Apartment painting advice - renovating newbie

Hi all,

Looking to get some guidance on painting an apartment interior and balcony areas.
The place is a 90sqm 2 bedder, currently has white and grey for walls.

Some questions:
- Is it better to paint before moving into an apartment, or is it feasible to paint after moving in?
- What are the ideal paint types for interiors and exterior walls?
- I see the "painting sucks" sentiment is strong on here. For full time a working couple, how much time realistically will painting the whole place be? It's a 2 bedder at 90sqm.
- Would you recommend hiring a painter for these types of jobs, or DIY?

Other general handy tidbits I should be aware of would be much appreciated.
Thanks everyone in advance

 

Does it need painting or do you just want to freshen up? Do you want to change the grey colour? Colours are more difficult than white or very light. Just walls or doors windows too?

I have painted many apartments: my personal suggestion: if you are just painting over in the same colour it's easy go for it. If you want to change anything some experience wouldn't hurt. I wouldn't touch windowframes doorframes if you haven't done that previously. Ceilings are a pain. Painting when empty is much easier. Proper masking/taping takes time but will save you from a world of pain.
Our last professional painter painted a 90sqm apartment in a day (alone). How long you need depends on your level of expertise, dedication and the desired end result.

 

Painting is the easy bit, and it's easier to do in an empty place. It's the prep that we hate, but that's the most important bit to get right.

First you'll need to clean the walls, either washing them down with liquid sugar soap, then rinsing/wiping off with a clean wet cloth. I've heard of some people using a few caps of metho in warm water too.. (you don't need to do the rinse step with this one, but you should test your walls first).

Once they're clean, you can fill any cracks etc, sand back the filler and paint over the filled areas with a sealer.

After all this, you should be right to paint with your topcoat/s..(though really old walls or chalky surfaces will need to be treated/primed).

 

Thanks @Natascha. I want to freshen up and also replace the grey/ brown living room wall with a "better" colour; though I have no idea what the new colour would be.

Thanks @Phase2 . Didnt know the prep would be so much. *adds to research list*

 

Thx! If you want to paint over the brown (I understand you) I'd recommend a white primer before the actual paint. Can't recommend any particular brand because my Reno experience was in Germany.

 

If you have dark colours, stains etc. then the best undercoat is one of the Zinsser products like this one.

Zinsser 3.78L Bulls Eye 1-2-3 Undercoat Primer, Sealer and Stain Killer

One coat of it will stop bleed through and lessen the amount of priming to hide the dark colours. You can also get pre-tinted Zinsser to aid the process and reduce priming completely.

I've used Zinsser products for all sorts of things. Mostly to cover up old water stains before new coats.

Highly recommended