Country Home Painting Tips
In past posts you’ve read about primitive country decor colors, and I shared my favorite primitive paint colors with you.
Now let’s talk about actually getting down to painting - interior walls as well as those rustic furniture pieces you may pick up at yard sales and second hand shops this summer.
Truly, summer is one of the best times to paint. You can keep the air moving and fresh if you’re painting indoors, and your paint also dries quicker. Painting tops the list for many decorators as it gives your room a lift in short order.
If you’ve never painted a wall or a stick of furniture yourself I urge you to give it a try. Yes, you can hire experts, but I think you’ll find it incredibly rewarding to perform this task yourself. First of all, you’re going to use muscles that you may not use very often - so it’s good exercise. Secondly, it’s mentally therapeutic - when involved in the simple task of painting you give your mind creative rest. Giving interior walls or a side table a fresh coat of paint is definately within your abilities.
Here’s a few of my favorite painting tips for the country home decorator…
Wall Prep
Good wall preparation is one of the most important aspects to a professionally finished paint job. Start by repairing any cracks or chips on walls or corners, then sand and smooth out those rough edges!
Thoroughly clean any areas, such as around door handles or light switches, that are dirty. Greasy fingerprints and other dirt splotches will leak through even a few coats of latex paint and are much harder to cover up than to clean before you start to paint.
Gather all your painting supplies in the room you’ll be working before you start. This includes rags and warm soapy water for any mishaps.
Shopping for painting supplies:
Depending on your painting task you may need all or some of the following:
- paint (one gallon per 300 to 400 square feet of wall space),
- drop cloths (to protect floors and furniture),
- paint brushes,
- painter’s tape (cover window trim and baseboards with a low-tack painter’s tape),
- rollers and paint tray liners,
- paint thinner (if you’re painting with oil paint),
- and rags.
| 
| 
| 
| 
I want to stencil my stair risers, however, I can’t find any info on how to do it on the net anywhere. You see, I don’t just want to do a design or flowers. I want to do a primitive country scene such as the NE Saltbox scenes or sailing scenes. I am not a free hand painter nor do I have the financial resources to hire one. Can you help me???
There’s a nice and easy-to-do set at this link. You’ll see them on containers, but they go just as easily on stair risers.
If you wanted to actually start painting some scenes - with trees, flowers, bridges, etc., you might like to have a look at some of the dressler stencils. Decidedly a little more time intensive, but the results (even for a non-painter) would be beautiful and definately attainable! Dressler.
Finally, if you want to make your own scenes, the stencils listed 1/2 way down on this page: will give you a lot of artistic freedom.
Wait! One more… these, although a little more pricey as you have to buy each one individually, are super easy to do and give you a little more range in types of buildings in your primitive country village. Saltbox Scenes.
I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you going to all the trouble of looking into all that for me.
I have surfed the net with not much success and actually hit on the gathering room and on ur site! I haven’t seen the others tho and they are great resources.
I actually bookmarked ur site when I happened upon it to investigate further when I was ready to make a decision. I love that u have a lot of different things you can look at and the tips u give.
Thank you so much!
Janine
I have just moved into a farm house and need to paint to make it feel like home, I’ve always wanted a red kitchen but I can only do one wall. There isn’t as much light in this room as the other rooms and I’m wondering if there might be a certain shade I could use and still not give up me dream kitchen. It’s also french country, some tips would be great!
Melissa, sorry for the late reply.
I have a friend/client doing much the same as you, and it’s even in an old farm house!
One dark red wall on a wall that is shaded by natural light generally doesn’t do much harm. Keep lots of overhead lighting in the room and you won’t feel as though the room is closed in or too small - it will instead just feel quaint!
I used a variation of the yellows found in some of the red rooster prints I just posted. Perhaps you too will find a complimentary color there?
HI THERE! JUST A QUICK NOTE TO SAY I LOVE YOUR DECORATING IDEAS. I LOVE THE PRIMITIVE DECORATING IDEAS. I LOVE A SIMPLE HOME WITH ALL THE COUNTRY IDEAS. I WOULD LOVE TO SEE SOME PICTURES OF PRIMITIVE ROOMS. THAT HOW I AM DOING MY HOUSE. THANKS FOR WANTING TO HELP ME WITH SOME IDEAS. I NEED THEM. YOUR FRiEND RITA.
Thanks for your note Rita! I will make more of an effort to take photos of finished rooms while I’m working in the future. It’s a great idea and I appreciate you taking the time to share it with me.
Have a great weekend!