Course description

A freshly decorated room can change how your whole home feels, and you don't need to be a professional to get a professional finish. This course shows you how to plan, prepare, paint and paper a room properly, step by step, whether you own your home or rent it.

It's a full course of 10 sections and 50 written lessons. You follow Bisola, a first-time buyer in Northamptonshire, as she turns a tired spare bedroom with old woodchip paper into a calm home office, transforms a dark red living room with a patterned feature wall, and hires a decorator for the stairs. Every job is broken into numbered steps, with what "done right" looks like and how to fix common mistakes. Every section has a practice pack with a cheat sheet, checklists, calculators and model answers.

What you'll learn

• Planning: the order of work, measuring a room and working out exactly how much paint and wallpaper to buy.
• Paint and colour: types of paint, sheens, specialist paints and choosing colours that work in your light.
• Preparation: protecting the room, washing, filling, sanding, priming and stain blocking.
• Painting: rollers, cutting in, ceilings, second coats, and fixing patchy finishes, drips and marks.
• Woodwork: skirting, architraves, panelled doors, window frames and radiators.
• Wallpaper: stripping, measuring, pasting and hanging, feature walls and repairs.
• Finishing and rules: crisp lines, simple panelling, decorating when you rent, permissions, budgets and hiring a decorator.

Staying safe

Safety is built in from the first section: ladders and steps, dust, old lead paint, textured coatings that may contain asbestos, fumes and getting rid of waste properly. The course never asks you to do electrical, gas or plumbing work. It gives general information, so always read and follow the labels on the products you use.

What will I learn?

• Plan a decorating job in the right order and work out exactly how much paint and wallpaper you need
• Choose the right paint type, sheen and colour for each room and surface
• Prepare walls, ceilings and woodwork properly: washing, filling, sanding, priming and stain blocking
• Use a roller and brush for an even finish, cut in neat lines and paint a ceiling safely
• Paint skirting, doors, window frames and radiators for a smooth, durable finish
• Strip old wallpaper and hang new paper straight, round corners, windows and fittings
• Work safely with ladders, dust, old paint and textured coatings, and dispose of waste properly
• Decorate within the rules when you rent or own a flat, and hire a decorator with confidence

Frequently asked questions