Applying paint—even the very best—over an ill-prepared wall will surely result in a blistered, peeling mess. For most surfaces, the following two steps is a good place to start.

Apply primer to the wall. “KILZ or Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3 are my tried-and-true favorites,” Murphy says. Once primer is dry, use painter’s tape to section off portions of your mural or to ...

2. Paint the Entire Wall. Before you start, be sure to prime your walls with a paint primer. This will provide a clean and stable surface for your paint to cling onto.

In addition to your paint colors, keep some of the base wall color on hand in case of mistakes (you can use it like white-out to cover anything on the wall you don’t like).

Painting multiple rooms or even a single accent wall in your home can feel like an overwhelming project: there’s picking colors, taping trim, sanding, ...

His pieces look just like real neon signs, but they are actually 2D and created using only spray paint and a special technique that makes them pop off the wall. We spoke with Straker about his ...

Paint Large Samples. From the paint chips, choose two or three favorites and buy small cans of paint for sampling. “I like to do really large samples on the wall,” Ms. Romanek said, measuring ...