How to Protect Your Furniture During Painting

Painting is a great way to spruce up any room. Changing the color of your walls can make a room feel like a completely different space. Even if you don’t change the color of the paint on your walls, touching it up can keep a room feeling fresh and new. But painting can be a messy job and it’s important to protect your furniture while you’re doing the job.

Follow these steps to keep your furniture protected and the room you’re painting mess-free.

Remove Your Furniture from the Room

When possible, you should remove as much furniture from the room as you can. This will make the room less crowded so you can more easily move around as you paint. Additionally, you can’t drip paint on your furniture if it’s not even in the room.

Move Your Furniture Away from the Walls

Some furniture is heavy or may not easily fit through the door without taking it apart. This furniture should be pushed into the center of the room, as far away from the walls as possible. If you’re painting the ceiling, then you may need to move the furniture again so that you can paint over it.

How Far Away Should Furniture Be From the Paint?

Ideally, your furniture should be at least three feet away from where you’re painting.

Cover Your Furniture

It’s a good idea to cover any furniture that remains in the room. That way, if an accident does occur, the paint will drip onto the cover, not the furniture itself.

What Should You Use to Cover Furniture While Painting?

Plastic works well to cover your furniture. A sheet of plastic can easily move around, however, so it’s a good idea to secure it in place with masking tape, which won’t damage your furniture when it’s removed.

Prepare for the Worst

It’s also a good idea to prepare for the worst. Despite your best efforts to protect your furniture from the paint, it’s possible that you may still get some paint on the furniture. For this reason, you should be ready to clean paint off of your furniture quickly.

How Can You Remove Paint from Wood?

If the paint drip is small, the best way to remove it from wooden furniture is to just wait for it to dry. Once the paint is dry, you can scrape it off, although be careful not to scrape too hard or you could scratch the wood. It’s important not to apply any paint thinner to wooden furniture unless you know the following:

• The exact type of finish used on the wood
• That paint thinner won’t harm that finish

How Can You Remove Paint from Fabric?

If you have furniture with fabric, such as chairs and sofas, then the best way to remove paint from it is to immediately blot away the paint before it has a chance to start drying. To do this, use a wet cloth to blot away as much of the paint as you can. Be careful not to wipe, because that could spread the paint out and rub it in. Then, spray the affected area with a mixture of laundry detergent and water. This is to help prevent a stain.

How Can You Remove a Paint Stain from Fabric?

If the paint does stain the fabric, you can try to remove it by using paint thinner. It’s best to apply the paint thinner to a part of the fabric that isn’t usually visible first so you know how the fabric reacts to the thinner. Once you’ve finished using the paint thinner, be sure to let the fabric air out or neutralize the odor. Paint thinner can be dangerous to breathe in.