How to Prepare Your Home for Interior Painting

Proper preparation is what separates a paint job that looks great for 10 years from one that starts peeling in two. Painters will tell you prep is 70% of the job — and in Las Vegas's dusty desert environment, that's even more true than elsewhere.

1. Clear and Protect the Room

Remove small furniture, artwork, and fragile items. Push larger furniture to the center and cover with drop cloths. Take off all switch plates and outlet covers — painting around them always looks amateur. Label each cover so reinstallation is fast.

Covering Floors, Supply Vents and Smoke Detectors

Lay canvas drop cloths or rosin paper over hard floors, since plastic sheeting turns slippery underfoot. Cover HVAC supply vents so dust and spatter do not circulate through the house, and mask smoke detectors rather than painting over them. Remember to uncover every vent and detector when the job is done.

2. Clean the Walls

Wash walls with a mild soap solution or TSP substitute to remove grease, dust, and grime. Paint adheres poorly to unclean surfaces. Allow complete drying before applying primer. Las Vegas walls accumulate substantial dust — don't skip this step.

3. Repair Holes and Cracks

Fill nail holes with lightweight spackle and let dry. Cracks and larger damage should be patched with joint compound. After drying, sand smooth and feather edges. Settlement cracks around doors and corners are very common in Las Vegas homes — address all of them before painting.

Caulking Gaps Along Baseboards and Door Casings

Dry desert air opens gaps where baseboards and door casings meet the wall. Fill them with paintable acrylic caulk before painting; it turns uneven shadow lines into crisp edges. Smooth each bead with a damp finger and let it dry fully so paint does not crack over it. Our drywall hole repair guide covers larger damage.

4. Tape and Mask Edges

Apply painter's tape along ceiling lines, trim, and surfaces you're not painting. Press tape firmly using a putty knife or credit card to block seepage. Remove tape while the final coat is still slightly wet — waiting until it's fully dry can pull paint off with the tape.

5. Prime Where Needed

Bare drywall patches, stain-prone surfaces (water stains, smoke damage), and dramatic color changes all require primer before topcoat. Skipping primer on patches causes "flashing" — the patched area shows through as a dull spot no matter how many coats you apply.

Sealing Smoke, Nicotine and Water Stains

Nicotine, cooking smoke and old water stains bleed through latex paint. A shellac- or oil-based stain-blocking primer seals them so yellow shadows do not reappear a few days after painting. This comes up often in rental turnovers, where a single coat of new paint over unsealed stains rarely holds.

Flat, Eggshell or Satin: Sheens by Room Type

Flat and matte finishes hide wall imperfections on ceilings and in bedrooms. Eggshell is a good all-around choice for living areas, while satin stands up better in kitchens, bathrooms and kids' rooms. Keeping the same sheen on all walls in a room avoids patchy-looking touch-ups later.

6. Ventilate the Space

Open windows, use fans to circulate air, and run the HVAC. Proper ventilation accelerates drying and improves finish quality. Painting in the morning during Las Vegas summers is significantly better than afternoon — cooler temperatures give the paint more time to level before setting.

When to Hand Prep and Painting to a Crew

Prep is where most of the hours go. If your walls need extensive crack repair, texture matching or stain blocking, a professional crew can handle the prep and the painting in one project. See our interior painting service and the interior vs. exterior painting comparison.