Tutorials/advice for painting a whole house myself?

[Scott Le]

I was originally going to outsource the interior and exterior paint, patching, and pressure washing for my 1200 SF SFH rental, but I ended up being way over budget on the rebuilding of a room and now am desperately trying to slash my remaining expenses. Given that the biggest expense I have left is that painting, it seems like a natural place to start.

I have never really painted before.  I have been watching some Youtube videos, but I wanted to see if anybody here has any tips, good tutorials they've found online, a list of materials to buy, etc? I'm kinda nervous about having to paint a whole house by myself with no experience.  Feels like it would be way too easy for me to screw something up or take like a whole week to do it.  I am considering hiring a friend of mine who is a handyman to help me, but like I said I'm several thousand over budget already and am basically in damage control at this point.

[Sylvia B.]

It just amazes me when people say things like "Anyone can paint" and "It's really hard to mess up." I've had to fix too many messes made by people who thought they could paint. My 6 year old grandson can paint, but I'm not going to turn him loose on my rentals.

Here are my tips:

• Buy medium quality paint. Cheap is watery and frustrating to use, top of the line is overkill.
• Don't trust tape. It is very hard to get a good seal that the paint won't wick under.
• Remove switch/outlet covers, thermostat covers, etc. Cover switches & outlets with tape.
• Cover all floors, cabinets, etc. If you cover all but one little area, you will spill paint in that one little area. ;-)
• Take your time. A rushed job is a botched job.
• Pay attention to details. If something doesn't look right wet, it won't look any better dry.
• Don't run your roller dry or dip your brush too far in the paint. You should only put paint on about 1" of the bristles, not the whole length. You will have much more control of your paint that way. If your brush gets paint building up toward the handle, dip it in water briefly, then wipe with a rag, squeezing toward the end of the bristles. You don't have to completely clean the brush, just get the gunk off the outside.
• Paint sprayers are not for virgin painters. Stick with a brush and roller.
• Gadgets that are marketed to paint edges/corners are usually a waste of time & money.
• Clean up any drips, spills or oopses immediately. A damp rag is your friend.
• Paint one wall completely, corner to corner, including cutting in the ceiling & baseboard before moving on. If you have to stop a job in the middle, stop at a corner instead of the middle of a wall.