Come house painting time, most people would rather find an escape route than deal with the hassle of this home improvement project. While painting the home is one of the easiest, cheapest, and fastest ways to improve its looks, address some problems, and give it the facelift it so much deserves, it is still a hassle. If you add to the actual home painting job's hassle the various considerations before you even get started, you will realize why you, me and a few more million people around the world dread the moment of painting their home. (No wonder there's a large number of painting contractors around ready to make our lives easy.) But let us focus on these first considerations that will determine the outcome of the entire painting project, and where it will be easy or not. Shall we?

Professional painters or DIY?

One may say that the decision to hire a professional painting company or do the job yourself highly depends on the scale of the work. Partially, this is true. Let's say you just want to refresh one wall in your bedroom – a wall free of blemishes and bruises, you simply want to apply a new color. In such a case, you may decide to do it yourself. But even with such small-scale home painting jobs, it won't be easy if you have never held a roller or brush in your hand, know nothing about colors, don't know how to do the job. You may not get the results you expect. Now imagine wanting the whole house painted. Perhaps, an exterior painting service too. While such jobs may not demand 10 different college degrees, they still require some skills, knowledge, training, expertise. Even an interior painting service, which is usually easier than having the exterior painted, is hard to do right – let alone if you want the external walls painted as well. So, we vote in favor of finding a home painting contractor, although the decision is yours.

Interior painting – exterior too?

While you sit around the kitchen table with the whole family discussing your soon-to-take-place house painting, you wonder: should we paint the exterior too? Taking such decisions is much easier than you think. Start by answering this question first: what made you decide to paint the house in the first place? Was it water damage that caused some internal wall discolorations? Or was it your choice just to refresh your house – perhaps, change the color of the walls in some rooms? Things to remember.

• The exterior always suffers the most. If you can afford it right now, include the exterior to your project. Naturally, if there's some apparent damage on the exterior walls, it goes without saying – you need to paint it.
• Whether there's mold, moisture, damage, it's important that the problem is addressed and the wall is painted.
• Homes are not painted often. Some cracks here and some bruises there are likely to be found. And while such blemishes may be scarce, your decision also depends on how long it has been since you last painted the house.

Whole house painting or only some rooms?

A similar consideration is the dilemma of whether to paint the whole house or just some rooms. This question often pops when your decision to find a painter emerged after some water damage, for example. Let's say you had such a problem in your master bathroom and once you addressed that, you decided to paint the bathroom and the adjacent bedroom. And then, the discussion escalated to whether to paint the whole house or not. Well…it depends on the condition of the walls, when it was last painted, if the problem affected other areas as well.

Prime first or just paint?

Primers are often left out of residential painting jobs, especially if this is a DIY project, just to save money and time. But it's a mistake. Consider the primer as the first layer of coating after the cracks and blemishes are sealed and addressed. With the primer, you don't only have an additional layer but the paint adheres much better, looks better, lasts longer. And although there are paints containing primers today, it's best to get separate products, especially if this is a room susceptible to damage (like a bathroom, the exterior, or the basement).

Bright paint colors or just neutral?

While choosing the home painting colors is fun, it's a hard feat. And don't forget the disputes in the family. Half of you want bright colors, the rest prefer neutrals. So, who will win? Overall, you need to take it easy with bright colors. Although gorgeous, they can be tiring – unless this is a space you hardly visit. Neutrals and soft colors are always the best choices since you can spread color in the house via the items. And if there's a dispute in the family, let the kids do what they want in their room and take control over the rest of the house.

Splurge or save?

While home painting is the easy way to give your residence a facelift, it's not something you do often. And so, it's best to invest in long-lasting paints and primers, which naturally cost a bit more. Now, that's extremely important if this is a high-moisture room or the exterior. Save only if you just want to refresh the color of a damage-free wall. You won't regret the money spent on your home painting project.