Living and Sun Rooms: continued laying flooring (almost done!!)
Stairwell: removed all wallpaper, trimmed and painted most difficult-to-reach places
Upstairs Hallway: one coat of paint
Master Bedroom: painted (three coats...ugh)
Master Bathroom: removed wallpaper and painted over carpeted portion by closets
S End Table: one coat of paint
We still haven't totally finished a room yet, but we're getting so close! For this Foto Friday I'd like to start a three part series on painting tips; today's topic will be...
Painting 101: "I Don't Think We Got the Tools to Pull This Off!"
To do any job right, you need the right tools. Here are some tools we've found useful (and not so useful) in our painting endeavors:
Primer - we've heard mixed reviews for the paint-with-primer; but it's pretty costly (plus the folks at the store will tell you "it's advised to coat with a primer before using the paint-with-primer to fully cover dark colors"). For dark rooms, we apply one coat of primer first; be careful, however, in selecting one. Oil-based primers can be painted over with Latex paint, but the fumes are terrible, and they only clean up with mineral spirits. Latex primer smells much better and cleans with soap and water.
Angled Brush - this is the best brush for edging/trim work and for getting into corners.
Rollers - rolling the paint on the wall gives it a much smoother finish than brush painting.
Tray - if you're rolling, a paint tray is a must for getting paint onto your roller (and your edger).
Edger - these special rectangular devices for creating smooth, crisp lines around the ceiling, baseboards, and molding that you may encounter when painting and a blessing and a curse. They greatly reduce trimming time; however, loading the right amount of paint on so that you get coverage without oozing paint onto the trim is difficult.
Wet Rag - no matter what you're using, you're probably going to get paint somewhere where you don't want it. This trusty tool can help you keep your white trim white (not white with orange splotches).
Ladder - for trimming (and rolling without a pole), you'll need a ladder to reach the high spots. I have found that there is no better ladder than this:
It has a place to both set a paint can on top, with grooves to keep you from knocking it off, and a hook to hang it from the top of the ladder, so you don't cover yourself in paint trying to reach. Multi-position ladders are also great for hard-to-reach places like our stairwell.
Pole - to save time and ladder climbing, you can purchase a pole that screws into the bottom of most rollers to extend your reach. We've had different people tell us that a broom handle DOES and DOES NOT work well for this job...personally, we've always used a pole specifically for painting.
Do you have any painting tools that make the job a lot easier?
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