Painter’s ‘back rolling’ method guarantees no drips or imbalances

If one of your New Year’s Resolutions has involved wanting to redecorate or renovate your house in 2026, then you might be looking around and realising just how much of a daunting task that actually is. 

While painting and decorating might seem easy, if you’ve never had to paint your walls or fit new kitchen cabinets before, it can be incredibly intimidating. However, paying for decorators to come in and do the work for you can be expensive, so it’s often best to do it yourself if you don’t have the cash to spare.

There is plenty of useful information online that will help you along in your DIY journey, ranging from videos telling you how to properly hang a picture frame to advice on what colour combinations are best for your bathroom.

But one woman on Instagram has recently shared a painting tip that has saved her walls from looking patchy and unfinished ever since she learnt it from her mother, who learnt it herself from a professional painter.

Laura shared a video of herself painting her walls a gorgeous shade of green, and said that there’s one thing you should always do when you’ve finished giving your walls a coat of paint.

She said: “My mum got this tip decades ago from the professional painter who was painting her house. He had been painting for maybe 40 years at that point, and he said that once you get the wall painted, you just start at the top and roll all the way to the bottom. He calls it back rolling.

“This takes care of any drips or unevenness, and also gets the sheen all going in the same direction. I have been doing this ever since. It’s such an easy way to make your paint job look more professional.”

Back rolling is a common technique where a paint roller is used to go over a freshly painted surface while it’s still wet. It helps to push the paint to porous surfaces for better adhesion, penetration, and a uniform finish. 

You should backroll your walls with a roller once they’ve been painted, but while the paint is still wet, and you should not load your roller with any fresh paint while you do this. 

Laura added in her caption: “Need to add that you do this on a freshly painted wall while it is still wet. I don’t put more paint on the roller when I do this; I just use what’s left.”