Remember a while ago I mentioned I painted the girls' room all white?  Well, here is a look at their room...although I wasn't going to take the time to stage it perfectly for you.  Therefore you get hangers on the bed and a mountain of dolls.  As I was looking at this I got to thinking of all the people who end up saying to me "oh, I need to do that, but don't know how to paint."  or "I wish we had time to change the wall color in our house."  These are my tips for making quick home improvements that anyone can do.  This room was completely repainted within 2 days.

1. Go to the store and buy all the right tools at once.  It will save you from having to make multiple trips.  For the average room you will need the following:

*primer

*paint

*paint tray

*angled paint brush (works best near moldings)

*paint roller and extra roller pads.

*painters tape

2. Do not skip the priming stage.  Using a product like KILZ will cut your painting time in half and is cheaper.  Kilz is around $15/gal whereas paint can run around $35/gal.  Priming also covers previous shades of paint (one of the walls in this room was bright raspberry) and will cover crayon and other marks.

3. Do not skimp on the quality of paint.  Most of the major brand names will work just great, but the cheap paints usually require more coats

4. You don't have to completely empty a room to paint it.  For this room I literally pushed stuff to the other side of the room, painted half, then pushed everything to the other side to finish.  If you are a messy painter I recommend throwing an old sheet over your things.

5. If you are new at painting, there are many sites online like ehow or expert village which will show you step by step instructions.  Ultimately you are painting a wall.  It isn't rocket science.  One way or another that wall will get painted.  

6. Here's the biggest tip.  You can always repaint.  I've done it several times in this house when I have realized a color just didn't work in a space.  The girls room was originally blue with a raspberry accent wall, and although it was fun it made the room always feel cluttery.  I really have never understood the idea of being "afraid" of wall color.  I am afraid of psycho people, not a can of paint.  So what?  You screwed up big time and that gray bedroom looks like a prison cell?  Just repaint it.  You will really only be out a little money and some elbow grease, but if the color is a success you will have a beautiful room to call your own!

So there you go.  My painting tips.  Get in there and get painting!