1. Never ever underestimate the power of primer (I suggest High Hiding Primer- Valspar is the brand I used on this job, and I was impressed).
2. If you are painting drywall for the first time, ABSOLUTELY 100% make sure you have all the drywall dust off the walls. I learned this the hard way. If you paint on top of the dust - even just a little - painters tape will take off all your hard work...because the dust prevents the primer from sticking to the dry wall. I guess I thought I could cheat...
3. Listen to music and specifically songs that tell stories (I think these are ballads?). Such as anything Neil Young, Johnny Cash, Ray LaMontagne, Band of Horses, Neil Simon, Emmie Lou Harris, Loretta Lynn, and throw in some Dixie Chicks to pick up the pace. I sincerely think Maine and its plethora of country radio is getting to me. Really, just listen to whatever you can zone out to and enjoy. I found myself lost in the stories that I was listening to while painting. When do we ever get 4-8 hours to do something mindless and listen to music? It definitely made the process more enjoyable!
4. Always paint with a wet edge. What does this mean? Instead of painting the whole room, and then painting the edges, break up your room into different sections- mainly wall by wall. Paint the center part of the wall with a roller and then while it's still wet, do the edges. When you move to the next wall, wrap the edge paint brush in a wet paper towel to keep it from drying out too much before you need it again. This will make sure you don't see ridges between the rolled center and the brushed edge.
5. A good roller and a good paint brush are definitely worth the money. I ALWAYS choose the Purdy brand.
Okay, so those are my tips. I really debated whether or not to put these photos up. We choose a blue color for the walls in our bedroom. It's a FreshAire Choice brand of paint- ecofriendly and no VOCs. I figure I'll be sleeping *hopefully* 8 hours per night in this room so I certainly don't want to be breathing paint offgas for years to come! The color we choose is called Summer Dragonfly. You can see it in the Waterscape Palette on the FreshAire Choice website.
On the website, you'll probably say: wow, how soothing. Perfect for a bedroom. And that's what I think. However...the color as it appears in these photographs is totally different from the color as it appears in reality. You'll just have to trust me! We also finished the ceiling since I took these photos. Holy hell was that long and neck-breaking. 2 coats of primer...but only one 1 coat of high gloss Glacial Tint! We still have to prime and paint the wood work. See the cool design on the woodwork- we matched it to the rest of the woodwork in our house.
Oh yes, those prison windows have been replaced since the photo was taken too. Thank goodness.
Here you can see a bit of the hell that was the floor. It looks so much better now...pictures soon!
Here you can see a bit of the hell that was the floor. It looks so much better now...pictures soon!
Susanna, Great tips on a successful paint job. Great to see you believe in using a quality paint brush, and thanks for mentioning the Purdy name in your blog. My name is Peter, a member of the Purdy Paint Brush marketing team and wanting to address your comment "Did you know that even Purdy brand paint brushes sold at Home Depot and Lowes are lower quality than Purdy brushes sold at a paint specific store?” The product managers at Purdy have informed me that this is something they hear occasionally but have stated that "The Purdy brushes sold at Home Depot, Lowe's, a professional paint store, or any store for that matter are all exactly the same. “One store may have more variety of products than another or choose to sell them at a lower price”, but a Purdy 3” XL Series brush, is the exact same brush, no matter where you buy it. This is true for any Purdy paint brush. There is no such thing as a lower quality Purdy brush.
ReplyDeleteWow...you guys move quickly. Sorry for the inaccurate statement! I'll remove it from my post.
ReplyDeleteLove the tips! I didn't even know half of what you had told me (high help primer? wet egdes?) - definitely using this for the next place!
ReplyDeleteso i can't tell from your post if you like the color in person or not?? it reminds me of the caribbean...not the water, but the color of rooms and houses painted there!
ReplyDeleteWe really like the color. I just don't like the way it photographs! Oh well...I think it's actually my flash. It adds more yellow to things...
ReplyDelete