How to Prepare Your Home for Professional Painters

Preparing your home for professional painters makes the project go more smoothly and protects your belongings. Most of the heavy lifting — masking, covering floors, and moving large furniture — is part of our process, but there are a few things homeowners can do to help.

Start by removing what you can from the rooms being painted. Take down pictures, mirrors, window treatments, and switch plates. Clear off shelves, tabletops, and counters. The more clear the space, the more efficiently we can work and the less risk there is to your belongings. If you can move small furniture out of the room, do; if not, we'll move larger pieces to the center and cover them.

For cabinet painting, empty the cabinets. Everything inside — dishes, food, toiletries — needs to come out before the doors and drawers are removed. This is the single most helpful thing a homeowner can do for a cabinet project, and it makes the work go much faster.

Clean the rooms. Dust and vacuum before we arrive. Dust on baseboards and trim is easier to remove before masking than during, and a clean room means less debris to work around. For kitchens, a quick wipe of the cabinets helps, though we degrease thoroughly as part of the process.

For exterior projects, trim landscaping away from the walls. Cut back bushes and branches that touch the house so we can access the surface, and move items away from the perimeter. We protect hardscape and plants, but clear access helps the work go faster.

Finally, plan for the crew. Make sure we have access to the areas being painted, a clear path in and out, and a place for our equipment. If you have pets, plan for where they'll be during the work. Communication before the project starts makes everything smoother.