Painting while you live at home: how does it work?

Working in phases

The key is a room-by-room plan. Work often starts in the rooms you use least, such as a guest room or study, and ends in the living room and kitchen. Bedrooms are scheduled so that you have a dry room with little odour at night. Discuss beforehand which rooms are due when, so you can temporarily move your things to a room that is already finished.

• Bedrooms: ideally painted early in the day, so the room has been aired by the evening.
• Kitchen: agree how you can cook or eat in the meantime.
• Bathroom: schedule it for a time when you can manage without it for a day.
• Hallway and stairs: plan them so you can always get upstairs and outside safely.

Protection and tidiness

Oranje Kwast carefully protects floors and furniture, masks neatly and leaves the work area clean and swept. In an occupied home that is especially important: you do not want to trip over paint tins in the evening. It is best to keep pets and children out of the room being worked on. Move valuable or fragile items to another room yourself beforehand, so nobody has to work around them.

Odour, dust and ventilation

Modern water-based wall paints and glosses smell far less than the solvent-based paints of the past. Even so, ventilating during and after the work is important. Leave a window ajar and preferably do not sleep in a freshly painted room on the first night. Sanding creates dust, especially with old paint layers on doors and frames. Older homes may also contain lead-based paint, which you do not want to sand off dry; read more in removing old paint layers.

Spraying or rolling in an occupied home

Spraying latex gives a beautifully smooth result, but it needs a lot of covering up and an empty room. In an occupied home, rolling is sometimes more practical, or rooms are sprayed one at a time while you stay in the rest of the house. The difference is explained on spraying or rolling latex. If you want to know what you can prepare yourself, use the checklist for painting work. Everything about the interior approach is on interior painting.