Painting can be a daunting task, there are so many stages where procrastination can seem a better option. What colour to choose? How to prep? Motivation to prep! And finally actually picking up a brush and doing a good job of it.
Shaynna Blaze (of TV’s The Block fame) has teamed up with Taubmans to offer an online program that will help you at each step along the way to a DIY freshly painted home.
Shaynna Blaze’s top tips for getting a paint job done in 8 weeks
Get inspired and decide on a style
If you haven’t already decided on your style, it can be hard to know where to start. Shaynna recommends looking everywhere for inspiration – your friend’s homes, Pinterest, the great outdoors, your favourite fashion and interiors magazines, even shop window displays. Look all around for style inspiration and scrapbook on and offline to gather your ideas.
Shaynna says “Once you start looking for inspiration your creative juices will start flowing – and that’s great! But you’ll need to stay organised, focussed and not get distracted by too many ideas. I recommend start editing and selecting your three favourite pictures from your scrapbook collection and using them as the basis for your colour choices”.
Choose a colour pallete
“For lots of people, choosing the colour is the scary bit because it feels like a big decision. But colour should be fun! I always start my paint choice with the mood I want the room to have; do I want light and bright or moody and dramatic. For light and bright go for cool colours and cool based neutrals and for dramatic look at warm colours to add excitement to the room.
After you have decided on the mood look at the colours of the furnishings you are keeping, like your couch, rugs, artworks and work them in together. The less money you have to spend on big ticket items means you can put some money into a few new accessories for a huge change.”
Plan and prep
When it comes to painting it’s all about the P’s: Planning, Preparation and Precision. Shaynna continues: “After all, there is nothing worse than getting ready to paint and realising that you’ve forgotten an important tool. Make sure you use the Taubmans Paint Planner tool, it does all the thinking for you to ensure your shopping list covers everything you need.
Getting the space ready to paint might not seem like the most fun part of prepping – but it can be! Recruit friends and family to help you move things into the middle of the room and cover everything with old sheets, put on some music and even have a little dance-off in between.
Depending on the size of your paint project, you may be able to get the prep and paint done in a day or weekend but remember, you will need to allow for adequate drying time too. Prepping any paint surface ready for painting may seem tedious but it will make painting faster and easier and will ensure your paint job lasts longer”.
Set yourself a deadline
Setting yourself a deadline is always key to preventing procrastination with any task at hand. Taubmans have a new eight week online program called Paint in 8 that’s designed to help you overcome painting procrastination with set weekly tasks, and you’ll get the job done in 8 weeks.
Do you have a painting job that needs doing at home? For loads of tips and advice on prepping and painting, check out the range of videos at Taubmans. I always find the guys on the counter of my local hardware store to be super helpful too.
Top photo: Lisa Tilse for We Are Scout. Interior photo courtest of Taubmans.