How to stay splatter free

After posting our blog on ‘how to paint a wall’ – a few of our lovely twitter followers have come back and requested that we write a follow up piece on how to paint a wall with a roller, so as not to create ugly streaks. Having said that – most of you were interested in how to paint a wall with a roller, mainly so that you could avoid splattering yourself with paint!

So here goes, some instructions on how to stay splatter free:

Tip 1

Remove flecks of dust from a new roller by rolling it over a piece of masking tape. Then roll it into the paint tray until it's half coated in paint.

Roll the cover up onto the grooves, then back into the paint.

Do this a couple of times until the entire roller is loaded with paint. Be careful not to overload the roller, that way it won’t splatter or drip anywhere.

Tip 2

Roll the paint onto the wall in a W or N pattern to coat the wall surface in wide sections.

Work along a wet edge that's been cut in, and get as close to the trim as possible to avoid leaving a trail of brush marks around the edges of the wall.

Tip 3

Put a medium amount of pressure on the roller. Too much pressure will cause a line of paint along the edge, while too little pressure will result in a very achy arm.

Roll back over the entire area you’ve covered to smooth and blend the paint.

Don’t reload the roller with paint for this step. Use very light pressure. Roll up and down, from floor to ceiling and move over about three-quarters of a roller width each time so you’re always slightly overlapping the previous stroke.

When you reach the corner, roll as close as you can to the adjacent wall without touching it.

Happy painting!