Paint, your best friend: Part one - the basics

Of all the home improvement possibilities that exist, painting is the simplest, cheapest, most forgiving (i.e., most easily reversible!) step you can take to update and improve the look of a room. And anybody can do it, really.

This first photo is from Upstairs on the Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a wonderful restaurant, a review of which you can read on my sister Lynne's blog, Good Eatin with Lynne. It's a stunning example of what is possible with paint. The plaid "wallpaper" isn't wallpaper at all. It's a faux paint treatment, using stripes of gold, silver and copper paint on a green background. Not necessarily a beginner project but certainly one anybody could do with a little know-how and a lot of patience. In any case, I couldn't think of a more inspiring photo to demonstrate what's possible with paint!

Getting started:

The single most important thing in painting (as any pro will tell you) is preparation. This is true whether you're doing an elaborate faux treatment or simply changing the wall color of a room. You can paint a room quickly without prep but the difference will be huge and, in some cases, disasterous (e.g. painting latex paint over old paint that turns out to be oil based, without having used a suitable primer). So, don't skip this part. It will save time and money and disappointment.

By preparation, I mean:

1. Cover everything you can't take out of the room. On floors, I use an old reusable canvas drop cloth. Sometimes I use those paper drop cloths that have a plastic coating on the underside (so paint can't seep through); don't put the plastic part facing up because the paper part traps the paint drips while the plastic causes it to bead (and potentially travel someplace else). Which leads to: I never use the clear plastic stuff on the floor for this very reason; the paint beads up on it and when you remove it, after painting, those little paint beads fall off and get all over your floor. Needless to say, it's a pain to get that paint off your floor and, obviously, defeats the purpose of using a drop cloth in the first place.

I do use thin sheets, e.g. 1-2 mil, of the clear plastic sheeting to cover any furniture, etc. that I can't get out of the room. When I take this plastic off, I carefully fold the corners in to make sure I trap any paint beads inside before removing it. And then I get rid of it. I don't try to reuse it unless it's clear that little or no paint got on it and, if I do reuse it, I shake it out to get rid of any dust, debris or paint beads or simply cut off any part with paint on it before reusing it.

2. Remove all light switch and outlet plates. It's easy to do and looks neater when you replace them after painting. Just don't stick your fingers in there.

3. Clean surface area to be painted and patch any holes. Use a mild cleaner and clean any dirt or grime off your paint surface. If you have holes from picture hangers that you're not going to reuse or from any other of life's hole-making experiences, patch them with spackle, using a putty knife to smooth the spackle over the hole. Try to be neat but don't try to be get a perfectly smooth result on the first try, because overworking it will cause the spackle to start to clump as it dries in the process. It could (likely will) take more than one application to get a smooth surface.

After each application, let it dry completely (see directions on container, usually several hours). Sand (and gently clean the sanded surface) between each application until you get a nice smooth finish that looks like the rest of your wall.

I like to wrap the sandpaper over a small woodend block (about 3"x4" or so and as thick as you like it). This makes it possible to sand on the plane with the wall and not to dig grooves into your wall using the pressure of your fingers. You can get spackle, putty knife (use a smallish one unless you have a big hole to fill), and sand paper (fine grade) at your hardware store.

If you have a big hole to patch, there are screen-like patches in various sizes you can use to make the job a lot easier. Tell the guy at your hardware or paint store what you want and follow the simple instructions.

4. Tape off the area to be painted with blue tap; (don't use masking tape because it can take up any paint or finish under the tape, defeating the purpose of taping off because you'll have to repair the damage; not that blue tape doesn't do that sometimes, but it's much less likely and will do less damage). You can get blue tape at any good paint or home improvement store. Blue tape is expensive, but it's one of those expenses that's well worth the investment, saving you time and money and grief, in the end. I actually use the "delicate" version of blue tape (pictured), especially for faux painting, but you don't need that for regular painting.

What do you tape off? Stuff you don't want to get the paint on. For example, if you're painting the wall, carefully put blue tape along the edge between the wall and the woodwork (see photo). Take your time. It will be worth it. It takes longer to prep than to paint, a lot of times.

5. OPEN or at least crack some WINDOWS to let in ADEQUATE VENTILATION.

Now the painting begins!

6. Prime the walls using a good quality primer. I use AFM Safecoat Transitional Primer because of its low toxicity. It's formulated especially for people with allergies, asthma, chemical sensitivies or anybody wanting better indoor air quality. (I'll be talking more on the subject of "safe building" materials in later posts.) While you may not want to use this primer (or AFM paint), whatever you do, don't use cheap paint. Get some decent paint. It will go on better, last longer and look better.

For priming and painting, I use regular, decent quality, reusable paint brushes of various sizes (vs. those disposable sponge things) to paint along the edges and a paint roller for the rest. You'll hear people talk about using a "W" motion to paint the walls, i.e., forming a "W" with the strokes of your roller and, continuing in that style, covering the wall area you're painting. DON'T! Anyway, I don't. You can end up with "W" marks all over your wall and, unless you want that, simply use even, vertical strokes, from top to bottom, keeping a "wet edge," i.e., continuing from your last roller stroke, progressing along the wall until you've covered a whole wall (at which point you could take a rest or keep going).

Let your primer dry thorougly, at least 6 hours, sometimes more depending on the humidity, for example. If in doubt, let it dry overnight.

7. Paint your walls with the desired color, following the application steps given in 5 above. Depending on how dark your color is, you may need several coats to get good coverage. This is why some people "tint" their primer, to save steps. But to keep it simple for now, simply use as many coats of paint as gives you adequate coverage. In any case, use AT LEAST TWO COATS and let the paint dry thorougly between each coat.

8. Carefully remove your blue tape (using a utility knife to cut through any dry paint that keeps the tape from coming up easily) and, voilà!

Here's how the rich paint color used in my bathroom looks. It's AFM Safecoat Shaded Porch on the wall, Old Lace on the trim.



Resources:

One excellent and reliable source of AFM Safecoat products is Safe Building Solutions