How to brighten up your bedroom

We spend plenty of time there, so it’s only right that a bedroom should be a peaceful and relaxing haven to retreat to. Your bedroom is also a space that should reflect your personality and the things in life that you hold most dear, as well as being a practical room that suits your morning and evening routine.

If your bedroom isn’t creating the feeling you want from your own personal space, updating the colour of the walls with a lick of paint can work wonders. Spring is a great time to brighten up your bedroom and change the ambience of the space through a fresh coat of paint.

Before you grab your paintbrush, here are our top tips for painting your bedroom this spring:

Make a plan

While it can be tempting to grab your paintbrush and get started straight away, if you want to ensure that your newly painted bedroom looks its best, it’s important to formulate a plan.

How do you want the room to look when it’s finished? Are you going to paint all the walls the same colour? Does the ceiling need painting?

You should also consider how much paint you will need for the areas you want to cover.

Choose your colours

The next step is to choose the colours. Do you want to create a feeling that’s warm or cool? Neutral or strong?

Once you’ve got an idea of the sort of colours you’re looking for, get some tester pots and try out colours in different places in the room, paying attention to how they look at different times of day, and in both natural and artificial light.

Fresh, bright colours are perfect for spring and will help make your bedroom feel cool, calm and relaxing.

Make sure you’ve got everything you need to complete the painting project – the last thing you want is to make a start before realising you’re missing a key piece of kit.

The tools you’ll need will vary depending on your bedroom space, although generally, you’ll need paint, a paint roller and an extension pole for higher areas of the room, paintbrushes, paint trays, painter’s tape and sandpaper.

Prep the room

So, you’ve got your paint, your tools and your plan. The next step is to prepare the room and the walls for painting.

Move as much furniture out of your bedroom as possible to ensure it won’t be caught by any paint spills or brush flicks. If you can’t move larger items out of the room, such as your bed or wardrobe, push them into the centre and cover them with sheets or plastic sheeting. Make sure to cover the floor with protective sheeting too!

Next, take your painter’s tape and apply to the room’s corners and crown mouldings, as well as the door and window frames. Ensure the tape is properly sealed to prevent paint from getting underneath it and on to the covered surfaces.

You will also need to remove any sockets and light switch covers, protecting the outlets and switches with tape to ensure they don’t get dripped on.

Mix your paint

It’s finally time to open your paint. Remove the lids and use a wooden stick to stir the paint – this will ensure an even colour and coverage.

Plan your strategy

Before you start painting, think about how you’re going to approach the room.

Try to work from the top of the room down, starting with the ceiling if you’re going to be painting it. If you’re painting different walls different colours, do the lightest coloured walls first, so that if you have any spillages or slips, the dark paint will cover them up.

If you’re painting the walls a lighter colour than they currently are, you will need to apply three coats to ensure the old colour doesn’t show through or affect the finish – primer followed by two coats of paint.

Taking one wall at a time, paint along the moulding and corners of the room from top to bottom (this is known as cutting in in the trade). Then, use a roller to cover the main sections of the wall, avoiding more precise areas. Top tip – apply the paint in a W pattern to avoid any roller marks.

Clean up

Once you’ve finished painting, make sure to clean up straight away. Remove all of the painter’s tape, gather the protective sheets and ensure any spillages are dry before you move them. Clean your brushes with soap and water for latex and water-based paints or white spirit for oil-based paints, and reshape the bristles using a painter’s brush.

Call in the professionals

Painting a bedroom is a simple task in theory, but like many DIY jobs, it can be far more complicated, time-consuming and problematic in reality.

Calling in a professional painter can be a great option, especially if you’re struggling to find the time to paint your bedroom. A professional painter will have the skills, tools and experience to ensure your room bedroom is looking its best in no time at all.