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title: "Paint: How to Paint a Room, Free Guide | The Know-How | Everything But"
description: Why the swatch never matches your wall, which finish goes where, and how to prepare properly. Download my free guide to choosing and using paint.
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- [DECODE](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/blog/tag/decode)
- [MUSINGS](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/blog/tag/musings)
- [KNOW-HOW](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/know-how)
- [THE EDIT](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/the-edit)
- [ABOUT](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/about)

[KNOW-HOW /ˈnəʊ.haʊ/ n.](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/know-how?hsLang=en)  |  Paint

# Paint.

Never copy a colour from a friend’s house.

A little science, a few trade secrets and a lot of hard-won advice about the parts nobody puts on the tin. Free, as a guide to keep.

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The guide  |  Free

## How to Paint a Room

Choose for the light. Test it in your own room. Prepare more than you paint.

Colour, light and whites, finishes, breathable walls, preparation, application and trends, with a workbook to print. Add your email and it opens straight away.

Inside the guide

1. The swatch is lying
2. Colour moves walls
3. The shinier the paint, the more the wall confesses
4. Most of the job happens before the lid comes off
5. Two thin coats, never one thick one
6. Why is everyone painting green?
7. The guide on one page
8. Plus a printable workbook, separate (below)

Also free  |  No sign-upSeparate from the guide: a three-page workbook to print, with a testing sheet, a paint calculator and a paint record for every room.

[Print the workbook →](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/hubfs/everything-but-know-how-paint-workbook.pdf?hsLang=en)

[← All of The Know-How](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/know-how?hsLang=en) [Get the guide →](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/know-how/paint#get-the-guide)

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