How to Save Money when Painting Your Home
Painting might be the most affordable way to give a home a new look, but with the tools and materials required it can still be a costly exercise.
22/05/2019
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Everyone always claims that painting a home is the most affordable way to give it a new look. These same people definitely haven't included the cost of tools, materials and supplies that are required to do this project. At the end of the day, painting a room or a home can work out as an expensive exercise unless you look for ways to save money.
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I think we all agree that a new coat or two of paint goes a long way towards refreshing a home. Whether you simply revive the colours already chosen with a new coat of paint, or select an entirely new palette of colours to decorate your home, paint makes it easy - if you plan properly.
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We have put together some easy ways to help you save money when you decide it's time to paint the interior of your home.
If you have finally decided that your home interior is well overdue for a makeover and have carefully selected the colours you want to use, it's time to put a plan into action and buy everything needed to complete the job.
1. Check the expiration date
Keeping a few small pots of paint is great for the occasional touch-ups that need to be done from time to time, but it doesn't always work out that way. Once paint has been applied to walls it starts to be affected by the environment. Sunlight will eventually cause the paint to fade, air quality may also cause the colour to darken, especially if you are a smoker, and daily wear will take its toll.
When you think about conditions that affect paint colour, those little stand-by paint pots are already useless, since they are the colour that was originally applied and that has been kept stashed away in a bottle. As soon as you try to apply to walls you will see a distinct difference between the old and new paint.
If your walls are in need of a desperate makeover, it is going to be far better to buy new paint rather than use paint that has expired or been kept in case of any touch-ups. Another fact to note is that paint has an expiration date and tends to get smelly with age. If you can't check the expiry date, smell the paint.
2. Calculate how much paint you need
One big way to save money when painting your home interior is to make sure you have the right quantity of paint. It is a good idea to have a bit of paint leftover for touch ups, but you can usually obtain this by cleaning out the paint can. It isn't necessary to buy a whole can, which will eventually expire or be useless, for the reasons we already discussed above.
Most paint cans will have the coverage for that particular paint shown on the can. If it doesn't appear on the paint can, you can use a paint calculator to work out how much paint you will need. By calculating the total quantity of paint required to complete the job, you can save a bit of money by not buying too much paint.
It also pays to only use quality paint brands for painting the interior of a home. Cheaper paints may not offer the same coverage, or hold their colour, or may even require a primer to be applied before applying the paint colour. You ideally want a paint that has a built-in primer, has a guarantee on colour fastness and is washable.
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3. Carefully plan your colour palette
Did you know that by selecting standard paint colours for a particular paint will save you money as well? If you need to have colours specially mixed they charge extra for the mixing. We understand that you don't necessarily want to paint every room in a home the same colour, but by standardising on a particular colour will not only give you a cohesive flow from living spaces, but will also ultimately save you money by not having additional colours specially mixed.
As an example of this... the above bedroom is decorated with white and a medium-blue at the top of this wall. To create a nice flow from room to room, this colour was also used to decorate a feature wall in the living room, as well as to paint a single wall (at the top) in the guest bathroom. This made full use of the medium-blue colour and also saved a bit of money at the same time.
4. Look after your tools and materials
Over and above the expense of paint is that of your tools and materials needed for the task. Consider that you will need quality paintbrushes, paint rollers, paint trays, and possibly other tools and materials as well, depending on what needs to be done.
Nothing is cheap these days, and even quality paintbrushes can cost a small fortune, so it pays to look after these so that you can use them again and again. Condition paintbrushes by lightly wetting them beforehand, so that they don't absorb as much paint and are easier to clean.
Decant your paint into a paint tray as this not only ensures that the can of paint won't dry out, but you only dispense as much paint as you can use in a specific time. This also reduces wastage and keeps the paint fresh.
With these 4 tips you will definitely keep down the costs on your next painting project and save money on decorating your home.