Painting 101: Be Patient

I like to paint until I actually have to paint. For some reason, I get this idea in my head that painting a room will be quick and easy and then as soon as I start the process, I'm in agony about how long and tedious it is. 

After I settled on the lead piece for our master bedroom, I gathered a couple additional patterns and textures and settled on the idea of painting our room a light blue. I trekked off to Lowe's and grabbed what seemed to be an illegal number of blue paint sample chips. Back at home, I held each chip up to my lead piece and quickly got rid of about 7/8's of them. Blue is not always blue. It can be turquoise, purple, gray, green.... 

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Once I had about ten chips left, I taped them up on the wall for a few days. At different parts of the day, my Mister and I would comment on which ones we liked and didn't like until we thought we had picked "our color." I went back to Lowe's and got a paint sample of the color. I came home, painted a square on the wall, and let it dry. After a couple hours, I went into the room, expecting to see the beautiful blue color I had in mind and I was appalled. It looked like a blue fluorescent lamp had exploded on the wall. Ugh. Back to the drawing board. 

Four paint colors later, I had my just right color. Yes four. Our room looked like a pastel checkerboard. 

The first blue was very purple. The second blue was really white. The third blue was too bright. The fourth blue - just right. I settled on Benjamin Moore's Quiet Moments. 

The name fits our room theme well (Calm - Romantic - Comfortable).

My advice: Be patient when picking a color and always buy a sample to test out first.

Once I had my color selected, I went to the paint store to buy paint and I was confronted with more decisions. What kind of paint and what sheen? Apparently, satin sheets are for the bedroom but satin paint is not. I learned that flat paint is generally best for ceilings. Eggshell paint is good for bedrooms and any other areas that don't need to be cleaned very often. Satin and Semi-gloss are easier to clean so they work well in kitchens, bathrooms, kids rooms, etc. I settled on an egg shell finish and Valspar Ultra Low Odor, Zero VOC paint. 

Turns out, low odor paint still puts off a lot of odor. And one coat coverage means two coats. 

My advice: Be patient and do your homework when picking a paint.

My next decision was brushes and tape. I have used a lot of different brands of painters tape in the past and I've learned that you certainly get what you pay for. This time around, I went with the green Frog Tape that comes in a resealable plastic container. Frog Tape rocks. It worked perfectly. If you're my dad, you don't need to use tape. If you're anyone else, buy Frog Tape. 

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Adhere pieces that are 8 - 10 inches in length at a time around trim, windows, doors, and any other surface you want to keep paint free. 

Like tape, you get what you pay for in a paint brush too. For cutting in around trim and ceilings, an angled brush is a must. The Mister didn't believe me and tried to help out using a flat bottomed brush and quickly realized it was impossible to get into corners without making a mess. Pay for a good quality brush. If you take care of it, you can use it over and over and it will be well worth the money. I also picked up a couple roller brushes with a 3/8" nap. 

My advice: Be patient when picking a paint brush and be willing to spend a little extra on a good one.

When I get a gallon of paint and a brush in my hand, I'm ready to hit the ground running. But I've learned quickly that this is not a good idea. Taking the time to prep before painting will save tons of time and headaches later. 

To paint our bedroom, I opted to leave all the furniture in the room and just scrunch it all together in the middle. It was cramped for a few days, but it was worth not having to move everything to other rooms in the house. To protect our pile, I put an old towel down on the floor and a drop cloth over the furniture in the middle of the room. Then, I scraped off any spots where the old paint was flaking or bubbling and patched up the nail holes that remained from the previous owners. Once the patches were dry, I sanded them down and wiped off the walls with a damp cloth. 

My advice: Be patient when prepping the room for paint. It will save you on aspirin down the road.

My dad gave me some great advice. He said, "Don't drink coffee before painting." I avoided the coffee but consumed three brownies while cutting in the first coat. Bad idea. Just for the record, three brownies anytime is a bad idea but it's especially bad when painting. The caffeine and sugar made me jittery and when the shakes wore off, I was super tired and ready to be done painting. 

If you don't know this already, I'm a bit of a control freak. Nevertheless, when my Mister offered to help paint, I accepted his generosity because, quite frankly, I wanted to get it done. We blasted some classic rock music and his singing (mostly made up words) really encouraged me to keep painting. 

My advice: Be patient and enlist a partner. And always listen to classic rock music while painting.

A few other lessons learned:

1. Don't push too hard when rolling paint. This will cause the paint to splatter a lot more.
2. Watch your feet. Twice I dripped paint on my stool and didn't realize it. I stepped in it, then walked across the room. You can guess what happened.
3. Use a nail to put some holes around the rim of the paint can. This allows the paint to drain back into the can instead of drying into a rubbery mess and preventing the can from resealing. Another important note: be sure the paint has drained back into the can before hammering the lid back on the can. It's a good thing my counters have blue specks in them already...
4. Use a stool. Even if you can reach the roller to the ceiling, it's so helpful to have a stool that allows you to easily reach. This prevents you from accidentally hitting the ceiling with the roller (for the most part). It's also helpful to sit on a stool while painting the lower part of the room. Squatting and bending will cause you to feel like you've been hit by a paint truck the next morning.
5. Store your brush or roller in a resealable bag in-between coats or when you break for another brownie. This will keep the brush soft and allows you to use just one roller for the entire job. When you're done, slide the roller brush into the bag, grab it from the outside (to keep your hands clean), and pull the brush off the handle. Seal up the bag and toss it in the trash. 

Here is a before shot of the pinkish beige room.

I'm pretty pleased with how well the room turned out. 

I love the color and I finally got my wedding bouquet hung on the wall. The next step is to bring in all those new colors and textures and patterns. I should get a free weekend to do that sometime in August.... I'm mostly kidding. Patience is a virtue. 

So the next time you find yourself ready to paint, remember - Tape. Cut in. Roll. Repeat. And most importantly... be patient. 

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