhealthy side effects.]
Paint, like many other products, is becoming greener, and there are a lot more eco-friendly brands and colors on the market than there used to be. If you live in a house with someone who has allergies, these paints are a great way to get color on the walls.

“I push environmentally friendly paints as much as I can in the right place,” says Hearst. “But paint companies really haven’t come out with products for flooring and trim that are too durable. What they’re doing with these paints is taking out the solids in the paint. You don’t really need all those if you’re putting paint on walls, but for the places that you do need durability such as floors, I still use older products. If you’re looking for performance, sometimes you’re going to have to sacrifice a bit of the VOC standards. Still, I’d stand behind the low-VOC elsewhere.”

Just keep in mind that you might not be able to get the exact shade you want in an eco-friendly product. “Not all the colors are available because it’s a separate tinting system,” says Hoge. “The colors are often limited.”