Preparing for Interior Painting An inexpensive way to refresh your home... Remove everything from the walls, move furniture out several feet and cover it with a drop cloth. Turn off the electricity so you can remove light fixtures, switch plates and outlet plates, and wrap all disconnected light fixture wires. Paint will adhere better to clean walls. Walls should all be washed with ammonia and detergent, or tri-sodium phosphate. Wear rubber gloves when working with these solutions. After a meticulous scrubbing, walls and ceilings should be rinsed thoroughly with water and left to dry. Mask off all woodwork trim and cover the windows with newspaper and masking tape. You’ll need to mask t…