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Four Tips that Take the “Pain” Out of Painting

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I’ve been a bit quiet this week, because I’m working really hard on my Procrastinators’ Party projects. I am so excited about how much work I’ve already done, and I can’t wait to share them with you next Thursday!

The largest project has involved some major priming and painting. Today as I was painting away in my garage in the 90 degree/90% humidity Texas heat, my mind started to wander. No, I wasn’t about to have a heat stroke (although seriously? So hot already? It’s only May for crying out loud!), although it felt like it could happen at any minute.

I actually started thinking of all the little painting tips I’ve learned throughout the years. It is all routine for me now since I’ve been painting for a while, but at one point painting was not so easy. In an effort to help you avoid my mistakes and to make painting a little easier for you, I’ll let you in on a few of my little secrets. I’m nice like that. You see, I didn’t read any of these tips on the Internet, a DIY book, or learn them from the guys at Home Depot. These are all lessons I’ve learned myself…the hard way.

1. Tack Cloths Make for Sticky Hands – I really love using tack cloths on my projects after sanding and in between every coat of paint. Since I discovered them, I can’t paint without them. They really do remove dust and particles much better than a microfiber cloth or anything else I’ve tried. The good and bad thing about them is that they are sticky, so they make your hands or gloves very sticky, too.

I hate the feeling of sticky hands, so I used to go inside and wash my hands after every swipe of the tack cloth. Then, I realized I could put a paper towel on top of the tack cloth and save my hands from the curse of the sticky.

This technique saves a lot of valuable time when you only have a small Zack-Is-Napping-So-Now-Is-The-Time-To-Paint window.

2. Use Disposable Products When You Can – This tip is definitely not very “green” of me, but it makes panting 95% less of a hassle. I have ruined so many bristle paint brushes by not completely rinsing the paint out of them and almost ruined some projects by using old, crusty brushes.

Now, I use foam brushes, disposable paint tray liners, and plastic Solo cups. For large projects where I will be using foam rollers (the handle is easily cleanable, but the roller itself is not), I pour the paint into a disposable paint tray liner and work from there. If I’m just using small foam brushes, I pour the paint into a plastic cup.

When I’m finished painting for the day, I put the foam brushes, cups and liners into a plastic grocery bag and throw the bag in the garbage can. The next day, I use a new brush and liner and start over. It really makes cleaning up a cinch.

3. Pouring Paint is Easier With a Spout – There is just something about pouring paint from a gallon can into a liner that makes me incredibly clumsy. I end up covering the entire side of the can in paint and scramble to mop up my mess with paper towels. I usually throw in a few choice words, just for the dramatics of it all.

We now have a few of the paint can spouts and they make pouring much easier. I still have to wipe up a few drips, but it’s nothing like before.

Spouts cost a buck or two at home improvement stores and can be easily washed (if you are using water-based paint) and reused. I think they also come sized for quart cans, but I don’t have any of those.

4. Paint as Many Sides as You Can at Once – A good paint job requires two things – time and patience. You need to take your time to make sure you get good coverage and avoid drips. You have to have patience because you have to let your coats completely dry before you can paint additional sides of the project. If you don’t paint a lot, just trust me on that last one. If you push it, you will ruin your project.

Meet my friends, the painters triangles. They elevate a multi-sided project so that you can paint several sides at once. They can be purchased at a home improvement or paint store for about $5 for a pack of 10 triangles.

Here, I can paint the top and four sides of a board at the same time. Once that paint is dry (about four hours for the paint I used), I can flip the project over and paint the bottom. The triangles touch a very small portion of the surface of your project, so you don’t run the risk of damaging your paint job. They also clean up easily if you do happen to get paint on them.

Using these four simple tips has really made my love/hate relationship with painting swing to the love side. Do you have any painting tips to share? I’d love to hear what you do to take the “pain” out of painting!

I’m hooked on transforming furniture with paint! Visit Hooked On Houses to share what you are hooked on this week.

Easy Steps to Keep Your Paint Job Looking Fresh

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Part of the price of my constant furniture rearranging and thrift store transforming is that I always manage to ding up the walls when I’m moving things around. Always. Between myself and my three-year old son, our walls have lots and lots of scuffs and dings. And my husband can always find a new scuff on the wall as soon as he walks in the door after work. Always.

Don’t you hate that? Scuffs and marks on our walls and trim make our homes look worn, used, and abused. What’s worse is that I put off touching up my paint for as long as I can, and then I either forget the places that needed to be touched up or spend too much time having to touch up all of my marks. I know I’m not alone in that, right?

Recently, I had an idea: instead of saving all of those marks and dings to touch up once a year (’cause lets be honest, it didn’t happen much more often than that), why don’t I touch them up as they occur? Since we all tend to start overlooking flaws after just a few days, touching up problem areas as soon as we see them will help keep our interiors looking freshly painted.

Touching up paint is really a quick and easy process when you take a few simple preparations and have your tools ready in advance. Follow these quick steps today so that you can be ready for what life throws at your walls tomorrow!

1. Gather a few small lidded glass jars, such as baby food jars. If you don’t have an infant at home, check Craigslist or Freecycle for people in your area giving away these types of jars for free. Or if you don’t mind spending a few dollars, buy a couple of baby food jars at the grocery store and empty the contents. Regardless of how you obtain your jars, make sure they are washed and dried. You will need one for each paint color on your walls.

2. Fill each jar about 2/3 full of left over paint from your original paint can. If your paint is more than a few years old, you should have a new can mixed (you can take it to a home improvement store to have a paint match if you don’t know the name of the color). To make filling the jars a lot less messy, use a small plastic cup, such as a disposable bathroom cup, to dip into the can and then pour it into the jar.

3. Close the lids tightly on the jars and label with the name of the room (or location) where you have used that paint. Keep jars in an easily accessible location, along with a collection of 1″ foam brushes.

Now, whenever you scuff the wall or ding the trim…

…just take a few minutes to grab your coordinating jar of paint and a foam brush, give the jar a good shake to mix up the paint, and take care of the touch up immediately!

When you are finished with your touch up, close the jar and wash out the foam brush (or if you are like me, throw it out because they cost about 40 cents each). Within minutes, your paint will be as good as new…and your husband will never know you scuffed the wall!