A step-by-step guide to painting any room like a pro

Looking for new ways to refresh your space without doing a complete reno? With many of us spending most of our time at home, you might be bored or uninspired by the rooms you sleep in, work in and cook in. If you're ready to bring new life to your walls without breaking the bank, applying a fresh coat of paint will definitely do the trick! Not only can a simple paint job transform the room, but it's also a nice change if you haven't done it in awhile. Contractor Anthony Carrino shared a simple guide to painting any room like a pro:

Materials needed:

• Drop cloth
• 3” Brush
• 12” roller
• Roller tray
• Optional: Roller tray disposable inserts (This is great when painting multiple colours in a room)
• Painters tape
• Paint (Andrew's go-to is Benjamin Moore Aura)
• Stir sticks - they usually give you these for free

Steps:

1. You can choose to do the walls or trim in any order. The trim and doors tend to take more time than painting the walls as it requires more precision. If you're going to be painting the ceiling, tackle that first as it's typically lighter in colour so if you get drips on your walls you don’t have to worry because you will be painting them later. 
2. If you have walls, ceiling or trim that you will not be painting, or have already painted, and they touch the wall you will be painting -  Use your painter's tape to tape off the edge so you can lock the paint out from getting on the surfaces you don’t want to paint. If you’re painting the entire room you can skip this step for now because if you get a little paint on the trim you will be painting over it later and can tape it off at that time. 
3. Lay your drop cloth on the floor and make sure the whole area is covered to prevent little spots on your floors. 
4. Shake your paint cans well to ensure everything is mixed and then open the cans and give them a stir with your stir stick.
5. There are those that roll first and cut in second, and those that do the opposite. Cutting in is the process of taking your brush and running a straight line of paint between your ceiling and wall for example, or between two walls that will be different colours. You do this because you can’t be super precise with a roller so you don’t want to get too close to the edges, so cutting in is basically outlining the wall. If you have a paint partner, one person should cut in and the other one should roll. 
6. Don’t be afraid to load the brush or roller with paint. Wou don’t want it dripping but you want to ensure the brush/roller is coated. 
7. With a brush - long sweeping motions are best. And with a roller making a V pattern over and over again helps to ensure complete coverage and hides your strokes.