Getting the Room Ready

It's amazing how many people try to paint with a room full of furniture in their way. Try this method instead:

• Remove everything you can; cluster everything else in the center of the room and cover it with plastic or canvas drop cloths.
• Use more canvas to cover the floor; spatters and spills collect on plastic and smear underfoot, and plastic is slippery, too.
• Take everything off the walls, including covers for electric receptacles and light switches. (While you're at it, write the color and amount of paint you are using for that room on a piece of masking tape and stick it to the inside of the switch for later reference.)
• Cover stationary light fixtures with plastic trash bags (as long as the lights won't be on while you paint).
• Loosen all door locks, and remove door hardware.
• Gently pull all nails and picture hooks. Fill the holes with premixed surfacing compound using a 3-inch putty knife, or fill with quality paintable caulk.

Use masking or painter's tape to protect every place you don't want paint, such as doorknobs, any hardware you couldn't remove, and windows.

There are two schools of thought about painting window muntins -- those decorative moldings that separate panes of glass on some windows. Some people tape the glass next to window muntins to minimize the time spent scraping paint off the glass, but others say it's faster to let a little paint touch the panes and scrape it off later with a razor blade. It's your call.