Guide

The Best Order to Decorate a Room

Decorating in the right order saves time and stops you ruining finished surfaces. Here's the sequence the professionals follow.

Prep first, always

Before any paint, clear and cover the room, fill cracks and holes, sand everything smooth and wash off dust. Good preparation is the difference between a finish that looks professional and one that shows every flaw. It's tempting to skip, but it's the most important stage.

Ceiling, then walls, then woodwork

Paint the ceiling first so drips and splatter land on walls you haven't done yet. Then the walls. Then the woodwork — skirting, frames and doors — last, so you can cut in neatly against finished walls. Some decorators do woodwork before the final wall coat; both work, but top-down is the safest default.

Where does flooring fit?

New flooring almost always goes in last, after all the paint is dry, so it doesn't get splattered or scuffed during decorating. If you're wallpapering, that's usually done after the ceiling is painted and before the woodwork's final coat.

Plan your materials

Working out quantities for each stage before you start avoids mid-job shopping trips. Our whole room cost calculator pulls paint, flooring and trim into one budget so you can buy everything in one go and decorate in a smooth sequence.