Después de pintar la pared, lavamos la brocha y guardamos la cinta en el cajón.

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Breakdown of Después de pintar la pared, lavamos la brocha y guardamos la cinta en el cajón.

• nosotros: we
• después de: after
• y: and

Questions & Answers about Después de pintar la pared, lavamos la brocha y guardamos la cinta en el cajón.

Why is it después de pintar and not después de pintamos?

Because después de is commonly followed by an infinitive in Spanish when the subject is the same as in the main clause.

So:

• Después de pintar la pared, lavamos...
• literally: After painting the wall, we washed...

This is very natural in Spanish. English can do something similar with after painting...

If you want a full clause with a conjugated verb, Spanish usually uses después de que:

• Después de que pintamos la pared, lavamos la brocha.

But with the same subject, después de + infinitive is usually simpler and more idiomatic.

Could lavamos mean we wash instead of we washed?

Yes. Lavamos can mean either:

• we wash (present)
• we washed (preterite / simple past)

The form is identical for -ar verbs in nosotros.

In this sentence, the context strongly suggests the past:

• Después de pintar la pared...
• then lavamos...
• then guardamos...

It sounds like a finished sequence of actions, so English translates it as we washed and we put away/stored.