Nothing quite makes a statement about historical Alexandria, VA, architecture than that of the classic Alexandria home. In order for a Alexandria, VA, home to retain its charm and beauty, the house needs to be regularly maintained.

This article focuses on the Alexandria, VA, house interior, with a guide on preparing your home for painting.

Inspect your home thoroughly first

Before you even begin preparations for painting, it’s important to conduct a thorough inspection first.

As many Alexandria homes have been around for decades or longer, walls and other materials may be deteriorating and in need of repair.

Before any painting can begin, you’ll want to ensure that your home is in tip top shape.

Repair any damage and replace any materials that have simply seen better days. Fill holes in the walls and replace rotten window frames and architraves.

Also, fill in any gaps around window frames and door frames.

Hopefully, your detailed inspection will tick every box but if it doesn’t, perform any necessary repairs before moving on to painting preparation.

Preparing the interior walls

The very first step in preparing those internal walls for painting is to wash them down and get everything nice and clean.

The reason for this is to remove things like fingerprints, grease and grime, mildew, dirt or anything else that could potentially interfere with a quality paint job.

Once everything is spic and span, it’s time to move on to the next phase.

Now it’s time to give everything a good sanding. This includes the framework, skirting boards, walls, cupboards, JV panelling and everything else that you’ll paint.

Sanding not only removes small pieces of debris and levels everything off, but it lightly scuffs up the surface so the paint adheres to it properly.

Sanding also gets rid of old flaking paint. This is vital to ensure the new paint job remains intact and has a smooth and flawless appearance.

Time to prime

All woodwork within your Alexandria home needs a coat of primer to prepare it for the finish coat.

Priming guarantees a good bond between the primer and the top coat, as well as ensuring that no colour bleeds through from the old paintwork.

Once you prime everything, it’s then time for another light sanding before applying the top coat.

Unless the walls of your home are made of timber, you won’t need to prime them. The same applies to the ceilings.

Walls and ceilings made from plasterboard will simply require several coats of your chosen paint to guarantee an opaque finish that doesn’t look patchy.

Applying the finish coat

Apply the top coat to all timber surfaces first, such as window and door frames, skirting boards, balustrades, handrails, wainscoting, fretwork, decorative gables and more.

Once you accomplish this and the paint is thoroughly dry, then you can commence cutting in around the timberwork for the ceilings and walls.

After cutting in is complete, simply paint the large expanses of flat surfaces with an appropriate roller.

Techniques for painting VJ panelling

Preparation and painting techniques for VJ panelling are similar to other painting prep work. First, repair or replace any damaged panels.

Follow this up by washing down each panel and, once dry, give them a thorough sanding.

Fill any noticeable gaps between the panels, apply a coat of primer, sand the panels again and then apply the finish coat.

When painting the panels, paint along the length of the panel, such as right to left, to ensure a smooth and even finish that goes along with the grain of the panels.

Painting high ceilings

Many Alexandria homes have very high ceilings, which can make reaching them somewhat of a challenge.

Your best option for reaching these high spaces is with mobile scaffolding. This is a relatively small scaffold setup that’s on wheels.

Simply move the scaffold into position, lock the wheels so it doesn’t move, climb up and start sanding and painting.

Small mobile scaffolds like this make reaching those high walls and ceilings a breeze.

How to choose the right paint and colour schemes

Choosing the right paint and colour scheme for your Alexandria home is also an important consideration. Our recommendation is to use eco-friendly paints.

These are low-VOC paints, which means they don’t emit pollutants and irritants. They are also much kinder to the environment and have very little odour.

Low-VOC paints are extremely durable, leading to fewer repaints.

There are loads of eco-friendly paints on the market today, so you won’t have any trouble finding what you need, in the colours you want.

Let’s now look at some practical tips for choosing the right colour scheme.

Walls and ceilings

You really can’t go wrong with choosing neutral colours for walls and ceilings, such as white, beige or even light grey.

However, there’s no rule saying you can’t paint your walls and ceilings with bold colours for something different, or even choosing one or two walls as feature walls.

Fretwork and ceiling roses

Fretwork in Alexandria homes is ornate lattice work that adds character to the home. Ceiling roses are also decorative pieces made from either wood or plaster.

You might want to consider painting these decorative areas with a colour that compliments, yet contrasts with the wall and ceiling colours.

This will make these beautiful sections of the home really stand out.

Wainscoting and balustrades

Many Alexandria homes have varied balustrades and these can be a real showpiece, so carefully consider a colour that will showcase those stunning balustrades, but one that also blends well with the rest of the colour scheme.

Wainscoting is the skirting that adorns the lower part of the walls. You could simply choose to paint them with the wall colour, or alternatively, opt for a colour that contrasts with the wall colour.

Window frames and architraves

These days, many people opt to paint window frames and door frames the same colour as the walls.

This works well and certainly makes the painting process easier overall, but choosing contrasting colours for architraves and window frames can really make a statement.

If the walls are white, for example, you could paint the framework green, bronze, dark grey, blue or even black.

Choose a painter experienced with Alexandria homes

Genaro’s Remodeling has been restoring Alexandria, VA, homes to their full glory for many years now.

We are your local experts when it comes to painting Alexandria, VA, home interiors.

Contact us today for further information, or to arrange an inspection of your home and offer a quote.

Our service areas includes Alexandria, Springfield and Lorton, VA.