Each painter has slightly different methods and preferences, but the pros all know the trade secrets.

Sand Away Flaws

You have to start with a perfectly smooth surface to end up with perfectly painted walls or woodwork. One pro tells PM that Sander would be a more fitting job title than Painter since he spends so much time pushing sandpaper. Sanding levels outs spackle or joint-compound patches and flattens ridges around nail holes. Sanding also removes burrs and rough spots in your trim.

Sand the walls from the baseboard to the ceiling with fine-grit sanding paper on a sanding pole. Then sand horizontally along the baseboard and ceiling. Don’t put a lot of pressure on the sanding pole or the head can flip over and damage the wall. Sand woodwork with a sanding sponge to get into crevices.

Buy the Best Supplies

Don’t cheap out on paint and brushes. Cheap brushes are false economy. Buy a Wooster or something with some heft. That $3 plastic brush is going make it look like you smeared paint on the wall with a rake. And the bristles fall out. I like a nice 2-1/2-inch angled brush. It’s versatile and you can wash and reuse it until the bristles wear down to a nub. And get the most expensive paint, too. Why? Because it will go on easy and offer the best coverage. It’ll last a long time. You’ll be able to wash a grubby fingerprint off the wall without taking the paint with it. And your whole job will just go quicker and easier.

Use Tinted Primer

Before the pros paint walls, they fill holes and patch cracks with joint compound. But if you paint directly over it, the compound will suck the moisture out of the paint, giving it a flat, dull look (a problem called “flashing”). Those spots will look noticeably different than the rest of the wall. To avoid that, pros prime the walls before painting.

Instead of using white primer, pros usually have it tinted gray or a color that’s similar to the finish paint. Tinted primer does a better job of covering the existing paint color than plain primer, so your finish coat will be more vibrant and may require fewer coats. This is especially true with colors like red or orange, which could require three or more coats without a primer.