The Professional Guide to Preparing Your Home For Decorating
At Superior Property Maintenance & Improvements, we believe that 80% of a high-end finish is achieved before a paintbrush even touches the wall. While Nathan Steans and his team handle the technical labour, such as sanding, filling and priming, there are several steps you can take to ensure your project runs smoothly and your belongings are fully protected.
Following this guide helps us maintain a clean, efficient workspace and ensures the most durable results for your interior painting or kitchen cabinets painting project.
1. Clear the Workspace and Surface Areas
For any professional decorating project, a clear environment is essential for a dust-free finish.
- Remove Small Items: Please clear away ornaments, lamps, mirrors and wall hangings from the room being decorated.
- Electronics: Disconnect and move televisions, computers, and sound systems to another room to prevent dust ingress.
- Window Dressings: Whenever possible, please remove curtains, blinds, and poles to allow us full access to window reveals and frames.
2. Do I need to move my furniture and empty cupboards or do you handle that?
This is one of the most frequent questions we are asked.
- Heavy Items: You do not need to move wardrobes, sofas, or heavy sideboards out of the room. We simply ask that you move them to the centre of the room to give us a clear “walkway” around the walls.
- Professional Protection: Nathan and the team provide high-grade, clean protective sheeting to cover all large furniture items left in the workspace, ensuring they remain completely free of dust and paint.
3. Kitchen-Specific Preparation
Because kitchen cabinets painting requires a high-adhesion bond, the environment must be especially clean.
- Empty the Cupboards: We ask that all cupboards and drawers being painted are completely emptied of food, crockery and utensils.
- Clear Countertops: Small appliances like kettles, toasters and coffee machines should be moved out of the kitchen area to allow for a comprehensive “masking” process.
- Degreasing: While we handle the professional degreasing of the units, ensuring the kitchen is generally clean before we arrive helps the specialised primers bond more effectively.
4. Flooring and Access
Maintaining the integrity of your carpets and hardwood floors is a priority for our team.
- Pathways: Please ensure there is a clear, unobstructed path from your front or back door to the room we are working in.
- Protective Flooring: We use professional-grade “non-slip” floor protectors and heavy-duty drop cloths to protect your flooring throughout the project. You do not need to provide your own protection.
5. Wall and Surface Repairs
A common misconception is that homeowners need to patch holes before the decorator arrives.
- Leave the Prep to Us: Nathan has 32+ years of experience in surface restoration. We prefer to handle the filling of cracks, dents and scuffs ourselves using professional-grade fillers and dustless sanding equipment.
- Blown Plaster: If you suspect you have damp issues or large areas of “blown” plaster, please let us know during the consultation so we can advise on the best structural fix before painting begins.
Ready to Start Your Transformation?
By following these simple steps, you allow us to focus on what we do best: delivering a superior, professional finish to your home.