How to Paint the Hallway

notrichenough · March 22, 2011, 5:11pm

I think Monydad stated the ceiling has some sort of texture. Tape won’t work on that kind of surface.

One trick a pro taught me - when you paint the ceiling, paint down a inch or so onto the walls. Then when you do the wall, only paint to within a 1/4" or 1/8" of the ceiling. That way you don’t have to worry about getting it exactly in the corner or on the ceiling, plus the wall/ceiling line is never perfectly straight. You will never notice unless you look very closely. It does require that you can paint a decent straight line though.

sylvan8798 · March 22, 2011, 6:25pm

monydad - how old is this house? We might get some clues as to the materials used from that. And do you or your wife have a friend who is handy with this type of thing and could come over for part of a day to get you started? Once you get some confidence, you should be fine, but it’s hard to feel confident if you’ve never done this type of thing before.

My other advice - leave at least a day between the various steps for things to dry well, i.e. spackle, wait, sand and prime, wait, paint, wait, paint second coat if necessary. (Cut in around the windows, doors, ceiling and baseboard with a brush very carefully before rolling so you cover as much of the brush strokes as possible.) I would not remove moldings unless there is something wrong with them.

Don’t try to get it all done in one day.

ETA: if you want to pm photos of the hallway, that might help people with advice.

jmmom · March 22, 2011, 6:54pm

Eggshell.

If you’re not sure of the color or how you’ll like the sheen (flat vs eggshell vs satin etc.), buy a small amount and paint a good sized swatch on the wall - at least 3’ x 3’ (my expensive painter insists on painting an entire wall). Look at it in various lights and times of day to be sure of your preference.

If you’re not sure whether the ceiling needs to be painted, do the test swatch up very near to the ceiling - see if the new wall paint makes the ceiling “look bad” or whether it doesn’t bother you. Remember that not many guests will be staring at the ceiling as they walk down your hallway… so if it doesn’t jump out at you as a problem, you can probably relax. (put some nice artwork at the end of the hall/along the walls and you’ll reduce that possibility even further )

Is there a Lowe’s or Home Depot near you that might be holding one of their workshops anytime soon? Would be helpful

Other advice is better taken from the rest of the thread posters than from me :).

monydad · March 22, 2011, 6:57pm

"…how old is this house? " Built 1923.

“How high is the ceiling?”

I measure 8-1/2’ downstairs. (I’m 5’7").
However, the ceiling at the lower landing en route to the 2nd floor is about 11’ . The east wall of the main hallway runs in a straight line right up the staircase to that lower landing, it is one and the same as the east wall of the staircase and the landing.
You can’t see the landing ceiling from the ground floor, but you can see the (bottom 2/3 of the) landing walls. So if it’s the case that generally ceilings should be painted before walls are, then that landing ceiling ought to be done now too. Otherwise, I can put it of to another day.

“The walls obviously go as high as the ceiling, how are you going to paint the top of the walls?”

Before I posted here I naively presumed ladder, but I will certainly read suggestions here.
Doing the walls on a ladder is different than doing a whole ceiling though, seems to me, because the wall is just one area of the ceiling not the whole upper surface.

Hadn’t thought about the upper part of the wall along the staircase though, that part may not be too ladder-friendly…

"Are you sure you’re just not seeing the normal texture? "
No, I’ve no idea what is normal or what isn’t. I’ve never examined textures of walls before.

“Have you compared it to your other walls?”

Now I have. I would say it’s no different than the other painted walls here. But then again, I’ve no idea if my walls are normal. Except the dining room, which they just painted, and sklmmed. It is a lot different than the dining room walls.

“…the current wall is a dark color under the molding”

Actually, there is not just a low molding strip, there is above it 9" high panelling along the lower part of the walls The “regular” lavendar-colored walls start above this paneling, not at the molding level. All this trim, and the doorway frames to the various rooms, are white semigloss (I assume) now, but it will be gone over in decorator white. And I don’t think anyone would take it off. Now that I think about it, it might be hard to paint the molding in its place without getting semigloss paint splatters on the nice old wood floors adjacent to it, and that would be a big problem. That might be a reason to take the molding off, perhaps.

“I think Monydad stated the ceiling has some sort of texture.”
Yes, quite a lot of it actually. Almost looks like somebody painted over little pebbles. (Not quite that bad, but towards that anyway).

"And do you or your wife have a friend who is handy with this type of thing and could come over for part of a day to get you started? "

Not that I can think of; there are a few handy friends but they live too far away.

“Don’t try to get it all done in one day.”

Seeing as how the painters thought it would take them 2 weeks, not much risk of that. Their scope was a bit loftier overall (included skimming + upstairs hallway too), but didn’t include the ceiling.

notrichenough · March 22, 2011, 7:35pm

Your walls are probably made of horsehair plaster. It’s a little unusual in my experience to see painted horsehair plaster, back in those days they wallpapered everything. I think it looks ok when painted, the various textures add some interest.

I generally put a wall treatment over horsehair plaster - it’s like a thin spun fiberglass fabric, you paint the wall, stick this stuff in the paint, and then paint over it. It drinks paint because you really have to saturate the fabric, but it covers over all the imperfections and strengthens the plaster (loose plaster is a big problem with old horsehair plaster). This is for my rentals though, where I am more interested in reducing future maintenance. ICI Dulux makes it, I can dig up a link if anyone is interested.

Not really, because all you need to do on the ladder is the cutout around the edges. The rest can be done with a roller and extension pole while standing on the floor. Same with the walls - you only need the ladder for the cutout.

For the 8 1/2’ ceiling, a 6 foot step ladder is enough, you should only have to go up two steps (out of 5 or so) which shouldn’t be too scary. 11’ is really high though. You will probably have to get a 10’ or so straight ladder, put it on one of the steps and lean it up against the wall.

This is unusual. It doesn’t sound original. What kind of panelling? I wonder if this was put up to cover damage to the plaster.

Nah, actually this is easy, assuming the floors are polyurethaned, because the paint won’t stick to it. If you get it with a sponge it wipes right up, even if it dries, with a little elbow grease it comes right off.

Two weeks? And there’s more than one of them? Ridiculous. Three days tops.

Novelisto · March 22, 2011, 7:43pm

Taking off the molding is now unnecessary. Painter’s tape has eliminated the need. One of the great inventions of the 20th century…esp. if you are painting windows!

Baby wipes are great for getting fresh paint off wood floors.

It sounds as if your hall was perhaps sponge painted. That where they dip a sea-sponge in different colored paints and dab it against the wall. If the paint was thick, you would have a raised imprint. This can be sanded down if that’s all you’ve got.

Actually, it is sounding more and more like you need somebody else (or 2) to give you an estimate. It’s a big job.

mathmom · March 22, 2011, 7:52pm

Sounds like our house. 1924, but with some bad ideas (like textured ceilings) from other eras. I just had someone paint our stair hall. He did the ceiling, because it really needed it. The previous stair hall was eggshell because of the dirty hands of my kids, but it was really a tad shinier than I like so I went one step less shiny this time. I hope I don’t regret it. It looks great now. My favorite white is what Benjamin Moore used to call 876. I think it’s “Alabaster”. It looks pink next to a dead white, but it just looks white next to other colors and it looks fantastic with every color I’ve ever put it next to. (I used to work for an Interior Designer who used it as her standard white.)

My painter (just one of him took three days, but not entire days). It’s the scrape, fill, wait for it to dry, sand, first coat, second coat routine that takes time.

monydad · March 22, 2011, 7:55pm

“It sounds as if your hall was perhaps sponge painted.”
Yes, I think that’s what she (seller) said.

Wall paint will probably be BM Onyx white, to carry over from what the exterior walls are going to be. Because some decorator-type person said that was a good plan, and what do we know. It is, coincidentally, also towards the pink side.

“What kind of panelling?”
I donno, what kinds are there? It’s painted wood. It goes all the way through the halls and up the side of wall of the stairway too.

fendergirl · March 22, 2011, 7:57pm

I am a pro at painting rooms in my house, lol. Buy some blue painters tape from home depot as well as a plastic drop cloth if you have anything you want to cover. tape the edges around your trim and whatnot. I find egg shell is a nice finish. It’s got a tiny bit of a gloss to it but doesn’t show too many inperfections. I have used the paint and primer in one from home depot (it’s behr paint. if you pick any of their behr paints you can have them make a paint in primer in one.) if you are painting over something with a pattern that may be a good idea. It works very nicely but it’s rather thick. Doesn’t take as many coats as separate primer and paint though. I would sand or spackle over the areas of your walls that are rouger then the rest. I don’t use painters tape on the ceiling - I have a smooth edge that I bought for about 2.50 at home depot (however my dad uses an old license plate) and it works like a charm. you just move it as you go.

notrichenough · March 22, 2011, 8:05pm

I have found for windows that it is quicker not to tape, and use a razor blade to clean up any paint that gets on the glass, than it is to put the tape on, especially if you have true divided windows. Taping up 12 panes of glass per window takes forever. This is where a really high quality brush that can hold an edge is valuable.

Another trick I use: I paint the walls and molding the same color, we use an off-white called Stowe White. Then you don’t have to be that neat between the walls and the moldings, it saves a lot of time - you don’t have to do cutout between the walls and moldings.

jshain · March 22, 2011, 8:12pm

The darker paint colors will also show any imperfections more so than lighter paint colors, but they do look better with “white” mouldings-- more contrast. I agree with notrichenough, I would not remove any moulding or baseboards, either.

sylvan8798 · March 22, 2011, 9:18pm

notrichenough is right, if the walls are original they are probably lath and plaster, not drywall. If the door and window moldings are original they are probably about the width of your hand (4-6 inches)? If this is the case, you DO NOT want to remove the trim. you will be opening a can of worms.

Now, not to be alarming, or anything, but you need to check the state of the plaster to make sure it is all still firmly attached to the lath backing. I had a house (built 1905) which had areas where you could push the plaster and it moved so you could feel that it was loose. We started taking down the soft areas and ended up with 2 entire rooms stripped to the studs INCLUDING THE CEILINGS. You do not want to do this. Trust me, it’s better to move out than to live through a lath stripping. If everything feels firm, just get fresh paint on and treat it gently in the process.

As far as the ceiling, it sounds kind of like it might be the type of spray-on textured stuff used in the '70’s and '80’s. We have succeeded in painting over ours (different house, built 1987) using a large nap roller (really thick - ask at HD). The only place we have had a problem so far was the garage, where the weather has affected the textured paint and it pealed off in places when it got wet with new paint. Now it looks kind of diseased because we don’t want to get up there and scrape the rest of it off the freaking garage ceiling.

Treetopleaf · March 22, 2011, 9:24pm

Your hallway sounds challenging. I think you should attempt to paint another room, or at least a wall, first before you tackle a tall stairway hallway. That way you will have your painting techniques down and will only have to adapt them to the tall stairs hallway.

I use a corner roller to paint corners. It matches wall roller texture in the corners. I am in love with it.

I use drywall compound instead of spackle. It takes longer to dry but it is so much easier to work with.

For the ceiling, use a roller on an extension pole. Cover EveryThing that you don’t want dotted with paint splats. Cover your head too.

notrichenough · March 22, 2011, 10:02pm

Been there, done that, got the tee shirt!

One thing I like about the wall treatment I described earlier is that it will hold small loose areas in place and prevent them from falling out. It used to be made by Glidden and was called Glid-Wall, ICI Dulux bought Glidden and you can still get it from them although I don’t know what they call it these days. If you use it with a vapor barrier paint on the outside walls, it’s equivalent to having a 2 mil polyethylene barrier, which lets you then blow in insulation and have it be safe from moisture.

fendergirl · March 22, 2011, 10:23pm

I also use joint compound rather then spackle - it takes longer to dry but it holds much better.

Novelisto · March 22, 2011, 10:37pm

Notrich – Your hands may be steadier than mine. I find I spend waaay too much time scraping with a blade if I don’t tape off the ‘lights’ first. Of course, putting the mullions between two pieces of glass – the way the up-to-date places have it – makes the point moot.

As for the horsehair plaster…long ago, 15 minutes before my in-laws were to show up to see the ‘new’ 1880’s house and our even newer baby, my DH was up in the attic (can’t remember why). I was taking a last look around the spotless nursery when I heard a thud and, poof!, down comes a hundred-and-ten-year’s worth of dust, dirt and plaster. I look up and there’s my DH’s leg through the nursery ceiling. Horsehair and plaster hits the floor and goes silently exploding outwards, covering everything like nuclear fallout! What a day.

MonyDad – You can save some $$ by doing some of the prep work yourself. Like sanding down the walls to take off that texture (sponge painting had a vogue…I confess I did a couple of bathrooms that way over the years. Mea Culpa). A ‘tack cloth’ will be your friend here. It picks up all the dust so it doesn’t get between your brush and your paint.

I agree with Fendergirl about Behr paint. Some pros don’t like it; I’ve never had a problem and I painted 90% of my last 4500 sf house interior myself…with an assist from the DH of course. My favorite is Biloxi. It’s an off-white…not quite a tan/beige…but it makes a room feel warm and friendly.

I use the lightweight spackle for small holes…like nail holes or a bad scrape through the paint. Big holes or long tears through the drywall cover need other treatment. But if you are just doing the small stuff and plan to paint over it, lightweight spackle (It’s So Fluffy!) is great. Dries quick and you don’t have that drywall smell.

fendergirl · March 22, 2011, 10:49pm

My only issue with the behr paint in primer in one is that it’s very thick so you go through quite a bit more of it then if you were buying a regular paint. It also costs more. But considering you don’t have to buy a separate primer, it probably works out about the same cost wise in the end plus it should save you the time of doing at least one coat. I only had to do one coat with it in my living room (light blue) and bedroom (gray) - but my hallway which I painted red needed two coats (red is hard to paint, let me tell you that much!). If you find a color you like you can buy a small sample for about 2 or 3 dollars at the store. I highly suggest that. I painted my bedroom a color two years ago and I kept going and going, convincing myself I would like it better when I saw it dry. no no no, I hated it. I really rushed into painting it because the previous owners had a mural painted on the one wall and I absolutely hated it. It took me forever to paint over that mural. Then i couldn’t bring myself to re-paint the room it when I had just gotten done. Finally after about two years of the color I disliked I finally painted it the color I wanted - after buying two samples and trying them out! It’s actually a good thing I waited because my radiator in the bedroom broke about four months ago and was spraying steam all over the walls in there. I wound up wiping them clean but it left marks and when I painted over it everything looked good as new!

Also, if you buy a pole extender thing for reaching the ceiling or high up on the walls, do not be cheap and buy the cheapest one. I speak from experience here. I picked the cheapest extender pole that I could find and when I got it home it was the flimsiest piece of wood I’ve ever seen it my life. Felt like I was painting with a long twig or something. It bowed when I painted with it and eventually I broke it. I went back and bought a nicer one and had no issues with it.

notrichenough · March 22, 2011, 10:57pm

Unless you are covering stains (or going from a dark color to a light color and you are trying to reduce the number of coats of finish paint), you don’t really need to prime walls that have already been painted.

monydad · March 23, 2011, 11:14am

Well I guess they are plaster, wattya know. I assumed maybe they weren’t since the front doorknob made a big indentation in the West wall when my son flung the door open and the flexible door stopper didn’t stop it. Maybe that interior wall isn’t. But based on the unsmoothness (is there a word that is actually in the English language I can use here?), and how firm it feels, I guess they’re plaster. When I look inside the hall closet I see there is elegant wallpaper. Maybe original?? FWIW, the paneling is just under an inch thick, and there is actually molding on top of it too. I’m not taking it off. There is nothing to suggest that there is anything amiss with the plaster, the walls feel firm everyplace, there is no powdering,no anything, they seem very solid.

There is not texture to the sponge paint, that I can tell anyway. It’s just that the walls themselves are not perfectly smooth. Seems to me that the sponge paint was actually a really good concept here, in that the pattern and colors mask the imperfections in the walls themselves. And presumably it was a lot cheaper than wallpapering. Unfortunately my wife thinks this particular color choice is hideous looking.The patina of the paint seems pretty flat, to me, there is no sheen to it at all. The lavendar is not dark, the yellow is not dark, but the purple pattern on it is dark. So I guess coverage is a question.

Some of the lighter off-whites suggested will likely not generate the desired level of contrast vs. the white paneling in this particular area, so for starters I’m going to try the initially specified paint color and we’ll see how it looks.

What I think I’m going to do first is:
I’m going to buy a can of the intended wall paint, and paint one small section of the wall with it. The section of the wall between the living room and the front door has no alarm gizmos on it, no light switches, and does not seem to need any patching. I’ll try that. That will tell me a number of important things:

whether the paint will cover over the sponge paint without primer.
whether that color & sheen actually looks good for the hallway walls.
Whether the walls (or at least that section) look good enough without skimming.

Does that sound reasonable?

BTW thanks a lot everybody you all have been super helpful.

alh · March 23, 2011, 11:45am

IMHO - as an old house enthusiast, plaster walls are supposed to have imperfections. That is what makes them lovely. Old plaster walls are supposed to have patches, etc. Many buyers will pay more for those imperfections. Those that don’t care can rip it out, and will.

Are those 9" moldings baseboards?

How to Paint the Hallway

CONNECT WITH US