Home painting tips from how to pick a color to whether to do it yourself

For homeowners looking for a spring refresh, new coats of paint can change the whole look and feel of a home.

And painting can be an affordable way to transform living spaces, especially if homeowners can do the work themselves.

Alex Lewis, a residential specialist for the Montgomery County-based CertaPro Painters, shared some tips for homeowners — those painting on their own and those looking to hire help.

That typically depends on wear and tear.

Inside a home, a household with young children can expect more scuffs and dings to walls than a household without children.

“On exteriors, the south and the west sides age more quickly than the other sides. Just because they get more sun and weather exposure,” Lewis said.

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Paint might still look fresh after 12 years or not look great after three.

CertaPro Painters recommends people get their homes power washed every year or so to make exterior paint jobs last.

During the pandemic, especially, homeowners’ desire to switch things up in their living spaces meant a lot of people turned to paint, Lewis said.

“Because everybody was sitting there looking at their walls and going, ‘Man, I’ve had it this way for so long, and we liked it, but it’s time for a change.’ ”

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Moods shift. Uses for rooms change. Parents may want a home that looks completely different after their children leave.

“The lifestyle of the client really is a big influence,” Lewis said. “What we do is very personal.”

Dark colors can make a space feel cozier, and light colors can brighten a room and make it feel larger. But there’s only so much that paint can do.

A common mistake homeowners make is failing to consider the importance of lighting.

“We’ve had projects where we completed the project and the color looked off, and it was because of the lightbulbs,” Lewis said. “And we changed the lightbulbs, and it fixed the issue.”

A room painted white without good lighting will still be dark.

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In the 1990s and early 2000s, “everyone was using beige and tan,” Lewis said. And then gray started gaining popularity. Shades of gray and white are still the most popular interior paint colors for property owners.

They’re influenced by interior designers as well as “social media and Pinterest,” he said.

Homeowners have been playing with color on their cabinets, going for colors such as dark navy or dark green.

“And that looks pretty neat in a house where everything else is white. Really stands out.”

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Exterior colors have always been pretty wide-ranging, he said.

“We still paint red houses. We still paint blue. We still paint obviously gray as well. It’s common to still paint exteriors really any color.”

Lewis said he’s been painting a lot of brick, which is usually white.

“If you live in a historic neighborhood, we would recommend you use historic colors. There are specified historic colors to stay with the style of the home.”

» READ MORE: Brushing up on exterior colors

People often feel overwhelmed by the idea of picking paint colors.

“If someone says they have no idea, and I say, ‘OK, well, how about red?’ ‘Oh no, we don’t want red.’ ‘OK, how about orange?’ ‘No, heavens.’ So you kinda just go down” the rainbow, Lewis said. “And they know a little bit more about what they don’t want, and that helps narrow it down to what they do want.”

Most homeowners don’t sample enough, depending instead on holding small paint swatches up to their walls.

“To see the true color, you really need to get samples,” Lewis said.

People tend to underestimate shades, especially how bright a color will be on their walls. They realize only once the paint is applied to a wall. This especially happens in children’s rooms where “a kid often will pick a really bright” color.

Because costs vary widely based on factors such as the size and difficulty of projects, Lewis declined to give general cost guidelines for paint jobs. Workers at CertaPro Painters price jobs after seeing them.

Homeowners will pay less if they paint themselves. But they should weigh the pros and cons.

“Don’t try to bite off more than you can chew,” Lewis said. “If you’re gonna paint one room, I’d try it. See how you like it.”

He estimates that a homeowner takes about three times as long as a professional to paint.

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“Sometimes it becomes quite a mess, it’s not looking very crisp. So when they’re in that situation where it’s taking them a lot longer than expected and it doesn’t look the way they wanted, they usually call for help.”

Sometimes homeowners use the wrong products, tools, or techniques. If paint isn’t applied correctly or at the correct thickness, colors won’t look right.

“The paint could peel. The paint could bubble, blister, not cover. You might be able to see the roller marks,” Lewis said. “There’s a lot of variables that go into what we do. And I think that’s way underestimated.”

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And using chemicals and going up on ladders can be dangerous, so he urges people to be careful. There are a lot of older homes in the Philadelphia region, so homeowners also have to watch out for lead in old paint, which can cause health problems and which professionals test for.

Homeowners can meet with professional painters for consultations about their specific projects.

“We can help them decide if they want to do it or hire us or someone else,” Lewis said.