My Top 10 Must-Have Painting Tools

New to painting? Here are the top 10 painting tools I can’t paint a room without. Honestly, anything beyond these 10 items is just fluff!

I love painting. LOVE IT. There’s just something about taking a room with a color you hate and giving it a totally new look in just a few hours. It’s absolutely intoxicating. Painting is such an easy and affordable project, and the transformation is unbeatable.

I’m on a mission to make the idea of painting accessible and attainable for everyone. So, I’m sharing all of my top tips on painting. Read to the end for all of my other painting-related posts!

Today, though, we’re chatting painting tools. There are a lot of different opinions out there regarding the best tools for painting. Here are my must-have painting tools!

My Top 10 Must-Have Painting Tools

A Wooster angled paint brush.

I’ve been using Wooster’s 2-inch Shortcut Angled Brush for years now. It’s hands down the best. The short, flexible handle gives you tons of control and makes it easy to cut in. The angled bristles are perfect for a nice clean line, too. I occasionally cut in without taping (because I’m a rebel), and this gives me great results every time!

A high-quality roller and roller cover.

I like to use a 3/8″ nap on our textured walls – you can use a smaller nap roller if you don’t have texture on your walls, though. I’m not a believer in taking the time to clean these things when you’re done – I just toss them! I’m not terribly picky about my brands when it comes to these, I just make sure they are comfortable to hold and feel sturdy.

Wagner’s SMART Sidekick.

If you’ve been around for any length of time you’ll know this guy is the real painting MVP. I’ll paint a lot of small spaces without it, but when it comes to a full-size room I will break out my power roller every single time. I promise it’s not too hard to clean, I promise it doesn’t make a mess, and I promise it will cut down on your painting time. Read more about it here!

Frog Tape.

Don’t buy any other brand for regular painter’s tape (see number 5 for my one exception). The green tape is the way to go. It sticks better, stays on, and leaves crisper lines. Trust me, it’s the way to go. If you’re a brave soul who doesn’t mind potentially doing touch-ups, you can skip the painter’s tape before cutting in, but most of the time it really is worth the extra effort.

ScotchBlue Tape + Plastic.

I don’t love this brand for regular painter’s tape, but this stuff is so good. It has a plastic drop cloth already attached to the tape that you can unfold and easily cover up windows or other things you don’t want to get paint on. This is a must-have if you’re working outdoors where it’s windy, have a weird angle you’re working in, or if you’re using a paint sprayer. I always have some on hand!

A HANDy Paint Pail.

I have multiple sizes of this thing and I use one for almost every single paint job I do. The most important one to have is the classic small size – it’s perfect to pour paint in when you’re cutting in and don’t want to lug the gallon of paint around. I do use the liners, too, because I’m lazy and they’re cheap, but they’re not 100% necessary! I also love this larger one for when I’m using a small roller on furniture!

A paint tray.

On that note, you’ll always need a paint tray on hand, too! I really like HANDy’s tray and plastic liners, but a cheap metal one works just fine too. If you want to skip the liners, you can wrap it in a plastic bag, and I’ve even been known to line it with foil! Of course, you can always just let the paint dry and peel it off. It’s just as fun as when we used to cover our hands with glue in Elementary school.

Extension pole.

These are useful for much more than just painting, but you’ve got to have an extension pole on hand, especially if you have ceilings to paint. Simply screw your paint roller on the end and you’ve suddenly got a much better reach! Painting ceilings will always be back-breaking work, but this certainly helps.

A good stepladder.

I have three different stepladders because I’m constantly using one! I really love a nice, tall stepladder for painting jobs – if you skimp on the height, you’ll just find yourself making mistakes because you’re having to stretch too far! Also, I always give bonus points to any stepladder that’s lightweight.

Painting clothes.

I recently started wearing coveralls for all of my painting projects and, y’all, it’s life-changing. I used to have an entire basket of clothes that I had ruined by painting in them and that’s what I went to when I was painting a room, but I always felt so frumpy and sometimes I got lazy about putting them on and just ruined more clothes. Now, I’m excited to put my painting outfit on, and each new paint stain on it just adds to the story! This is 100% worth the investment – my dad loved mine so much he went out and bought himself a pair, too!

And that, my friends, is every painting tool I must have in my house at all times!