Four tips for faster painting!

Painting is one of the easiest way to spruce up a property. It gives the home a new feeling and helps to get rid of any funky smells the previous tenant might have left behind.

Giving your property a fresh coat of paint also helps protect the surfaces of your home for wear and moisture.

I paint my interiors every two years at a minimum and it's always something I want to get done quickly between tenants. I have a few things I do to keep the work down to a minimum.

1) Use the same colour and same paint TYPE in every room. I use a semi-gloss, bright white everywhere. It's durable and I can use the same paint in the washroom as in the bedrooms.

2) Find a brand that works with just one coat. I haven't had any luck with cheap brands and found that they require two or more coats. That's just a waste of my time. I've had good luck with Behr paints and I can easily find them at the Home Depot.

3) Don't use plastic drop cloths. The paint sits on the surface of the plastic and doesn't dry. If you step on it, you'll track paint all over the house. Go fabric. It absorbs, to some degree, the paint and it's also reusable. If you don't have any large sheets of non-synthetic fabric like cotton, visit your local fabric store and ask what cheap remnants or "roll ends" they have. Old bed linens work well - just make sure they aren't too thin.

4) Use an edger like a pro. When I install baseboards, I leave them just a hair off the ground. Why? So when I paint, I'm able to slide an edging tool underneath the baseboard. This making paint baseboards MUCH faster. Don't forget to wipe your edger often!

Do you have any great painting tips to share? Any key ones I've missed? Leave it in the comments below!

Cheers - Ming