Painting the walls of your home is one of the easiest and least expensive ways to personalize your home and add a touch of life to every corner. However, going into this project blindly can result in messy mistakes and frustrating results. It is for this reason that some people choose to turn to professional painters. However, if you’re looking to save some money and hone your handyperson skills, here are a few professional tips for a flawless paint job.

1) Always use painter’s tape. By placing this tape over the molding and along the edges, you can easily avoid messy lines – but you need to make sure you buy the real deal. Genuine painter’s tape is high quality, durable and seals tight for a razor-sharp line. However, you won’t save any time or money by using masking or scotch tape as the variations may pull the paint off the wall and leave unsightly spots.

2) Patch up, clean and prime your walls before beginning. Whether you realize it or not, over time your walls become marred with nicks, scuffs and craters.  Patch up your wall, sand it for consistency, then wipe with a damp cloth and add a coat of primer.

3) Use cotton drop cloths in place of plastic. Firstly, cotton drop clothes can be easily reused. Secondly, plastic tarps have a tendency to move about – even if they’re taped into place.

4) Sand down the trim before each coat. This will reduce the chances of ending up with a grainy finish, and helps maintain more even coverage. However, be sure to vacuum and wipe down the trim each time you sand it to eliminate any dust.

5) Mix all cans of paint to ensure consistency. Unfortunately, the color of your paint can vary slightly between cans – even if they look identical. Often, it’s hard to notice this slight difference until you’ve begun painting. To avoid this, pour the paint from each can into a large plastic tub or bucket and mix with a paint stirrer. The resulting color will be flawless and professional.