How to draw on walls: 6 Ways to Paint Designs on Walls

“We have five kids basically under house arrest, and they’re all just reaming for some freedom,” says Hicks. “And if that freedom can manifest itself by painting on their walls. I think that’s fine. I think it should be encouraged. Because at the end of the day, you can always paint over it.” Hear, hear!

While her kids tap into their creative sides, Hicks herself is turning to philanthropy, creating a group of local political and church leaders to start a Food Bank initiative to collect provisions for those on Harbour Island struggling during the shutdown. Click here to support their efforts.

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Hadley Keller

Digital Director

Hadley Keller is House Beautiful’s digital director. She oversees all digital content for the brand as well as working on the print magazine. She has covered covering design, interiors, and culture for 10 years in New York. She served as Associate Market Editor, Design Reporter, and News Editor for Architectural Digest and AD PRO before joining House Beautiful. Hadley is a staunch maximalist and vocal opponent of the Open Floor Plan.

How to Paint a Room: 10 Steps to Painting Walls Like a DIY Pro

AD It Yourself

Learn how to paint a room in your home or apartment with these easy DIY steps and brighten up any space in no time

By Lindsey Mather and Elizabeth Stamp

August 2, 2021

All products featured on Architectural Digest are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Learning how to paint a room properly is essential for beginning DIY’ers, new homeowners, and veteran home improvement experts alike. After all, it’s pretty painless, relatively inexpensive, and—should something go horribly wrong—easy to fix. But before you grab your roller and get started with your first coat, it’s essential to have a plan of attack. So we asked a handful of experts for their best painting tips and tricks to get you started. Read on to learn how to paint a room and see step-by-step what you’ll need to do to make sure your project is a success.

While San Francisco based designer Nicole Hollis may have turned heads for painting the exterior of her home jet black, we’re prone to the moody blue she chose from Farrow & Ball for the bar.Douglas Friedman

1. Plan your approach

Start by thinking about how you want the finished project to look and remember that you’re not limited to four walls or an entire room in the same color. Consider painting an accent wall in a bold hue or highlighting moldings in a contrasting shade or finish. And don’t forget to look up and see whether the ceiling could use a refresh as well.

Alexander Gorlin used Parma Gray by Farrow & Ball on an accent wall in a New York apartment.

2. Choose your color

Browsing through fan decks and paint chips can be overwhelming. Start by figuring out the general color characteristics: Do you want a warm or cool shade? Neutral or saturated? If you have existing furniture or art, you’ll also want to consider how the shade will complement them. Once you have a sense of what you’re looking for, pick a few shades and get samples—lots of direct-to-consumer brands, like Backdrop and Clare, will send you adhesive swatches you can slap on the wall for a better sense of shade (and it’ll save you a trip to the store). Test the colors to see how they look in the room at different times of day.

Many paint companies also have tools on their websites that will let you upload a photo of your space and preview different colors on the walls. But colors can look different in real-world conditions, so you’ll still need to try it out in the space.

Test samples of your color choices in the room to see how they look in different lighting conditions.

Photo: Richard Drury/Getty Images

3. Pick out your tools and materials

Every project is unique and you may need different tools depending on the paint you choose and the condition of your walls, but there are a few must-haves:

• Paint
• Paint roller
• Paint roller extension pole
• Drop cloths
• Paintbrushes
• Paint tray
• Sandpaper
• Painter’s tape
• Rags
• Putty knife

Click here for a shopping list to order all the paint supplies you’ll need to get started—from sanding and priming to your very last touch-ups.

Gather all the essential tools before you start.

Photo: Anika Salsera/Getty Images

4. Determine how much paint you’ll need

Whether you’re painting a powder room or the exterior of your house, the general rule of thumb is one gallon per 400 square feet, says Carl Minchew, vice president of color innovation and design at Benjamin Moore. But that’s just a rough guideline: To get a more precise number, which you’ll definitely want for large projects, use a paint calculator like the ones provided by Benjamin Moore or Pratt & Lambert; they take into account window and door measurements. (And both assume two coats of paint per project.)

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Planning on whitewashing a charcoal gray wall? You’ll likely need additional paint when going from dark to light. On the other end of the spectrum, a deep color base tends to require more coats of paint than a lighter color, says Carolyn Noble, color marketing and design manager at Pratt & Lambert. She recommends applying a gray-tinted primer to the surface before you paint your walls a saturated color to help reduce the number of applications. When it comes to finish, you may have heard that the glossier it is, the higher the coverage rate, but it’s not enough of a difference to change the number of gallons you need to buy, Minchew says.

If you’re painting a highly textured surface rather than a smooth one, buy a little extra, says Julianne Simcox, Pratt & Lambert associate brand manager. Cabinets with complicated millwork require more paint, too; Minchew suggests purchasing about 10% more than calculated.

Calculate the correct amount of paint you’ll need to spare yourself trips back to the store and wasted paint.

Photo: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg/Getty Images

5. Prep the walls and the room

You don’t want to damage your favorite sofa or that heirloom Grandma gave you, so empty the room of all the furniture. If you don’t have enough space to relocate everything you own, push it all to the center of the room. Cover the pieces with a drop cloth or lightweight plastic sheeting and do the same with the floor, as well as any cabinetry or countertops that might be in danger of excess splatter. “Don’t skip the drop cloth—paint will splatter, we promise,” say New Jersey contractors—and cousins—John Colaneri and Anthony Carrino, the stars of the HGTV series Cousins Undercover and Kitchen Cousins as well as The Build Up and Grand Design on Ellen DeGeneres’s Ellentube.

Grab a roll of painter’s tape—the cousins recommend FrogTape—and firmly apply it to the edges of the room’s corners, base and crown moldings, and door and window casings, using a putty knife to seal if needed. “Getting a good seal so paint doesn’t get under the tape is everything, plus it will pull away clean after everything is dry,” Colaneri and Carrino say. If you dare (or have an artist’s steady hand), you can skip taping entirely. Remove light switch and outlet covers and apply painter’s tape to protect outlets and switches from paint drips. Before you get started, make sure you know how to repair drywall so you can clean up any nicks in the walls.

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Protect floors and furniture with drop cloths.

Photo: Patti McConville/Getty Images

6. Mix your paint

Use a wooden paint stick to stir the paint, and re-stir often throughout the project. Paint that isn’t stirred consistently can lead to the ingredients separating and you’ll risk compromising the true color you’re going for. If you’re using more than one gallon of paint, combine the cans in a large bucket in case there is a slight variation in color.

Mix your paint early and often.

Photo: Tetra Images/Getty Images

7. Pick your painting techniques

Your paint is mixed and your roller is at the ready, but make sure to plan a strategy before you get started. Work from the top of the room down, starting with the ceilings. Planning a bold focal wall? Paint the adjoining light-colored walls first. “Don’t worry if you get paint on what will be your accent wall—the dark paint will cover up whatever lighter paint found its way there. After the lighter wall dries, tape off that edge so the dark color doesn’t bleed onto your new paint,” Colaneri and Carrino advise. If you’re covering up dark walls with a brighter hue, plan on three coats: your primer, plus two coats of the new color to ensure nothing shows through.

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Tackle one wall at a time. Take a brush and “cut in”—paint along the molding and the corners from top to bottom—while your painting companion uses a roller to cover the main expanse of the wall, staying away from those more precise spots. When applying paint with the roller, use long strokes in a W pattern for ample coverage (and to avoid those pesky roller marks). Once the wall is dry to the touch, it’s ready for a second coat.

If you are painting the trim, remove the painter’s tape and wait for the walls to dry before applying tape to the walls. Start with the trim closest to the ceiling, move on to door and window frames, and, finally, the baseboards.

Start by cutting in near moldings and corners with a brush.

Photo: Banks Photos/Getty Images

8. Don’t forget ventilation

Watching paint dry is no fun. Make sure your space is well ventilated throughout the project by opening windows and using fans. “Keeping the room warm and a fan blowing definitely helps speed up the drying process,” the cousins say. “If it’s a damp day, it will take much longer for the paint to dry.”

Open a window or use a fan for ventilation.

Photo: Stephen Simpson/Getty Images

9. Clean up

You’ve done multiple coats, but it’s not time to relax just yet. Remove all the painter’s tape and gather drop cloths, making sure any spills or splatters are dry before you move them. For latex- and water-based paints, clean brushes with soapy water, though oil-based paints will require mineral spirits. You can use a painter’s brush to clean and reshape bristles. If you want to reuse roller covers, use the curved edge of a 5-in-1 tool to remove the excess paint under running water (they’re also useful for opening a paint can, removing nails, and scraping).

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Clean brushes with soap and water if you used latex- or water-based paints.

Photo: Ableimages/David Harrigan/Getty Images

10.

Give yourself enough time

The amount of time your project will take depends on the size of your room, how you’re painting, and your skill level. For instance, using a dark shade on the walls and painting the ceiling and trim will take longer than just doing the walls in a neutral color. While some spaces can be done in a few hours, others may take several days. Be sure to budget more time than you think the job will need and don’t forget to take prep and cleanup into account.

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How to Dispose of Paint the Responsible Way

You know not to dump old paint in a landfill, but what should you do with it instead? Here, some earth-friendly paint disposal tips

By Jennifer Beck Goldblatt

how and what? – Readers’ Articles

Painting on the walls is one of the most accessible and creative ways to make the interior of an apartment look like no other.

About a year ago, for the first time in my life, I painted on the wall without fear that I would be scolded for it. My friend entrusted me and my artistic skills with the walls in his apartment – in the children’s and guest rooms. And I liked this lesson so much that I continued to draw on the walls in different houses. During this time I have accumulated some experience, which I want to share with you.

1. For drawing on the walls, I choose acrylic

Acrylic markers have become a real discovery for me: they are convenient to draw even lines, they do not flow, do not leave smears, allow you to easily control the color saturation and reduce the time for drawing. I liked the Molotow markers the most: their refills are guaranteed not to shag, with other manufacturers I can’t be so sure. Look, I drew cyclists and a dandelion with markers.

If you want a more lively, not so smooth line, strokes and other creativity, then I choose acrylic in tubes and flat brushes. It takes more time for such work, it is more difficult to draw, but there is some pleasure in this. Here’s an example of a wall that has been outlined with a brush.

2. Which walls to paint on?

Acrylic adheres well to almost all surfaces. I tested walls with paintable wallpaper and directly painted walls. Soon I will have to draw on rather embossed wallpaper, I have already tried the marker on a small piece – it turns out well.

I don’t pre-treat the walls. Of course, if they are very dirty, it is better to wipe the surface first and let it dry. I also do not cover acrylic with anything: it is very sticky and resistant.

3. The projector is the artist’s savior

If you need to translate a complex drawing with many details, such as the cyclists from the example above, on the wall, my advice to you is to rent or borrow a projector from your friends. It will really make your life easier. Just display your picture on the wall and circle it with a pencil: less time, less nerves, and the result is better and smoother.

Hint: if you are right-handed, move from left to right so as not to
close your review.

Before I was told to take the projector, I was thinking about giant transfer paper and cell translation. Thank God I didn’t have to use them. Although I am going to translate the map of Europe for one future project exactly by cells.

4. Creativity is not only creativity, but also calculations

idea of ​​scale. I print the houses on paper (I originally drew them in vector), measure each line and translate it to the correct scale. I do this part of the work in advance – it is small and requires a lot of time.

By the way, drawing on the wall is also a slow process. For example, recent houses (but I draw not only them!) on a wall only 1.9 m long took 4 hours – and this is just a pencil sketch.

5. It is not necessary to start with a complex one

really change the look of the room.

I have collected for you some pictures from wall-art on Pinterest: look, there are quite simple, but very effective designs. By the way, I highly recommend this site for inspiration!

A little more information about my wall projects is on my blog. And if you have any questions – write, I will try to answer them.

I wish you smooth walls and a firm hand!

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