Over the past few years, I've painted almost all of the outdated wooden trim in our 1970's house. Although it took some time to complete, it was a really inexpensive update that made a huge impact in the overall look and feel of our home. If you have an outdated house, this is such an affordable way to completely transform it without having to spend a ton of money. I've been able to test out my theory on nearly every room in our house, and it works every single time. Before we discuss details, here are the before and afters of some of the rooms in our house. You can see what a difference a little paint can make. Our entryway before... and our entryway after. See full reveal here. Our living room before... and our living room after. See full reveal here. guest bathroom before... and guest bathroom after. See full reveal here. Our office before... and the office after. See full reveal here. dining room before: and dining room after. *UPDATED: The dining room has been renovated even further by knocking down a wall. You can see all the pics here. Upstairs landing before: and upstairs landing after. See full reveal here. Master bedroom before... and master bedroom after. See full reveal here. Master bedroom closet before... and master bedroom closet after. See full reveal here. Seriously, it's one of my faves. And that's all we've gotten to so far. The downstairs level of the house hasn't been painted yet, so we'll leave that for another day! Hopefully, now you understand why I think painting trim white has such a huge impact on a home. There are some gorgeous wood trim exceptions out there, but I usually prefer white trim. That's just how I roll. So, now let's get started with the tutorial. Here are the basic supplies you will need. Supply List: 1. Primer (I prefer Zinsser.) 2. White Paint (I use Behr Semi Gloss Ultra White.) 3. Painter's tape (I like ScotchBlue.) 4. Wooster paintbrush (This thing rocks my world and I've used it on my entire house.) 5. Small foam roller. (My absolute favorite is the Shur-Line Trim Roller and I even use it when painting furniture.) 6. caulk & caulk gun 7. drop cloth *All above links take you to my Amazon affiliate shop. Quick note: In the majority of our house, I chose to just prime our trim rather than sand it. However, I did remove the trim and sand it in the living room/dining room area because I knew it would get the most wear and tear. Sanding AND priming your trim will give you the most durable results, but I've found that priming alone works well enough for me. On the areas of the house where I did sand the trim first before priming, I use this sander (Amazon affiliate link) because I love that it traps a lot of the dust. Prep work: Tape Tape off all the areas you don't want to get paint on before you prime. If I'm painting my trim and walls at the same time, I only tape off the carpet. That way, I can paint the trim first and then cut in with the wall paint and cover any mistakes I made while painting the trim. If you are only painting the trim and not the walls, I suggest taping off near the carpet and near the wall. Here is an example of what I mean in the below picture. I had already painted the trim and was starting to paint the walls. You can see that I taped below the trim by the carpet, and then came back after the trim was dry and cut in with my brush to paint the walls. When everything is done, I use an exacto knife to help remove the tape. Usually on other projects, I remove the tape when the paint is still wet, but with trim work you have to do several coats and allow them to dry in between. So, I just leave the tape in place until I'm completely done. After you've taped off all the necessary areas, it's time to start the paint process. Step #1: Prime. Using a paintbrush, I start by painting over all the wood with my primer. I just do one coat with the paintbrush and then smooth it out with my small foam roller. I find that one coat of primer usually does the trick for me. Priming is necessary because it helps prevent dark wood stain from peeking through white paint, and it keeps your paint from peeling off the wood. It will give you adhesion fairly comparable to sanding in most instances if used correctly. Step #2: Paint After your primer is dry, it's time to paint. For most of my trim, I've used Behr ultra white in a semi gloss finish. Semi gloss is easy to clean, and I love the way the ultra white color looks crisp and clean next to my wall colors. It really makes wall colors pop. When I apply my trim paint, I use my Wooster brush (I think I've bought 5 of them at this point...they save me SO much time and I barely have to tape up anything when I use them because of their precision.). I go over the entire trim with the brush first, and then while the paint is still wet, I smooth out all of my brushstrokes with a small foam roller. This gives it a factory like finish. It's awesome. So, to recap, brush your paint on with your Wooster first. (You can see below where I had just started painting over my coat of primer. I only did one coat of primer, and then I usually need 2-3 coats of paint.) Step #3: Roll Before your paint dries, smooth out the brushstrokes with your small foam roller. This is a very important step in making it look great. Now remember, in my high traffic areas, I spent nearly 8 million hours removing all of my trim and then painting it outside and making it perfect. It was torture. Turns out, just taping off my carpet and then smoothing out the majority of the trim with a roller renders really similar results. It won't be perfect, but I've been able to completely transform my home using the principle of 'progress, not perfection'. I highly recommend it. Step #4: Caulk Caulking is key when it comes to making your paint job look professional. Most people would suggest caulking first (and rightly so), so you should probably do that. However, if I'm being honest, I usually just do it after I've painted. I use white paint, and my caulk is white, so it works. I'm no expert. Just a gal sharing how I made my old house look less old. All I do is use my caulk gun to run a small line of caulk between the wall and the trim. And I don't even use a caulk tool to finish it. Frankly, I find a paper towel and my finger to work just as well. I just wipe it off in a swipe-like motion. I've done most of my house like this and nobody has ever been the wiser. I used a caulk tool for my first few rooms, and they look the same as the rooms where I just used my finger covered in a paper towel. Feel free to ignore that suggestion and opt for the tool. :) And that, my friends, it how I paint my trim. I've spent endless hours sitting on the floor with a paintbrush over the past few years, and I've adapted my methods as I've learned more. I'm sure there are better ways, or even different ways, but this is what works for me. Thanks so much for stopping by today! Feel free to ask any questions below and I'll do my best to answer! For related posts, you can check out the following: How We Painted Our Kitchen Cabinets Follow my blog with Subscribe to LiveLoveDIY with email! Enter your email address: