Painting a room is not difficult, but almost everyone skips the prep and then wonders why the finish looks amateur. The painting itself is maybe a third of the job.
Do it properly once and every room after that goes the same way, faster.
How much paint, and which finish
A gallon covers roughly 350 to 400 square feet in one coat. Measure the wall area, divide, and double it for two coats. Buying short and colour-matching a second batch later is how you end up with a visible seam.
Flat hides wall imperfections and marks easily, which makes it a ceiling and low-traffic finish. Eggshell and satin wipe clean and are the sensible default for living spaces. Semi-gloss goes on trim, doors and bathrooms.
Prep is most of the job
Clear the room properly rather than shuffling furniture to the middle, take off switch plates and outlet covers rather than taping around them, and fill nail holes. Then sand. A quick pass with a pole sander knocks down roller texture and old drips, and paint grips a sanded wall far better than a glossy one.
Dust the walls afterwards with a damp cloth. Painting over sanding dust is how you get a gritty finish.
Load the brush the right way
Dip about a third of the bristle length, then tap each side against the inside of the can. Do not drag it across the rim, which wipes off the paint you just picked up and loads the outside of the brush.
An angled sash brush, two and a half inches, does every cut-in line in the room. It is worth spending real money on one good brush.
Cut in first, roll second
Cut in a band three to four inches wide along the ceiling, then the corners, then the baseboard. Working ceiling first means gravity is not dragging fresh paint into a line you already finished.
Rest the brush's heel against the wall and let the angled tip do the line. Move steadily. A slow confident pass beats a fast one you have to go back over, and the second cut-in coat covers any wobble in the first.
Rolling in a W
Roll a large W across the section, then fill it in without lifting the roller, working in three-foot squares. That distributes paint before you spread it, instead of dumping a stripe and pushing it around.
Keep a wet edge. Overlapping into paint that has started to set is what leaves lap marks, and they only show up once the wall dries and the light hits it sideways.
Between coats
Wait the full recoat time on the can, usually two to four hours. Recoating early pulls the first coat off the wall. Wrap the roller and brush tightly in a plastic bag between coats and they stay wet for hours without washing.
After the walls dry
Painting is usually step one of a room. When the walls are done, laying laminate flooring finishes the job, and baseboards go on last so their caulk line sits against fresh paint.
