10 Need to Know Painting Tips

Now that I have painted two walls a very dark color I feel like I should compile a list of tips that made life easier. I learned quite a bit between painting the red wall (read about it here) and now painting a midnight blue wall. Now I'm no professional so take my advice with caution and make your own judgement.

1) The first is don't buy tape. It is a waste of money. Don't buy a brush to "cut in". Trust me. Unless you know how to cut in and are comfortable doing it, don't. Just don't. Instead spend the 5 to 10 dollars and buy yourself an edger, you can get one here. If you have textured walls you're screwed. It's just the way the cookie crumbles. But below is proof that an edger is worth it. Red wall is with tape and brush, blue wall is with edger and yes my walls are textured. If your walls are flat, the edger does awesome work.

2) Buy paint tray liners. They are less than a dollar a piece. Saves you an unbelievable amount of time with cleanup. You just painted a room, do you want to clean up, no. So just take the liner and throw it in the garbage. Voila.

3) Use Floetrol. It is a paint conditioner. I used it on the second coat. You just mix it in with the paint and it does not affect the color. It made the paint thicker and easier to work with, it also helped it dry evenly. I highly suggest it. Although it is not a complete necessity, I know I will never paint without it again.

4) Get yourself a kitchen sponge. It is easy to use for little oopsies here and there. Rinse and repeat.

5) I didn't use drop cloths while painting in a room with a hard floor. I let the paint dry and scratched it off. Or if I saw it in time I wiped it up with the sponge. However, when I paint the kids room I will be using an old sheet. Most of us have those lying around so why not use that instead of buying a drop cloth?

6) When painting a dark color do not try to see how far one roller dip in the paint will go. Dip your roller, do one roller width top to bottom and repeat. It might seem like you are using more paint than necessary however what you are doing is helping the paint coat the underneath color and saving yourself a third or fourth round of painting.

7) If you are painting RED, first paint the wall with one coat of gray. You still end up doing three total coats of paint (one gray, two red) but at least after the third coat it will look good. I did three coats of red over white and in some places it is still a little streaky. I couldn't bring myself to do a fourth coat, that is what wall decor is for!

8) If you are painting a dark color. Let the paint dry overnight before you do another coat. It allows the paint to fully dry so that when you do the second coat you aren't moistening the first layer and spreading nonsense everywhere. The paint also has a boatload of tint in it which I think may affect the drying process, the people at home depot weren't detailed about it but insisted that I wait overnight.

9) So you're waiting overnight for the second coat. Don't waste your roller! The guy at home depot told me to saran wrap it. I didn't have the patience for that nonsense. I put it in a doubled plastic bag, tied it up and stuck it in the fridge. Good as new the following day! Do the same with the edger!

10) If you have kids. Paint while they are sleeping. Save yourself the trouble of little hands wanting to "help".

Do you have a favorite painting tip or trick that isn't listed here? Leave a comment, I'd love to hear!

Thank you for stopping in!

Creating,
Leilani