When we first bought our house, complete newbies...But after 3 years of renovating, we’ve spent so much time painting I think we know every trick on Google! Painting is one of those tasks that we really think anyone can do. It just takes a bit of patience but it’s the most cost-effective way to make a big difference really quickly.

Our backyard was pretty much non-existent when we started to plan for the reno. I think in this instance ignorance was bliss, had we have known how hard it was going to be to achieve the vision we had in our heads, maybe we wouldn’t have been brave enough to give it a crack! We knew we wanted to create a really private sanctuary-like feeling in our backyard as well as creating an outdoor entertaining space. We knew we wanted it to be bright and light like the rest of our home but we also wanted to incorporate lots of greenery!

We first had to paint the exterior of our house which was 60-year-old blue weatherboards that had been covered in plastic cladding in the late 80s. We did an IGTV all about how we prepped our weatherboards for painting and you can also see the whole process on the highlights section of our Instagram!

We decided we wanted to paint everything outside white which a lot of people questioned when we first did it as it did look SUPER bright! But we knew that once all our plants were in and we added in the beige cushions to the built-in seat etc that the whole area would soften a bit and the white would just look fresh and clean and it turned out exactly how we wanted! It’s all about trusting the process!

We love DIYing because it is such a great creative outlet for us as we both have full-time office jobs during the week. It is so satisfying to see a space (or an entire home) come together and know that you worked hard to get it there. It also saves you so much money! There is no way we could afford to have renovated our house as we have now if we were paying trades to do it all. There are so many resources out there to help you learn new skills!

Our best tips for painting would be:
Spend the time in your prep work as this makes the biggest difference to the finished product. This means patching up any cracks or holes in the walls, sanding it back to a smooth finish, sugar soaping the area so it’s perfectly clean and taping up everything perfectly. It is a very time-consuming part of painting but if you get this right, you will nail it! Invest in high-quality tools! If you buy a couple of really great brushes and rollers and look after them well, they will last you ages!

There are no rules – we have painted our walls, ceilings and trim in all the same paint. A lot of people will tell you that you need to have a semi-gloss or gloss on your trim etc but you don’t have to if you don’t want to! Gloss paint will hold up to knocks and bumps a bit better than a flat finish but we have had no troubles! Flat paint is also a lot more forgiving in terms of showing up brush strokes etc

If you are just starting out on a project (or plan on renovating more than one home) seriously considering investing in a high-quality spray gun. This was one of the best investments we ever made! We talk a lot more about it on our weatherboard IGTV if you’re interested.

How quickly it transforms the space! Paint is often the step that pulls everything together and makes such a big impact! I also love that So Fresh and So Clean has solved all my white paint worries haha. Every white we had tried before (which was a lot) was either too blue or too yellow, this is the perfect neutral white!

Keen to check out Roisin and Zac’s work? Follow them on Instagram @geebungalow