Painting Indoors

[Darth Wagtaros]

I'm gonna paint the living room, over a coat of what looks like slightly off white paint on the walls and ceiling.

Should I wash the walls first?

[Strix]

Prime it with Kilz first!

[Grey Fox]

Yes.

You will wash your wall with a degreaser, then you will use compounds joint (plaster) (3 coats!) to fill every holes & crack then you will use a primer & then paint 2 coats of your color of choice.

Notice I use "you will", these are not recommendation. These are your orders, soldier.

[garbon]

I thought this was something fun like painting on a canvas, indoors.

[Darth Wagtaros]

My mother is an artist. I am a tracer at best.

[11B4V]

Prime it with Kilz first!

Yes

[KRonn]

I just painted 2 rooms and the hall, plus two ceilings. I washed them down first to get any dirt or dust off. I didn't wash real strenuously as the walls weren't that dirty. I was a bit concerned over how well things would come out, afraid I'd have such a mess. But it all went ok, and I love the way things look.

[DontSayBanana]

"Wash, spackle, primer with Kilz, paint" is how I've always done it.

[katmai]

Jesus, Mary & Joseph wags.
Of course you should wash before painting.

[viper37]

I'm gonna paint the living room, over a coat of what looks like slightly off white paint on the walls and ceiling.

Should I wash the walls first?

Wash the walls first.  Use polyfilla for any cracks on the wall.  If there are a lot of cracks or holes, sand them and prime them.  Otherwise, go with the paint.  Depending on the colors, 1 or 2 coats, maybe 3. 

If you go from very dark colors to very light colors, use prime paint everywhere first.  If you're going from white to white or very light colors, it is unnecessary.

[Darth Wagtaros]

How should I deal with little areas of chipped paint, probably from tape being pulled off? Spackle would raise the area up wouldn't it?

[Strix]

How should I deal with little areas of chipped paint, probably from tape being pulled off? Spackle would raise the area up wouldn't it?

First, you can try sanding it down and see how smooth it gets. If that doesn't work than apply a thin layer of spackle than sand it down so that everything is even.

[The Brain]

I paint tiny men indoors.