I’ve collected some of my best tips, hints and secrets and fine tuned them into a handy guide that works for everybody from the first time do it your self person to a seasoned handy homeowner. Tips like what types of tools you need, and which ones you don’t! You really don’t need most of the painting gadgets sold in the home stores, (or the ones on late night TV either!)

Also included are secrets professionals use to choose the perfect color everytime. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to eliminate 80% of the color paint chips right off the bat? I’ll explain how.

The How To Paint Rooms Guide is available on kindle at Amazon. Check it out now and save yourself time and pain later!

Click Here for How To Paint Rooms

This is number 3 in a series of 3 articles that I’ll explain honestly what has worked for me over the years and why it well worth the small amount of extra time and money in order to have the finished product you truly want and deserve.

How Much Paint to Buy?

Always a nagging question….
 
A typical gallon of paint will cover 350 square feet on the average. Always make sure you look at the paint can label, some paint coverage will vary.

Another important factor is what is currently on the wall? How old is that paint, what sheen is (or was) that paint? Here in the dry southwest, paint won’t last as long. Meaning, the paint seems to “suck” into the surface making the new paint project require more coats. More on that in a minute.

So measure the room, length, width, and height. Now measure the doors and windows and subtract from the walls…not a math major? Fortunately you have a good option, search “wall paint calculator” and input the room measurements, doors windows etc. and the calculator will give you the number of gallons of paint you need for ONE coat.

Now let’s talk about the existing surface, primer and number of coats.
If your room hasn’t been painted in quite sometime or if you are painting over a strong color, (think red or dark blue etc) you will need to prime the walls before painting. This step is necessary because if you skip this step, the walls will look streaky, and you possibly will need more than two coats.
Priming the walls first is also required if you are painting a deep color,
ie: red or dark blue. If you don’t prime first the selected color will be lighter, think pink……..

Here’s a Trick: Have the paint store tint the primer to the color you will be painting the walls.
Here’s a Tip: If your chosen color has a “deep tint base” you will need to tint the primer and paint 2 coats.

Most painting projects require 2 coats, so if the wall paint calculator says you need 2 and ½ gallons, add one gallon for the second coat. You’ll be glad you took the time and spent a bit more money, because the finished project will not only look better but will last a lot longer even here in the southwest.
Prepping Made Simple:

Ok you’ve chosen the color bought the primer and paint, have your tools ready, prepping the room is the 1st step.
 
If possible empty the room, if not pull furniture 3 to 4 feet from the walls. If you are painting the ceiling, don’t pile everything in the center of the room till after the ceiling is painted. Cover all furnishings and flooring with drops.

Remove all switch plates and outlet covers. Dust the corners; (vacuum is better than rags) wash the walls with water and a detergent to remove any grease and or dirt. Fix any cracks, patch holes, sand and match texture.

Now a word about tape……..

Ask 10 people whether to tape or not and you get a 50 / 50 divide.

As a general rule, I don’t tape. I will in selected circumstances, but generally speaking it wastes more time than is helps. When I started painting, an older gentleman I was working with encouraged me to learn how to paint cleanly without tape. So, over the years I’ve found it more beneficial to learn how to be very precise and wipe any “wiggles” as I go.

That said taping is not a bad thing. If you don’t paint everyday, do take the time to tape. Use blue or green painters tape, and tape off baseboards, windows, door frames, any area where you need to cut in and roll.
After you paint, remove the tape as soon as possible while the paint it still wet or you’ll be taking some of that new paint with the tape!

Here’s a Trick: Here in the southwest many walls have “bullnose” (rounded) edges instead of sharp corners, and often there is an orange peel texture. If you try to paint a straight line on this, you’ll make yourself crazy, with or without tape! A handy trick: tape the edge where you want the straight line. Now caulk the edge of the tape with a tiny bead and with a damp cloth wipe the caulk towards the tape. Paint, then remove the tape. Voila! A straight line on texture!

Left Over Paint Disposal:

Your painting project is finished, your room is beautiful, and you’ve saved enough for touch up but have more paint left over. What do you do? If you have used latex paint, the answer is simple. Let the paint dry in the can, leaving the lid off. Once the paint is dry it can be disposed of with household trash. If oil based, the cans must be disposed of as hazardous waste, another reason to use water based paint!
There you have it, some tricks and tips to help with your painting project.
Go ahead and tackle the paint…you can do it!!! Painting is the most effective way to change a room.

This is number 2 in a series of 3 articles that I’ll explain honestly what has worked for me over the years and why it well worth the small amount of extra time and money in order to have the finished product you truly want and deserve.

Let’s talk about paint rollers and how to make them your friend and work for you, not against you!
Roller Covers:
    Here’s another area where your choices are natural or synthetic.
Generally speaking the synthetics are for water based and the natural for oil based. The nap of the roller cover will vary from very short for smooth surfaces and finishes, to very long and thick for rough surfaces. Think smooth plaster and cement block or rough stucco.

   The natural roller covers are lamb’s wool and mohair and they are expensive. But if you take care of them, make sure they are washed out completely and “fluffed” to dry, they will last a very long time. I use the natural wool roller cover with water based paints with excellent results, and wouldn’t change to a synthetic cover.
How to Load a Roller:
     Chances are you will be using a paint tray instead of a big 5 gallon bucket, so that’s what we’ll be addressing here.
     A convenient option is to buy a metal paint tray and a package of disposable paint tray liners. That way, when you are finished with a color, you simply set that tray aside and move on to the next. When the paint on the liner is dry, it can be thrown in the trash. (as long as it’s water based paint)

Here’s a Real Tip: Before you touch the paint with the roller, lightly wet the roller with water. This will help the paint evenly “stick” to the roller for better coverage, and best of all the roller cover will be WAY easier to clean!

     Fill the roller tray halfway with paint, set the roller into the middle of the well, lift out and roll down the slope two or three times to work in and even out the paint. Dip the roller into the well one more time and repeat on the slope. Roller should be saturated but not dripping.
Roll On:
        Apply paint in 2 to 3 foot squares. You are basically going to go over the area 3 times with one load of paint. Paint a zigzag (M or W) pattern using medium pressure, without lifting the roller from the wall, then fill in the blank areas, smoothing as you go. Now go back and forth over the same area, again medium pressure. Finally go up and down one more time.
Reload the roller and move to the next square. Remember to overlap the previous section slightly. Always work into wet areas. This will prevent seams. Work out from the first square until the whole wall is finished.

 When it’s time to clean the roller, (assuming water based paint) bring the whole thing to a laundry sink, work out as much paint under running water as possible then pull the cover from the handle. Then, still under running water work the rest of the paint out of the roller cover. When you can squeeze the cover and clear water runs out you’re done. Shake off the residue and fluff the roller cover.
If you are in a situation where you are unable to get to water or time is an issue, tightly cover the roller in a plastic bag till you can get it cleaned.

I know this may sound sophomoric, but honestly following these steps will give you a finished paint project you’ll be proud to show off. In fact, your friends might even ask you who did the work!

You are not alone……

In the next 3 articles, I’ll explain honestly what has worked for me over the years and why it well worth the small amount of extra time and money in order to have the finished product you truly want and deserve.

Painting is a lot like cooking….really! When you follow a recipe; you gather all the ingredients first, before you begin. A painting project is no different. Gather all your tools, drops, tape, ladders and paint before you start. This way you won’t have to stop in the middle of the project to go to the store or hunt for something you forgot.

And probably more importantly, buy the highest quality tools and paint you can afford. You will be rewarded in the long run, by durability of the paint and lasting quality of the tools.

Let’s Talk About Tools:  Brushes

Generally speaking there are three categories of brushes;

Natural Bristle, Synthetic, and Craft. While I’m sure you know the difference, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen folks go cheap, and reach for the craft brush and wonder why they can’t get good coverage, let alone a great finish. Don’t DO that!!!

Natural brushes (animal hair) are primarily for oil based paints, varnishes and stains. They hold more paint for a smooth finish. Must be cleaned with solvents, mineral spirits etc.

Synthetic (nylon, polyester) brushes work well with oil and water based paints. High quality synthetic brushes hold their shape and last quite some time if well cared for. These brushes are cleanable with warm water and mild soap.

Craft brushes are for crafts. This is important to remember, I must say it again, Do Not use a cheap craft brush and think you will get a professional result on your walls, it simply will not happen. Craft brushes are wonderful for CRAFTS.

Now let’s talk about size and shape.  

There are square and angled, and sizes from 1″ up to 5″. The one I use almost 100% of the time is a 4″ angled brush.

(Yes, it’s synthetic as I use almost exclusively water based paints) I like the 4″ because it holds a lot of paint and will go almost anywhere. I do use the smaller 2″ angled one for trim work. The only time I use a square brush is on paneled doors.

Here’s a Trick: When you are “cutting in” load the brush and paint a few strokes perpendicular to the edge and then smooth out in a single long stroke.

Here’s a Real Tip: Hold the brush in a fixed position and move the brush along the edge area by moving at the elbow, not the wrist.

Care and cleaning of your brushes.

Ok, you’ve spent good money on good brushes, now take the time to clean them properly and they’ll last you years. Here’s how; Always wash the bristles as soon as possible after use in warm soapy water. I sometimes use a tool that has widely spaced metal teeth to comb through the bristles to remove paint all the way to the place where the bristles join the handle.

Once the brush is clean, gently shape the bristles to the original form and let dry. If you are unable to wash as soon as you finish painting, tightly wrap the brush in a plastic bag, and then wash as soon as you can.

If you’re anything like me, your hands take a beating even if you wear gloves. There’s not much worse than dry, cracked, sandpapery hands and wind burned skin. Doesn’t make me feel too much like a girl!!

Well I gotta tell you, I found a product that does wonders with the my hands and the skin on the rest of me, too. In fact, after a day of painting, plastering, and ladder climbing,  I can even treat myself to a relaxing  ”mini spa experience” without spending a ton of money and be totally rejuvinated, refreshed and feeling “girly” again.

I’ve added the link to this site here and over on the left at My Favorite Sites. If your hands need a bit of TLC, take a look. In the interest of full disclosure, I do sell this product. I couldn’t help it! Such a wonderful product, and so helpful for those of us that “work” hard with our hands.

Take care of yourself!

Deb

 Wow, I recently completed a living room make over, and it was one of those that I really didn’t see in my minds eye before I started, and I gotta tell you about it!

Our client wanted a room with deep dark blues; well the room wasn’t a large rectangle, but had quite a bit of light with well framed windows. Let me set the stage for you.

This is a mid last century southwest ranch style that had been nicely upgraded with middle tone wood flooring and hickory kitchen cabinets. I’m adding this info because the kitchen, dining and living room are all visible. But it’s not really an open floor plan so there are opportunities for color changes from room to room.

The trick in this case was to give the homeowner the perfect blue palette without making the room feel like the walls were closing in. You know cozy, rich, and timeless, not scary movie. This is the point where usually I look at the client’s ideas and need to either tone down  the color or find a slightly different hue or shade. It’s not that I strive to impose my ideas on the client, but to find a version of their color vision that will work with the furnishings, flooring etc, and still be enjoyable for years to come. In this case that part was already done for us as the Client was using the brochures from the store showcasing these specific colors. I simply showed her how to see if the colors would work in her home.

So, we used the client’s original dark color choice, a Valspar color called Ocean Slumber. I’m here to tell you, this is a deep, rich, dark blue with some teal undertones. Talk about a color making a statement! So why on earth try to calm it down…We painted it on three walls, opposite the entry, to the right and on the entry door wall. The fourth wall was the long one and went into the hall. This one was also painted a Valspar color, Tropical Spring, same family but lots lighter. For the woodwork and ceiling we went with a soft creamy white with slight blue undertones, Valspar again called Dove White. The end result is a room that now invites you to come in, sit down, relax and make yourself at home.

This project was lots of fun and proves that deep saturated colors can and possibly should be used more in smaller spaces.

Ahhhhhh, isn’t color wonderful! Enjoy some in your home this month. Come on…don’t be afraid, it’s only paint!

Ok, I congratulate you for finally making the decision to add some color to your home! Good for you! I know that if you have been living with white walls for a long time, not only are you in for a surprise, but I promise, you’ll love the transformation. But, STOP,  I do have one word of warning, and this is really serious, do I have your attention?

You’ll find that after painting one room, you’ll want to paint another room, and another, and another….you get the idea. This home fixin’ up and doin’ it yourself thing is like a virus….just keeps going and going, sorta like that big pink bunny.

You’ll start having all kinds of good ideas, heck, you might even become an HGTV addict like me! By the way, that’s a great place for ideas, but I usually run out of house before I run out of ideas!! 

Ok, the first thing you want to do before you go running off to the home or paint store, is to take a look around, I mean a good look at your “stuff.” That means all your furniture, carpet or flooring, accessories, and art that is already in the room. Does it all stay? If not what goes? For the purpose of this discussion, let’s say everything stays.

Now look at everything again. Do you see some similiar colors? Some colors from the same families? I thought you might. You see, each of us tends to gravitate to a specific color palette, or a family of colors. Some of us lean toward earth tones, others towards primary colors etc. We may all be individuals, but we do tend to like certain groups of color.  

What color group do you see in your room? And, as you look around, do you see bits of one or two colors “lurking” in almost everything you own? Good! Those one or two colors that magically appeared in everything, just became your personal color family or grouping.

My suggestion would be to start looking at paint color chips that are in that family. Check out both the lighter shade and the darker ones, too.

What you want to be thinking about is a stage set, if you will. The color you are after will be the backdrop or sceanery to your furnishings, (the actors). You don’t want the wall color to overpower the “actors” or no one will be able to concentrate on the conversation goin on in the room!

 This should give you a great starting point in your quest for the perfect color. Remember to take your time, this is not a race to see how fast you can choose a color. You might even want to play with a couple different color families, who knows you might even have fun!! I do know you’ll have a whole new outlook on color in your home and even all around you.

If you liked this tip, click here to find out more information on How to Choose the Perfect Color 

Read on for secrets you must know and ask if you want a successful painting or decorative painting project.

With all that’s going on in the world today, you’ve decided it’s time to freshen up the paint in your home. After all, we’re all spending more time at home these days, and we want our personal surroundings to reflect us and make us feel, as they say, at home.

So you’ve headed to the home or local paint store and were completely overwhelmed by the color choices available to you. Wouldn’t it be easier to just look in the yellow pages and hire someone to do the job?

At first thought, that’s a great idea, but whom. There are pages of painting contractors and decorative painters. And everybody has a friend or cousin that says they’ll do it for less….but is that what you want? And more importantly will it be a good job, or one you’ll have to redo? That’s a scary thought!

You’re a busy person, I hear what you’re saying, “I don’t have time to talk to everyone that has an ad in the newspaper or phone book!” You’ve asked around at work and none of your co-workers have had any painting done, or if they have, the horror stories and nightmare scenarios abound. In short nobody can give you a personal recommendation.

Are you out of luck? Nope, don’t give up; I’ll let you in on a couple secrets you must know, what questions you must ask when interviewing a painting contractor. These are questions beyond the obvious about being licensed, and are they insured.

Secret # 1: Will the painter help you pick color?

This is very important because the contractor should be an expert in not only how to apply the paint, but on what will look the best in your home. You want to work with a painter that has a color theory back round and understands how color works in your specific surroundings. If the painting company will not help you choose your color(s) then this might not be the best person to do your project.

A Painting Professional knows how light affects color and how the chosen color will “look” when applied. Also there are inherent issues with some colors. Darker colors may need a tinted primer and more than one coat. Different shades of one color may not work together well. These are things a Painting Professional with a back round in color theory will know and help to guide you to the correct color choices.

Secret # 2: Ask the contractor to see his or her paint fans.

The painting professional should have access to most if not all the paint fan decks available, and should readily show them to you. If the painter has only one fan deck available, ask why. There is no reason not to have several manufacturers’ color fans ready to look at. The excuse of, “This is the only paint I buy” is unacceptable. That may mean that company is the only place this contractor has an account, and is possibly unaware that most reputable paint dealers can and will match other company’s colors in their brand paint.

A Painting Professional will have many color decks available to help you choose from. The real secret here is that each manufacturer has slightly different recipes, and in your home, (which is where you should be choosing color) one paint fan deck will probably look better than another. When you compare the different decks side by side, each one will have different base tones that become apparent when compared in the light in your own home. That’s the best way to choose the perfect colors for your home.

These are two very important points you must know when choosing a painting professional. If you find a contractor that fits the above criteria, you are off to a good start. That means this professional really is prepared and dedicated to giving you excellent service.

For more information or to download a free report on 7 Secrets You Need to Know Before Hiring a Painting Professional please visit:

http://www.paintedwallsnm.com

 I did follow the steps in the “How To Write and Publish Your Own eBook in as Little as 7 Days, and surprise, surprise, it works!! That eBook actually did help me get my own eBook out of my head and into book form. If this sounds like something you “need” to do, I heartily suggest you follow the above link. I found the 7 day eBook invaluable in writing my eBook

And I’ve gotta tell you, it was actually a fun and rewarding experience. Those little tricks I’ve used over the years in my painting business just aren’t taught anywhere, and I believe those tricks and tips can be a great help to people that are trying to choose a paint color.

The title of this eBook is How to Choose the Perfect Color in 6 Easy Steps and in it you’ll find out how to manipulate the color strips for that “decorator” look. How to add “zing” to a boring room, how to make the room feel larger, and much, much more.

The eBook is in a fun format, so every weekend warrior can easily follow the 6 steps and have terrific results. Yor friends will think you hired a decorator!!!

So if you have a painting project coming up, and who doesn’t, and if you would be interested in saving yourself time money and a lot of frustration, go to How to Choose the Perfect Color in 6 Easy Steps and get your copy now. 

 Thanks for hanging in there with me, and we’ll talk soon.

Deb

Yep, you saw the headline. I’ll bet you’ve been told that painting over wallpaper is absolutely the WRONG thing to do. Well, generally speaking, I’d agree with that.  SO many things can go badly if you try to paint over wallpaper.

But there are situations when this becomes the only available option. We just finished a project that we not only painted over wallpaper, but then did a “ragging” treatment over the paint.

Here’s the backstory: The home was approx 30-40 yrs old and the wallboard is not like the drywall in use today. There are no multiple layers of heavy paper coating. In addition to that, when the wallpaper was applied, the wallboard was not primed first. Anytime wallpaper is applied without priming the wall first, it’s not coming off without a major fight!

I knew about the old wallboard and no priming from the homeowner and there was a section under a desk that was bare wallboard. The homeowner told me they had hired a person to take off wallpaper in another area of the home, and they could not do it!

So we had to be very careful with this project. We used a very good quality primer, tinted to the final color. It’s important to use a top quality primer (and paint) because the lesser quality products are thinner and more “watery.” The idea is to complete the project as “dry” as possible. 

The wallpaper was navy blue with a border. It took two coats primer and one coat of paint. The border did come off after the first coat of primer as it had been pasted to the wallpaper, not the wall board.

We let the project dry over night. The next day, we mixed our colors with a glaze (again a thick not watery brand) and ragged over one section of the wall.

The combination of new lighter color paint, that was more in line with the 70’s dark wood cabinets, and the soft ragging on one wall, gave the kitchen a totally new look. It feels bigger and more “airy.”

And as a second bonus, the cabinets fit more into the space now and don’t feel so overpowering and dated!

A remodel without the demolition! Our client is extreemly pleased with her “new” kitchen.

So the bottom line is, if you need to paint over wallpaper remember 3 things: 

1. Make sure there are NO loose areas

2. Use a top quality primer tinted to the final color

3. Use a top qualtiy paint

If you have any questions on this or any painting topic, just write in!

Thanks for reading and we’ll see you soon.

Deb