Top 16 essential decorating tools guide for DIY-ers and decorators

Whether you’re a new or keen DIY-er or you’ve been painting and decorating for a while, we want to provide you with all the tools and knowledge you need to complete your jobs and projects to the highest standard.

So, we’ve created a complete list of essential painting and decorating tools you will need when painting or decorating any interior room. This guide will cover what tools professional painters and decorators use daily for painting and wallpapering.

Table of contents

• What tools do you need for painting and decorating?
• Painting prep tools
• Essential Painting tools
• Wallpapering prep tools
• Wallpapering tools

What tools do you need for painting and decorating?

The tools you will need will depend on what job you’re trying to complete, so we’ve selected all the tools you will need if you’re prepping a wall to paint or wallpaper and your essential painting and wallpapering tools.

Painting Prep Tools

Before you start painting, you must prepare your area and walls first.

1. Dust Sheet

Before you start painting or decorating, it is essential to protect the floor, as no matter how careful you are, paint and old wallpaper will make a mess. Make sure you have an old sheet to hand, or even better, use a polythene plastic sheet, as you can be sure paint won’t seep through. Our plastic dust sheets are ideal for temporarily protecting furniture, floors, and carpets from paint spills and splashes when decorating.

2. Masking Tape

If you’re not comfortable free-handing edges, masking tape or Frog Tape is essential. Masking tape is a good quality, general purpose, easy-to-tear beige tape for quickly masking areas before painting. For best results, remove the masking tape before the paint has dried for a clean, sharp paint line.

We also offer FrogTape® for general and delicate surfaces with less adhesion. You can use this premium-grade painter’s tape for interior or exterior masking on cured painted walls, wood trim, glass and metal. The FrogTape® has exclusive PaintBlock® Technology, a super-absorbent polymer that reacts with latex paint and instantly gels to form a micro-barrier, sealing the edges of the tape to prevent paint bleed and delivering very sharp paint lines.

Use these tapes to protect skirting boards, electric fittings, door and window frames and walls you want to keep in different colours.

3 & 4. Wall Filler and Spreader Knife

If you’re painting a room that needs refreshing, you might find some general wear and tear. Before you start painting, fill in any holes with polymer wall filler. We offer a range of wall fillers to browse in various sizes for your needs. 

Polymer wall filler dries quickly and smoothly, meaning you get a fresh finish with minimal to no sanding needed. The filler will not shrink, crack or sag, giving you a smooth base to paint over. 
To apply to the wall, use a spreader or spatula.

5. Wonder Wipes

Any painter, decorator or tradesman will tell you that wonder wipes are essential for any job or project. Use these to clean superficial oil and grease stains off walls before you paint. You must ensure your walls are clean before repainting them, as oil and grease stains will show through the new paint. Also, if you clean your walls, ensure they are dry before painting, or the paint won’t stick.

Essential Painting Tools

Now it’s time to start painting! Ensure you have all the essential tools before you begin to avoid project delays.

6. Flat Paint Brush

Firstly, you will need a set of different-sized brushes to paint intricate areas, like the Monarch Elite & Pro Extra 5 Piece Set. You can use these to paint edges and hard-to-reach areas a roller can’t reach.

7. Angled Paint Brush

An angled paint brush isn’t essential. However, it makes doing free-hand edging easier, so we have included it in our essential decorating tools guide.

8. Paint Tray or Bucket

You will also need somewhere to put your paint while painting. We offer various paint trays and painter’s buckets to help make your painting job or project pain-free. Our durable paint tray and roll-off bucket squeeze excess paint off your roller to create a drip-free, smooth paint finish. 

We also offer a multi-grip painter’s pail to take up ladders and hard-to-reach spaces. Use the magnetic paint brush holder or roller holder within the bucket to free up your hands while working at height.

9 & 10. Roller Set and Roller Cage

You can’t paint an entire room with a paint brush! So, you will need a set of paint rollers for quick and even painting. Paint rollers create a smooth finish and speed up the painting process. We offer thin and thick paint rollers in various sizes, depending on how much coverage you need. We also supply mini rollers for difficult-to-reach areas, like behind radiators. 

You will also need a roller frame. These come as cageless or adjustable models. However, make sure they are the correct size for the roller that you’re using. Don’t forget your brush and roller cleaning tool to make cleaning up a breeze.

11. Extension pole 

An extension pole isn’t essential to paint a wall. You can use a ladder to reach the top of the wall or a ceiling. However, an extension pole can significantly reduce your painting time, making your decorating job more efficient. So, we’ve added them to our list of essential decorating tools.

12 & 13. Primer and Sealer

Before you paint your chosen colour, you must determine whether you need a primer or a sealer. You don’t necessarily need one, but if you’re painting over a freshly plastered wall, covering up stains or painting over a dark colour, you can use a primer to save time and paint.

A sealer can help seal your paint job, which is helpful in high-humidity areas. You can use it to seal peeling wallpaper, damaged paint or drywall. It can also make a porous surface, such as drywall or wood, non-porous.

Wallpapering Prep Tools

If you’re preparing a wall for wallpaper, you will need particular tools to prepare the wall.

14. Wallpaper Stripper

If there is old wallpaper on the wall, resist the urge to wallpaper over it. Wallpapering over wallpaper can cause it to peel over time, and you may not get an even finish. Use a wallpaper stripper to remove old wallpaper to start afresh.

15. Multi-tools and Scrapers

To make wallpaper removal quick and effortless, invest in a multi-tool or scraper to get the old wallpaper off.

Wallpapering Tools

Once you have removed the old wallpaper, you can use some of the tools from the previous section to prep the wall in the same way, like wall filler, primers and sealers. 

16. Wallpaper Hanging Brush

Now you’re ready to wallpaper! Besides needing fresh wallpaper and wallpaper paste, it’s essential to have a wallpaper hanging brush for smoothing all types of wallpaper and eliminating any bubbles.

Essential Decorating Tools from Build & Plumb

There you have it! A complete list of all the essential tools you need for painting and decorating. For more paint brush and roller size options, check out our paint brush and roller collection. And for more decorating tool options, browse our decorating tool collection. Finally, if you need more cleaning and preparation tools, look at our cleaning and preparation collection.