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Items18
1
Canvas Dust Sheet
A plastic sheet on the floor turns slippery once you are up and down a ladder, and it tears where you kneel. A cotton canvas dust sheet stays put, soaks up small drips instead of letting you tread them round the room, and goes in the wash afterwards.
Choose one with a plastic or rubberised backing over carpet or pale floorboards, because a heavy spill can soak straight through plain canvas. Push it right up to the skirting and tape the edge so it cannot creep while you cut in along the bottom.
2
Plastic Dust Sheets for Furniture
This is the place to save. Thin polythene sheets come in cheap multipacks and are fine for draping over a sofa, bed or shelving you could not move out, where nobody will walk on them.
Push the furniture into the middle of the room, cover it in one piece and tuck the plastic underneath, so spatter from rolling the ceiling has nowhere to land. Bin the sheets at the end; they are not worth washing.
3
LED Work Light
Ceiling lights flatten a wall and hide its faults. A bright LED work light held low and almost parallel to the surface throws every dent, nail pop and old roller ridge into shadow, so you can circle them in pencil before filling.
Use it again between coats to catch thin patches and missed spots while you can still fix them. A battery-powered one saves trailing a lead across the dust sheets.
4
Sugar Soap and a Large Sponge
Walls carry more grime than they look, especially round light switches, in kitchens and anywhere people lean. Paint grips grease badly, so wash the walls with sugar soap, a degreasing pre-paint cleaner, using a big sponge. In the US, where sugar soap is hard to find, the nearest equivalent is TSP or a phosphate-free TSP substitute.
Then rinse with clean water. That second pass matters: dried residue leaves a film that can stop the new coat bonding. Let the walls dry completely before filling or painting, and wear gloves, as it can irritate skin.
5
5-in-1 Painter's Tool
The one tool decorators keep in a back pocket. The blade scrapes off flaking paint and rakes loose debris out of cracks before filling, and the blunt end levers lids off tins without mangling the rim.
Its best trick comes at the end of the day: the curved cut-out squeezes paint out of a loaded roller sleeve back into the tin before you wash it, saving paint and a sink full of mess. Choose a stiff steel blade with a solid handle; cheap ones flex just when you need to dig.
6
Flexible Filling Knife
For filling you want the opposite of the 5-in-1: a thin, springy blade. A narrow one of about 1 to 2 inches (25 to 50mm) suits nail holes, and a wider one of about 4 inches (100mm) bridges longer cracks.
The flex lets you press filler into the hole and scrape the surface nearly flush in the same pass, which leaves far less to sand. Wipe the blade between holes, because dried crumbs drag grooves through the next patch.
7
Ready-Mixed Lightweight Filler
A tub of ready-mixed lightweight filler, called spackle in the US, handles the usual picture-hook holes, dents and hairline cracks with no powder to mix, and the lid goes back on for touch-ups later.
Leave each patch very slightly proud of the wall so it can be sanded flush, and give it the full drying time printed on the tub. Unless the tub says it fills deep holes in one go, build deeper holes up in thin layers rather than one fat one, which can shrink or crack as it dries.
8
Sanding Sponge or Hand Sanding Block
Filler that is not sanded flush shows through two coats as a raised halo, especially in an eggshell or satin finish. A foam sanding sponge or a block wrapped in paper is plenty for one room; no power sander needed.
Level patches with 120 or 150 grit, finish with 180 to 220, then run your fingertips across: if you can feel the edge, the light will find it. Wipe the dust off before painting.
If your home is old enough to have lead paint (in the US, anything built before 1978), test old paintwork with an EPA-recognised kit before sanding it, and leave it alone if the result is positive.
9
Decorator's Caulk and a Caulking Gun
The gap between skirting and wall, or along a door frame, is where amateur jobs look scruffy and where a straight line is hardest to paint. A thin bead of paintable acrylic caulk closes it, giving your brush a clean, tight corner to follow.
Cut the nozzle small, run the bead slowly and smooth it with a damp finger. Check the tube says paintable, because ordinary silicone sealant will not take paint, and read its paint-ready time: depending on the product it can be half an hour or a couple of hours.
10
Low-Tack Painter's Tape
Tape will not replace a steady brush, but it is a useful safety net along skirting, door frames and window reveals. Pay for proper painter's tape: general masking tape can pull paint off or leave sticky residue behind.
Pick a delicate-surface version for freshly painted or papered walls, and check the clean-removal window on the roll, often around two weeks, so it does not bond on while you finish other jobs. Burnish the edge down with a fingernail or the 5-in-1 blade so paint cannot creep under, and once the paint is dry, peel it back on itself at an angle.
11
2.5-Inch Angled Sash Brush
This is the tool worth spending on. An angled synthetic brush about 2.5 inches (63mm) wide cuts the line where wall meets ceiling or trim far more neatly than a flat brush, because the slanted tip gives you a fine point to steer along the edge.
Synthetic filaments suit water-based paint, since they do not soak up water and go limp. A good brush holds more paint, keeps its shape for years and does not drop bristles into the wet edge. Add a 2-inch (50mm) version only if you have narrow window bars or fiddly trim. Between coats, wrap it in cling film instead of washing it, and keep a damp cloth handy for slips.
12
Paint Kettle for Cutting In
Cutting in straight from a full tin is awkward, and on a ladder it is a spill waiting to happen. A small paint kettle, or a handheld cutting-in cup with a strap, holds just a few centimetres of paint, so the brush picks up a manageable load every dip and edges stay sharp instead of blobby.
Some come with a magnet or clip to park the brush. Topping up a little at a time also keeps the main tin sealed, clean and free of drying skin.
13
9-Inch Roller Frame
A wobbly, bargain frame leaves streaks however good the sleeve on it. Look for a 9-inch (230mm) frame with a five-wire cage, which supports the sleeve evenly along its length so it rolls with steady pressure, and a handle with a threaded end so an extension pole screws straight in.
Spin it after loading to check the sleeve turns freely, and rinse the frame with the sleeve at the end of each day; a stiff, paint-clogged cage drags and skids on the next coat.
14
Medium-Pile Roller Sleeves
The sleeve decides the finish more than anything else here. For smooth plaster or plasterboard, choose a medium pile of about 3/8 inch (10mm) in woven fabric or microfibre, ideally labelled shed-resistant. Go thicker only on textured walls, because a deeper pile leaves more texture of its own.
Foam sleeves can leave air bubbles in water-based paint and fluffy bargain ones leave lint. Before the first coat, wrap a new sleeve in tape and peel it off to lift loose fibres. Buy two, so the ceiling and walls each get their own.
15
Deep-Well Paint Tray with Liners
Save here. Any sturdy tray that fits a 9-inch roller, with a deep well and a ribbed slope, will do. The ribs spread paint evenly round the sleeve, so you are not slapping a heavy, dripping load on the wall with the first stroke, which is where runs and thick ridges start.
Disposable liners turn a colour change or the final clean-up into a two-minute job. For a big room, a bucket with a roller grid holds more paint and is harder to step in.
16
Mini Roller
Behind radiators, above doors and in the strip between a window and the corner, people tend to dab with a brush, and that patch ends up a different texture from the rolled wall around it. A 4- to 6-inch mini roller with a matching medium-pile sleeve gives those narrow spaces the same finish as everything else, so the wall reads as one even surface when side light hits it.
17
Telescopic Extension Pole
An adjustable pole that screws into the roller handle is the difference between painting a ceiling and wrestling one. From the floor you can roll the full height of a wall in long, continuous strokes with even pressure, which is how you avoid lap marks and patchy sheen, and you spend most of the job off the ladder.
A short telescopic pole covers a standard ceiling. Check the thread matches your frame and that the lock holds without slipping when you push.
18
Step Ladder with a Top Platform
You still need height to cut in along the ceiling line, and a kitchen chair is how tins end up on the carpet. A sturdy step ladder with a platform or tray at the top, tall enough to reach the ceiling without standing on the highest step, keeps both hands steady at the line and gives the paint kettle somewhere to sit.
Move it along often rather than leaning out; overreaching is how a straight edge goes wavy.
