Order of Painting a room

First, I fill in any holes and caulk add needed.

Then I paint the ceiling first, if it needs it.

I cut in the corners, and the trim, roll them out and then fill in the field.

Do a second coat. Ending with a final top to bottom continuous roll. It just makes it look better.

Then I come back and do the trim if it is too be painted.

The next guy will tell you a different order.

If you have a lot of rooms to paint, and are doing them in the same color, and are able to cover the furniture and the floor coverings, then you have another option.

Spray everything. Especially the ceilings.

But keep in mind that when you use a paint sprayer, the mist will get everywhere. I tend to open a window, remove the screen and put in a box fan pointing out. I also seal in the openings around the fan to make it more efficient.

Spray painting is best done when the house is empty and no floor coverings in place. But, it can be done when the house is furnished. You just need to take a bit more care.

And, you do need to tape off what you don't want painted, like trim. And use good quality tape and make sure to seal the edges well.

Also, you will need to use a respirator and not just a mask. I also like to use a cheap tyvek coverall but, only because I have skin allergies. And of course nitrile gloves.

This is an alternative to rolling. I only do it when I have a lot of painting to do. Like when I first buy a house and I want to bring it back to a neutral palate. Or, in the case of my current house, when I want to seal in the stench of smoke, pet odors and various other stains on the walls.

And do it quickly so that we can move in.

Patch any holes and such in walls and trim, sand as necessary, dust, caulk. Paint ceiling first, then trim(except the baseboard), walls, baseboard, doors. If there is crown I may choose to paint that first, I like to move as fast as possible on the crown to maintain a wet edge so the paint lays down nicely.

Dry times are important to consider and may change the order of certain things, especially in smaller rooms where things move fast(er). For instance, larger holes in the walls require time to dry before sanding, so I may cut in the ceiling before sanding the walls. Because dust from sanding will fall on the baseboard, caulking the baseboard may wait until after sanding the walls. I don't want sanding dust falling on wet caulk, don't want to dig into wet(or skinned over) caulk when dusting the base, especially larger gaps or when new baseboard has been installed. When painting the walls I may cut-in at the base first, giving ample time for paint to dry in the inside corner at the top of the base so I don't run into wet wall paint when finally painting the base. Caulking inside corners can at times require added dry time consideration, higher quality caulks require longer dry times, you don't want to dig out the caulk with your brush. Paint over caulk often takes longer to dry than say the wall/ceiling inside corner. If I am painting the crown first, I may caulk the crown before patching the walls. There is a method to the madness applies. especially in smaller rooms where things move more quickly.

A typical repaint, first step may be a pole sander on walls or ceiling, or both, as necessary.

Of course on new or remodel work, all new plaster/drywall, raw wood, etc, will be primed first to stabilize the surface before caulking. That may require cut-in the new drywall/plaster, caulk trim, roll primer on walls(to allow trim caulk to dry), etc. etc.