Should You Paint Walls Or Skirting Boards First?
- Marieke Rijksen
- Jun 23
- 2 min read
Painting a room seems simple until you reach the moment where you are standing there with a brush, a roller, and a small existential question. Do the walls come first? Or the skirting boards.
At this point, someone usually claims there is a correct order. Unfortunately, if you ask five decorators, you will get roughly seven opinions. The truth is that both approaches exist, and both have a reason behind them.
The Case For Painting The Walls First
Many decorators start with the walls. The logic is fairly simple. Rolling walls tends to be the messiest part of painting a room. Even careful painters occasionally send a bit of paint in directions that were not entirely planned. If the skirting boards are already painted, that roller splash now becomes a small repair job.
By painting the walls first, you remove that risk. Any small drips that reach the skirting boards can be covered later when you paint the woodwork. It is essentially the “messy job first, neat job later” approach.
The Case For Painting The Skirting Boards First
Other painters prefer the opposite order. Skirting boards require slower, more careful brushwork. When you paint them first, it does not matter if the brush wanders slightly onto the wall. The wall paint will cover that later.
The benefit is that you can focus entirely on getting a clean finish on the woodwork without worrying about touching the wall. Once the skirting boards are dry, you simply roll the walls afterwards and everything looks tidy.
Why The Debate Never Ends
The reason this argument refuses to settle is that both approaches work. If you are confident cutting in neatly around woodwork, painting the walls first often feels faster. If you prefer dealing with the detailed brushwork first, starting with the skirting boards can make the process feel more controlled.
In reality, the final result depends far more on preparation, good brushes, and patience than on which surface was painted first.
The Practical Answer
If you are painting a room yourself and want the least stressful order, many DIY painters find this sequence easiest:
Ceiling first.
Walls second.
Skirting boards and other woodwork last.
That way, the largest and messiest surfaces are done first, and the more detailed painting finishes the room neatly. And if a small roller splash lands somewhere it should not, you will still have another coat coming to fix it. Which, if we are being honest, is usually the real plan anyway.
