Couple painting a wall

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Over the years, I've been asked hundreds of home improvement questions. While many of them start with "How can I do this?," a number of them start with "How do I un-do this?" That's because do-it-yourselfers embarking on projects for the first time tend to make the same basic mistakes. The good news is that most are easy to avoid. Here's how.

Mistake #1: Painting Before Prepping
Paint offers one of the easiest and least expensive ways to transform a space. It seems so easy, right? Pick a color, open the can, dunk in a brush and you’re good to go. This is why homeowners often skip the prep work.