How to paint your ceiling

Tool Kit, here is a list of the things you’ll need:

Dust Sheets

Sanding

Sanding Pole

Masking Tape

Cutting in brush

Roller Sleeves

Roller Poles

Primer (if needed)

Paint

Step 1: Mask

Although you will always cut in first when painting a ceiling, it is worth taking the initial care to mask around the side of your ceiling. This will stop any roller marks or brush splats hitting the walls, this is something to take into consideration if you’ve just painted the side of your walls.

Step 2: Prime

Roof leaks, smoke and any sort of issues can leave lots of nasty spots on the ceiling that cannot be covered with normal paint. It’s worth investing in a primer/stain blocker such as Zinsser Cover Stain that will lock away the stain as well as giving you a good surface to paint over.

Step 3: Sanding

This will help remove any bumps or lumps that have attached themselves to your ceiling over time. We’d recommend starting with a rough 100-grit sanding paper, it will create a smoother surface allowing the paint to bond better proving a better finish. Best way to do this would be using a sanding pole, just make sure to give the ceiling a quick wipe with a sponge orwipe after to remove any dust.

Step 4: Pick the right paint

The good news is, most paint that is suitable for walls is also suitable for ceilings. Due to the fact you normally avoid lots of traffic your ceilings, nothing extremely hardwearing is needed unless you live in an environment with lots of fumes or smoke, in which case we’d recommend our Dulux Trade Diamond Matt or Diamond Eggshell for a surface that reflects more light.

However, the choice of colour will come down to how you want your room to look. The most popular choice is white, perfect for making rooms feel more open and spacious. For this we would recommend our Dulux Trade Vinyl Matt Light & Space in Absolute White, this is our perfect white finish to brighten up rooms and give and open clean feeling, while also reflecting x2 as much light to brighten up even the darkest of rooms.

However, if white isn’t your colour, you can see our entire colour collection here.

Step 5: Cut in before rolling

By using a brush you’ll be able to get a more accurate and flusher cut in and avoid marking the walls.

This will also mean that you’ll able gently roll over the brush marks when it comes to rolling, providing a very consistent finish. We recommend cutting in between 5-10” on one side of the ceiling then rolling over it so that the wet paint will also blend better.

We have the perfect cutting in brush for this, the *insert*

Step 6: Roll

The best strategy for painting ceilings is working in small squares of around 5-6ft, rolling both ways over the square for the best finish. In order to get the best finish, its best to move from section to section quickly so that you can keep a ‘wet edge’ to avoid overlapping marks.

It’s hard to cover large areas in one continuous stroke, so to minimize lap marks you can feather out the paint along the edges that you can't keep wet. The thinner, feathered coat of paint will avoid the build-up that causes the lap mark.

We recommend using a good roller sleeve and roller pole to make this less fatiguing.