A person seen from behind rolling pale paint onto a wall beside a framed picture

What a decorating job actually involves

Prep, cut in, roll, repeat

Most of a paint job happens before the can is opened. You move furniture to the middle of the room, cover the floor, wash greasy or dusty walls, fill nail holes and dents, sand the filler flat and prime the patches. Then comes cutting in, which means brushing a band about 3 inches wide along the ceiling line, corners and trim where a roller cannot reach. Rolling the open wall is the fast part: a bedroom wall takes ten minutes a coat. Two coats is normal, with two to four hours of drying between them. Wallpapering follows the same order, but the layout matters more: you mark a true vertical line, hang the first strip to it, and butt each following strip against the last so the pattern meets.

Lead, fumes, ladders and rags

Read this before you sand, scrape or climb

Lead paint

Homes built before 1978 may have lead in the old layers, most often on windows, doors, trim and porches. Test before you disturb any old paint. Never dry sand, dry scrape, or use a heat gun or torch on paint that might contain lead, because the dust and fumes poison children and adults alike.

If a test is positive

Painting over sound old paint is fine. Work that breaks the surface is different. Mist it with water and scrape or sand it wet, lay plastic sheeting under the work, keep children and pregnant women out of the room, and clean up with wet rags and a HEPA vacuum, never a broom. For anything larger than a small patch, hire a contractor certified in lead-safe work.

Fumes

Water-based paint is mild, but still open windows on two sides of the room and set a box fan in one of them blowing outward. Oil-based paint, mineral spirits and solvent-based primers give off heavy, flammable vapor. Use them only with strong cross-ventilation, put out pilot lights and other flames in the room, and take breaks outside if you feel dizzy or get a headache.

Ladders

Set a stepladder on a flat, hard floor with the spreaders locked. Do not stand on the top cap or the step below it, keep your belt buckle between the rails, and climb down and move the ladder instead of leaning. Never rest a ladder on a drop cloth over a slick floor.

Oily rags

Rags and paper towels soaked with oil-based paint, stain or mineral spirits can heat up as they dry and catch fire on their own. Lay each one flat outdoors to dry until stiff, or seal them under water in a metal can with a lid, then take them to a hazardous waste site.

Leftover paint

Never pour paint or solvent down a drain or onto the ground. Water-based paint can usually be dried out with cat litter and put in household trash with the lid off, but check your local rules. Oil-based paint and solvents always go to a hazardous waste collection or a paint take-back site.

Wallpaper near power

Switch off the breaker and remove the cover plates before papering around outlets and switches, since wet paste and a metal knife are next to live terminals.

Official guidance, free to use

Paint your first room, step by step

One shade per step: tick each as the room comes together

What you can decorate in your first month

Accent wall

One wall in a new color, with two straight edges to cut in and no ceiling work.

Small bedroom

Four walls in two coats over a weekend, which is the full routine of prep, cutting in and rolling.

Interior door or a run of baseboard

Brushwork in a harder semi-gloss finish, where smooth laying off matters most.

Papered bookcase back or closet wall

A few short strips of peel-and-stick paper that can be lifted and reset until the pattern lines up.

A small framed portrait hanging on a wall papered in a red floral pattern

Where do you want to start?

Paint first, pattern when you are ready

Walls and ceilingsRolling flat or eggshell paint onto open surfaces. This is where nearly everyone begins, and the base kit covers it. Ceilings come first when you do both, so drips land on a wall you have not painted yet.

Start here

Pick one wall in a bedroom, measure its width and height, and multiply them for square feet. One gallon covers about 350 to 400 square feet per coat, so a single wall needs a quart or two for two coats.

Trim and doorsBrushing a semi-gloss or satin enamel onto baseboards, door frames and doors. It uses the same brush and prep tools as walls, in a harder paint that shows brush marks, so it rewards slow work.

Start here

Take one interior door off its hinges, lay it flat on two sawhorses or a pair of chairs, and scuff the old finish with a fine sanding sponge until it no longer shines. Flat work has no drips, so it is the easiest place to learn a smooth brushed finish.

Peel-And-Stick WallpaperSelf-adhesive paper with a backing sheet you peel away. It can be lifted and repositioned, needs no paste, and comes off cleanly later, which makes it the easy way to try pattern and the usual choice for renters.

Start here

Measure the inside back of a bookcase or closet and order one roll in a simple small-scale pattern. A panel that small teaches you to line up, smooth and trim without a ladder or a pattern match across a whole wall.

Pasted WallpaperTraditional paper hung with paste, either brushed onto the wall or onto the paper. It costs more effort and gives the widest choice of patterns, a flatter seam and a finish that lasts for decades.

Start here

Choose a wall with no windows or outlets and a paper labeled non-woven or paste-the-wall. Measure the wall, note the pattern repeat printed on the label, and order every roll in one go so the batch numbers match.

York Wallcoverings: How to Hang Wallpaper

Read before you paste a strip

York Wallcoverings: How to Hang Wallpaper A wallpaper maker's free guide to preparing walls, pasting, hanging and trimming each paper type

Open a card to see its first step. Peel-And-Stick Wallpaper and Pasted Wallpaper each add their own gear to the tray, and you can switch them back out from the kit.

Choosing paint, sheen and brushes

Paint type

Buy water-based (latex or acrylic) interior paint. It dries in hours, cleans up with soap and water and has little odor. Leave oil-based paint alone until you have a specific reason to use it.

Sheen

Flat hides wall flaws and suits ceilings and adult bedrooms. Eggshell or satin wipes clean and suits living rooms, halls and kids' rooms. Semi-gloss is for trim, doors, kitchens and bathrooms. The shinier the paint, the more every dent shows.

Quality

A better grade of paint has more pigment and resin, so it covers in two coats where a bargain can takes three. On a first room, mid-priced paint is the cheapest option once you count the extra coat.

Brush

Look for a 2 to 2.5 inch angled brush with synthetic bristles that taper to a fine, flagged tip and spring back when you bend them. A good one holds its edge for years if you wash it the same day.

Roller cover

Nap length follows the wall. Use 3/8 inch for smooth drywall, 1/2 inch for light texture and 3/4 inch for heavy texture or brick. Woven covers shed less lint than cheap knit ones.

Before each session

Stir the can from the bottom up, rinse a new roller cover and pat it dry to remove loose fibers, and dampen the brush slightly so paint does not dry up in the heel.

An angled paint brush and a roller cover lying on a fan deck of paint color cards — A fan deck, a brush and a roller cover

The skills that decide the finish

Preparation

Paint hides color, not texture. Every dent, ridge of old filler and patch of grease shows through the new coat, so run a work light along the wall at a low angle and fix what it reveals.

Cutting in

Load the brush, set it down a half inch from the line, then push the bristles toward the edge so they fan into a thin bead and draw it along in one long stroke. Looking a few inches ahead of the brush keeps the line straight.

Keeping a wet edge

Lap marks appear when fresh paint overlaps paint that has started to dry. Finish a whole wall without stopping, and work one wall at a time from cutting in to rolling.

Loading and pressure

A roller should be full enough to lay paint down without being pressed. If you are pushing hard to squeeze out the last of it, reload.

Hanging to a plumb line

Walls and corners are rarely vertical, so the first strip of wallpaper is hung to a line marked with a level or a weighted string, not to the corner. Every later strip follows that one.

What trips beginners up

Preparation takes longer than painting. Expect to spend half the first day moving, covering, filling and sanding before any color goes on.
The first coat looks bad. It dries patchy and streaked, and the second coat evens it out. Judge the color and the coverage only after two coats are fully dry.
Tape does not replace a steady brush. Paint bleeds under tape that is not pressed down, and tape left on for days pulls the new paint off with it.
Color changes on the wall. A chip the size of a playing card reads lighter than four painted walls, so test a sample before buying gallons.
Skipping primer on patches. Bare spackle soaks up paint and shows as a dull spot through any number of top coats unless it is primed first.
Overworking the paint. Brushing or rolling back into paint that has started to set leaves ridges and pulls it off the wall. Lay it on, smooth it once and leave it.
Papering over a bad wall. Wallpaper sticks poorly to flat or unprimed paint and shows every bump underneath, and pattern that drifts off vertical is obvious by the third strip.

A roller with a white cover resting in a metal paint tray on a drop cloth — A roller resting in the tray

Where to learn more

Brushwork is easiest to learn by watching someone do it at full speed and then copying the movement on your own wall. Videos from working painters show how much paint to carry and how fast to move, the home-repair magazines publish free step-by-step projects for specific jobs such as ceilings or paneled doors, and a painters' forum will tell you what went wrong when you post a photo. The paint desk at an independent paint store is also worth a visit: the staff match colors, sell sample pots and answer questions for free.

Free places to watch, read and ask

Why the kit looks like this

The kit is built around one room in water-based paint. Paint is the largest cost and the only part you buy again for every project. The brush is where spending a little more shows most, because a good one cuts a clean line and lasts for years. The frame, tray, pole and ladder are bought once, and roller covers, tape and spackle are cheap consumables. Wallpaper tools sit behind their own add-ons, since which ones you need depends on whether the paper is self-adhesive or pasted, and the lead test is there for older houses only.

An open can of green paint beside a black paint tray and a roller on a white drop cloth — Paint, tray and roller on a drop cloth

Load the paint tray

The essential and recommended lines start in the tray. Gear for Peel-And-Stick Wallpaper, Pasted Wallpaper and a Pre-1978 Home joins once you pick it, above or from the add-ons in the kit. Compare the options, then set your picks and check out from the kit. Clicking a card selects it there.

Interior wall paint, 1 gallon

essential · Materials

One gallon covers about 350 to 400 square feet per coat, enough for two coats on an accent wall or one coat on a small bedroom.

budget

Total Interior Wall Paint & Primer All-in-One, Antique White/White, Eggshell, 1 Gallon

4.4(38)

$43.44

Painting and Wallpapering

What a decorating job actually involves

Lead, fumes, ladders and rags

Paint your first room, step by step

Where do you want to start?

Choosing paint, sheen and brushes

The skills that decide the finish

What trips beginners up

Where to learn more

Why the kit looks like this

Load the paint tray

Interior wall paint, 1 gallon

Angled sash brush, 2 to 2.5 inch

Roller frame, 9 inch

Roller covers, 9 inch, 3/8 inch nap

Paint tray, 9 inch

Painter's tape

Canvas drop cloth

Lightweight spackling compound

Putty knife

Fine sanding sponges

Stain-blocking primer

Extension pole

Step ladder

Peel-and-stick wallpaper roll

Wallpaper smoothing squeegee and knife kit

Non-woven wallpaper roll

Wallpaper paste

Wallpaper primer

Wallpaper hanging tool kit

Lead paint test kit