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You are visiting: Home » Decorating/DIY » Paint Your Walls » The White Room Challenge

The White Room Challenge

by Lindsay Ballard on April 18, 2012 17 Comments

Have you ever wished that you could prime and paint a room in a single afternoon?  Boy howdy, I have.  When I take a room from blah blah builder’s beige to delicious color, I normally prime the room one day, paint the ceiling a second, paint the walls a third, and then do any touch ups on the forth day.  That’s four days – FOUR DAYS – of living in painty madness…and that’s without doing any of my crazy wall treatments.  I may be slow, but I’m a painting perfectionist.

For my most recent painting project, I decided to try something new.  I normally tape off and cover my trim really well when I paint.  It helps keep spills, drips, and splatters under control.  Instead of stopping there, I went ahead and covered the doors and window with plastic and paper.  And then I tarped the open wall to the lofted room from the ceiling to the floor.  ET Phone Home.

Why did I go through all of that trouble?  Well, I wanted to see if my DIY life would be faster or easier by painting with an airless paint sprayer.  I had purchased an airless paint sprayer a few months ago, but this was going to be our first try at using it in a room (the first use, outdoors on a windy day, was very ill-fated).

When Emma was napping and Zack was playing with his Legos, Tom and I donned hooded coveralls and started spraying.  I stepped out to take a photo of Tom, since I obviously couldn’t take my camera into the kill room (Dexter fans, anyone?).  Everything in there was covered in a fine mist of white primer.

When we were finished priming the ceiling and the walls, I checked the clock.  Twenty minutes.  TWENTY MINUTES!  Woo to the hoo!  I couldn’t believe we got it finished so quickly.  With a brush for cutting in and rollers for the walls and ceiling, it would have taken us a few hours to complete.

When the primer was dry (in about an hour), we went back in and sprayed a coat of ultra bright white paint (Glidden Flat White paint right off the Home Depot shelf, with 1 oz of white tint added for extra oomph).  It went on as quickly as the primer did.  When it was dry, we sprayed a second coat.  We started to paint at 1 pm and it was finished by 7 pm.  YEE HAW!

As I mentioned before, everything inside the room was covered with a thin white mist.  Along with our hooded coveralls, we wore eye protection and respirators.  It would have been bad if our lungs shared this hawt look.

The time we saved in painting the room with an airless sprayer was definitely worth the little bit of extra taping I had to do.  The model I purchased wasn’t cheap ($300), but I know I’m going to use the crap out of it between all of the furniture and rooms that I paint.  I’ll be repainting another room in the next few weeks, and I’ll better document the process so I can put together a good tutorial for you guys.  I think it’s important to really know what’s involved and what you need to consider before you shop for a paint sprayer.

But for now, we have a bright white playroom.  Weird, huh?  If there’s anything that’s outside of my color-obsessed style, it’s plain white walls.

What would make me paint a room so plainly?  Any guesses as to why I’ve accepted the challenge of having white walls?  I’ll be Tweeting and Facebooking some hints over the next few days, so stay tuned!

About Lindsay Ballard

Lindsay Ballard is a former college mascot turned political geek turned roller derby playing, DIY fanatic.

Lindsay chronicles her projects, design ideas, and lifestyle tips here at Makely, where she shares tutorials and inspiration. Her DIY designs are bold and graphic, while her spirit is fun and full of color.

Lindsay lives outside of Austin, Texas with her husband (Tom), children (Zack and Emma), and dogs (Duke and Jill). She plays roller derby for the Rockin' City Rollergirls out of Round Rock, Texas.

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Comments

  1. Dee says

    April 18, 2012 at 7:27 am

    Pretty cool!

    Reply
  2. murf says

    April 18, 2012 at 8:42 am

    I don’t have to guess. Color Splash, here we come!

    Reply
  3. Stephanie says

    April 18, 2012 at 9:37 am

    Very cool! We will be purchasing that same sprayer in the next couple of weeks. I am not sure I am brave enough to spray a room though. Looking forward to your tutorial!

    Reply
  4. Heather says

    April 18, 2012 at 4:22 pm

    Did you go white because you’ll be adding some splashy and fun vinyl design to the room?

    Can’t wait to see it when it’s all done!

    Reply
  5. elizabeth says

    April 18, 2012 at 9:39 pm

    sure makes that groovy chandelier POP with colormazingness!

    Reply
  6. John@RemodelingBIBLE says

    April 19, 2012 at 3:12 am

    I have a feeling that the finished product will be as exciting as the other ones you’ve shared before. Please update us on this in the next few days. Keep up the good work! P.S. I collected some nice painting tips and pointers in and around the web. Please check them out if you need some extra guidance. 🙂 Here is the URL: http://remodelingbible.com/howto/painting-and-finishing

    Reply
  7. Kristin Shaw says

    April 20, 2012 at 8:48 am

    Exciting! You should have a reveal party. I’ll bring wine. White wine. 🙂

    Reply
    • Stacey Shannon says

      April 20, 2012 at 9:16 am

      haha love it

      Reply
  8. Rosi says

    April 20, 2012 at 5:45 pm

    Fantastic! My hubby and I sprayed the interior of our house we we first bought it. Yes super fast and I do love the finish from the airless sprayer. It certainly makes painting ceilings easy. The preparation just takes longer, masking and covering anything you don’t want painted.
    Really looking forward to seeing the colour splash and the finished room.

    Reply
  9. Jen says

    April 22, 2012 at 11:09 am

    I think the room is white because everything in it is going to match that lovely lamp/chandelier up top. Colored accessories, bright pictures, and the like *pop* so much more beautifully with a bright white background. (But maybe that’s just my personal preference talking!!)

    Reply
  10. Sheryll Morris says

    May 3, 2012 at 6:57 am

    We learned our lesson using a cheap sprayer. What a mess. A good one makes all the difference in the world.

    Reply
  11. Roxy B says

    August 21, 2012 at 12:58 am

    So We probably should have invested in something like this for priming and painting our entire new house??? I thought i was a genius for using wagner paint sticks. but considering how many I bought— i’m sure it would have paid for that sprayer. * head-desk* Though for the time it took, I wouldn’t cry if I had to re-do a room. Not to mention all the closet doors and shelves that need to be done still…

    Reply
    • Lindsay says

      August 21, 2012 at 8:18 pm

      I LOVE my sprayer. You have to be an expert taper, but the finish is so smooth and quick.

      Reply
      • Amy says

        April 21, 2016 at 5:11 pm

        Was it hard to clean it out? We’re considering buying one but I am spooked about the cleaning it out after ever color part.

        Reply
  12. Scott b says

    October 3, 2013 at 2:32 pm

    That paint really brightened that room right up! Thanks for the read.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. How to Stain a Fence says:
    August 8, 2013 at 11:45 am

    […] dry enough to stain.  This time, Tom stayed inside with the kids while I sprayed the fence with my big paint sprayer.  I sprayed two coats of stain, each taking me about an hour to complete the entire fence.  It […]

    Reply
  2. My Summer | Sewing Princess says:
    August 18, 2013 at 12:15 pm

    […] few days wrapping everything up and don’t choose the hottest days in the year! And read from fellow airless painters…which I should have done earlier! I was in charge of the wrapping […]

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About Makely

Lindsay Ballard is a former college mascot turned political geek turned roller derby playing, DIY fanatic.

Lindsay chronicles her projects, design ideas, and lifestyle tips here at Makely, where she shares tutorials and inspiration. Her DIY designs are bold and graphic, while her spirit is fun and full of color.

Lindsay lives outside of Austin, Texas with her husband (Tom), children (Zack and Emma), and dogs (Duke and Jill). She plays roller derby for the Rockin' City Rollergirls out of Round Rock, Texas.


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