Said It Here

What order should you do home renovation tasks?

Figuring out the right sequence for steps like floors, trim, and painting feels like a guessing game because doing things out of order can damage work you just finished. Homeowners running their own projects struggle to figure out whether to paint, put in cabinets, or lay flooring first without causing costly mistakes.

What people tried

Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.

  1. 1
    Asking for advice from experienced homeowners or contractors
  2. 2
    Guessing the sequence based on general top-to-bottom rules
  3. 3
    Doing primer and prep beforehand, then finishing paint after doors and trim are installed

In their words

Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.

r/HomeImprovement2 people · September 2026

“So in order, should we do floors, trim and walls then celling or is there a better order?”source ↗

Ehnuhmee · r/HomeImprovement · 1 upvotes

“Hey all. I'm subcontracting the work myself to get my basement finished.”source ↗

“It just feels like kind of a conundrum. Seems like it would be a lot easier to paint before cabinets and flooring go in.”source ↗

jessej421 · r/HomeImprovement · 1 upvotes

Where this came up

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