Painting FAQ

Last June I painted three rooms in the house and wrote down my "Best Practices" for anyone who is thinking of painting.

1. When painting a ceiling (please refrain from the obvious joke) always go with ceiling paint. This is a specific type of off white that splatters a lot less than regular interior paint. When rolling this paint on, use the thicker rollers to apply.

2. Use a new roller for the final coat. My walls took two coats and the second coat was nicer when I used a new roller. It's worth the cost of the extra roller.

3. If painting a wall an accenting color, use a paint at least two shades darker on the palette otherwise it may be difficult to really notice the paint is darker and not simply a shadow.

4. Don't leave paint trays on a ladder. Check which step you are on (mom) before stepping down. You may be on the second rung, but think you are on the bottom rung.

5. This goes with #4, but Resolve is a fantastic carpet cleaner. Thankfully, when the tray fell off the ladder, it was empty, but it took only 10 minutes to clean it up with the Resolve carpet cleaner. No one could pick the spot where the tray landed wet side down.

6. Have 3x the number of paint stirrers as you have paint cans. 6 paint cans = 18 stirrers.

7. Using tape on the carpet around the baseboards is ABSOLUTELY worth the set up time. It works great.

8. Tape actually saved me time in the long run. Tape around the windows, around painted trim, etc. means you don't need to go back and touch up AGAIN after the paint dries. Get at least 1 inch wide tape.

9. There are more than 70 shades of white. This is useless for a man who only needs one white or one off white to paint trim.

10. Don't mock the help when they have a wet paint roller in their hand.

11. Cheap vinyl shower liners ($2.85 at Walmart) make great drop clothes. Don't spend $20 or more on a drop cloth.

12. Aluminum foil will wrap nicely around a wet brush and keep it wet if you want to take a break from painting and go back later after the break. It works well around a roller as well.

13. Have 1 tapered brush and 2 regular brushes per person. This can allow you to wait until the end of the day to clean up and not periodically cleaning as the day goes.

14. Plastic 16 ounce cups are ideal for holding paint when using a brush. They also pour easily back into the can and are easily disposable.