MrsDrPoe: House Progress, Week 7

Another week has ended, and another Foto Friday has arrived!  I am please to announce that today I will both 1) continue with some helpful painting tips and 2) show you some finished house pictures (but not in that order)!

Here's what we've accomplished this week:

Kitchen: over 50% of the hardwoods are installed
Stairwell: second coat of paint was applied (two coats on the spots I couldn't reach)
Master Bathroom: remaining wall-paper removed, two coats of paint applied
Carpet: put down in all bedrooms, closets, upstairs hallway, and staircase

And the finished rooms: 

The "Guest Room" (formerly the "Boat Room"...11th in the before post)
-no boats
-newly painted room and closet
-newly carpeted
-no brass fan

The "Baby* Room" (formerly the "Front Room"...12th in the before post)
-newly painted room, closet, and trim
-newly carpeted
-no brass fan

The "Office" (formerly the "Blue Room"...10th in the before post)
-newly painted room, closet, and trim
-newly carpeted
-no brass fan

The Master Bedroom (9th in the before post)
-newly painted room, closets
-newly carpeted
-no brass fan

The Master Bathroom (8th in the before post)
-no lattice garden wallpaper
-newly painted
-no brass light fixtures or hardware
 

  
Hopefully we'll have some pictures of finished downstairs rooms to show you soon!  And, as promised, here is the second installment of Painting 101:

Painting 101: Measure Once, Cut Twice

Ok...so you don't really have to measure or cut to paint, but the principal still applies.  To make the most of your painting experience, you'll need to put in the prep work:

Remove Wallpaper - while it can be painted over, it will never come off if it has been.  Save yourself any future issues and get a nice, even finish by removing it before painting.

Spackling - unless you're reusing the holes in your wall, make sure you fill them in (but be sure to remove any wall anchors first).

Sanding - if your wall was previously painted, simply sanding over the Spackle spots will ensure a smooth finish.  If you've had to remove wallpaper, you'll want to sand the whole wall to help get off and/or smooth over any sticky backing.  Be careful in an older house, however, as sanding can release lead and asbestos into the air.

Washing - painting over dirt/dust/etc. can cause your paint to peal later.  Save the trouble by wiping down your walls with a wet rag, using solvent if necessary.


*Mr. Poe and I are not pregnant, but Lord willing, we will be one day.  Thus the "Baby Room" is currently as empty as the "Guest Room," but we're calling it that because the twin bed that my Grandpapa Wolgemuth built my dad that was passed to me and will be passed to my children will go in this room.

MrsDrPoe: House Progress, Week 5

It was another long weekend of work at the Poe house!  Here's what we accomplished this week:

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?