I am glad to say, however, that it does get a little easier. You learn as you go and you retain those lessons (like, remembering to cobweb before you start to paint—that was a good lesson) and each time, you get a little braver, too. I haven’t outgrown the need for praise, though, which is why I’m posting my project, so you can all pat me on the back and tell me how awesome I am.
When we first moved into our home, this is what my master bedroom looked like:
It matched the previous owner’s things, but didn’t really go with mine. I wanted to paint, but felt a little skittish about doing it. Then I don’t know if it was something in the water, but I suddenly became brave. This is the final result:
Isn’t it pretty?
I’d like to share with you some of the things I learned along the way when it came to the painting, (maybe I can spare you some of the painful moments I experienced) and next week I’ll share step by step instructions on how to hang the border.
1. Don’t be afraid to play with color. I’ll admit, when it came to picking out my brown (which goes by the delicious name Chocolate Almond, by the way) I was nervous. What if my choice ended up being a huge mistake? You’ll never know if you don’t try, and if it’s terrible, you can always paint over it.
2. Don’t worry about trying to reuse your brushes and rollers over and over again. Chances are good, you’ll get called away from your project and your brushes will dry out before you get back to it—rather than spending all kinds of time trying to rinse out your brushes so they can be reused, just throw them out and use new ones. They’re inexpensive and it’s just not worth the time and frustration.
3. Buy a paint that specifically promises one-coat coverage. You’ll save yourself so much time this way.
4. If your house has molding that’s covered in a faux wood finish, don’t mask off the wood. You’ll pull the “wood” off when you remove the tape. Depending on the type of paint you use, you might be able to gently massage off the paint from the molding with a warm, wet cloth—that’s what I’ve been doing. Or you can cut in the edges with an angle brush.
5. Use paint with low or no fumes. This is becoming easier to find, but check the labeling and don’t just assume that’s what you’re getting.
6. Give yourself time to do it carefully. A slap-dash painting job isn't worth the minimal amount of effort you put into it.
I’m really pleased with how my bedroom turned out, and it’s given me confidence to tackle a few other projects that need tackling. I’m going to paint the lower portion of my living room in the same chocolate brown as the bedroom, and I’m looking forward to that. The trick is to stop being afraid of the process. As long as you’re smarter than a paintbrush (and there are some days when frankly, I’m not) you’ll do great.
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13 comments:
It's so pretty! I love browns. My living room, kitchen and upstairs hallway are all brown and I love it. So, good choice and well done.
I love painting! My tips:
Prime, prime, prime! If you are doing a bright or dark color, a tinted primer will cut way down on how many coats of paint you need. I haven't been impressed with "1 coat" paints, they are either really goupy and hard to get a smooth coat, or they take more than 1 coat. But with a good primer underneath, 1 coat of regular paint, and some touch up here and there and you are good to go.
Did you know that you can saran wrap a paintbrush (without rinsing out the paint) and stick it in the freezer? When your break is over or the kids have gone to bed so you can work again, just pull it out, dip it in the paint and start painting. It will thaw in a matter of minutes and you only have to clean up at the end of your project. (I've even left brushes in the freezer for a couple days!)
The freezer! Holy cow, I never would have thought of that in ten million years. Or even twenty. You're good, Jen. You're seriously good.
you are awesome!! - no really! It looks good - and I'd love to see a BIGGER photo of it get the full effect.
I've never tried the freezer trick, but whne I have to stop in the middle, I just shove the roller into a plastic grocery bag, twist the top tight, then repeat the process in a second bag (just in case there are holes or whaever in the first bag.) I've left them in bags for hours and never had a problem. I even left it bagged up like that over night once and it worked fine; but I'll clarify that by saying:
1)I was painting late at night like 10/11'ish
2) started painting reasonably early 7/8'ish
and
3) it wasn't TOO hot
Maybe now I'll start bagging it up and throwing it in the freezer for overnight things.
Jeri, I'll post some further back pictures next week when I talk about hanging the border. But I can't go too far back because then you'd see how messy my bedroom is. :)
I've painted Wayyyyyyy more than I care to admit - and we always just wrapped our brushes and rollers in plastic and left them sitting on top of the paint can. They'll last for days without drying out - at least with acrylics.
Love the results - I love dark colors. The living room in our last house was coffe and cream brown, and I absolutely loved it. With all our rustic stuff, it felt so cosy when you came in. I'm envious - now all our walls are apartment white. Yuk.
Awesome, Tristi! I'm glad you're making the house Pinkston worthy! :)
Danyelle, it wasn't unworthy!! It just didn't match my things, that's all! I don't think being the wrong color is a gauge of worthiness.
I change the paint in my house almost as often as I move the furniture. I LOVE painting. I have used the plastic wrap/plastic bag/ziplock trick a lot.
My biggest tip for painting? Get a paint stick of some type. It is a big long tube, you attach a special roller to the end and then suck up about 1/4 of a gallon of paint into it and start painting. The paint comes out of the stick onto the roller. You just push on the back of the stick to apply more paint. You don't have to reload your roller as often and it goes really fast.
Last year I purchased an electric stick. Now I just have tubing that runs from my paint can into my roller and I never have to reload my roller. Clean up doesn't take to long either. I just have to make sure the tubing gets really clean.
Link for the paint stick: http://www.homeright.com/showcat.asp?cat=1
Link for the electric one: http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100043329&N=10000003+90401
I wish I had found the electric one years ago. I absolutely will not paint with just a roller and tray ever again, so don't ask me to.
Oh, and that price on the electric one? So worth it. I spent more than $100 on it just last year!
I always wrap up my rollers in a bag until the next day to finish painting, but I agree, don't trying to wash and reuse them, a decent one only costs a couple of bucks and it's just not worth the time. Brushes on the other hand...
Don't go with the cheapest thing on the market. You know what I'm talking about, those ones that have bristles like a broom--they totally leave marks in the paint. A decent low-end one with a feathered tip doesn't cost much more though, and they are totally tossable if/when you get distracted by kids/phone calls/the ambulance pager (oh, maybe that's just me).
OH, and I adore my cranberry red wall, but it took like seven coats to get good coverage, so beware, bright reds and clear yellows are very time consuming.
Sorry, one more note--they make painters tape that doesn't peel the paint off of your trim (unless the top coat is water based and the bottom layer is oil based, or someone painted over trim like yours without using the proper primer.)
I've never been so sore and so exhausted as when we painted our basement. I did the bedrooms myself--which each took about two days. And then the hallway and family room which is huge. I admire your ambition.
Next time I'm at your house, I want to see your beautiful work.
Nichole
I use the frozen roller trick all the time. You can store it for a l-o-n-g time in the freezer. (But are you really coming back next year to finish the job?)
My next best trick I learn when painting my kitchen for the second time in a week (because the first color was ugly). I labored long and hard using masking tape, only to have messy results. Then I got smart. I bought a small (about 4 x 6) paint pad with rollers on the sides. It painted up to, but not over, the woodwork. Much easier and much better results. And it fits on the screw on mop stick. or broom stick or..... Ace Hardware. Cheap.
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