Interior Painting Archives - Page 2 of 2

Do it Yourself: The Seven Blunders of Interior Painting

When you want to spruce up your home, change can be a good thing. Sometimes rearranging the furniture does not quite satisfy, and new appliances can get really pricey. The idea of a do it yourself project crosses your mind…

Painting your home’s interior can be of the most fulfilling, lasting improvements you can make in your home. Of course, redesigning anything in your home can become a tedious job, especially if you do it yourself! But what happens when DIY projects go wrong?

No one wants to live in a house with a bad paint job.

Your home should be welcoming, comforting and fulfilling to live in. When it comes to DIY projects, you quickly realize that some things really do require a pro. No matter how easy it may seem early on, it is fairly easy to slip up along the way.

But, if you’ve decided that you want to rise to the challenge of painting your own house, let us be your guide to a beautiful home.

Here are a few things you can do to avoid the seven blunders of house painting, and earn your wings as a DIY painting master!

The Seven Blunders of Painting

Consider these points a checklist for your upcoming DIY project. The fate of your home’s walls depend on it.

1.Forgetting to Prep

How do you tell the difference between a professional painter, and a first time do-it-yourself-er? A pro always takes the time to prepare the surfaces.

Pay attention to those who do commercial painting. You will notice that they spend time cleaning the walls, putting tape around the edges, and applying primer. Pros also cover the surrounding furniture and use drop cloths to protect the floor. You might even notice that doorknobs are wrapped and switch plate covers are removed.

Wash and clean your walls long before you pick up the paintbrush. Use old newspapers, painter’s tape and plastic to cover everything you wish to protect. Look for cracks, holes and chipped paint, and fill them before starting. If you do make any repairs, make sure you sand down the surface before applying primer or paint.

Invest the time in prepping. A great final result requires a strong foundation.

2. Selecting a Color for the Wrong Reasons

When you go to the store to purchase paint, never buy it based on how it appears in the store. The color will almost certainly look very different under bright, florescent light. Do not expect it to have the same appearance in the sun or under standard home lighting. In fact, Apartment Therapy recommends these 10 tips for choosing colors for your kitchen and bathroom in this post.

The same goes for that color you saw in a magazine. Any color paint will look much different under professional lighting compared to how it will look in your dining room.

Do not rush when making your color choices, either. The best way to avoid picking a color you will inevitably hate? Choose multiple shades, and bring home samples of each of them. Try them each on one of the walls you are planning to paint. Compare each one under your home’s natural lighting. Yes, this may mean more time until your walls have a shiny new look. Be patient. The waiting will pay off soon enough.

3. Using cheap tools

Getting the right kind of tools for a DIY project can make or break the end result. Though cheap brushes, rollers and paint sprayers may tempt you, never compromise on the quality of the tool. Good brushes have top-notch bristles which allows you to paint faster, with a professional-looking end result. When it comes to rollers, look for one with a strong, thick foam. A cheap sprayer will fail at spreading paint evenly. Some will even burn out midway, leaving you without a tool to get the job done.

Use painter’s tape wherever required. Never use masking tape in its place. If you want a professional quality paint job, use professional quality tools.

4. Using the wrong paint for the job

There are numerous types of paint on the market. Knowing what types are appropriate for the job can make or break your project. In high traffic areas, such as the hallways or entryway, use satin finish. Accent walls work best in matte finish.

Knowing which paints work best with specific tools will help prevent major blunders as well. FYI, not all paint works inside a sprayer!

Always seek the opinion of a professional. You can often find experts on paints in the store that you purchase from. Let them save you from the mistakes you did not even know you could make, like using pressure washing services inside, rather than outside.

5. Painting in poor light

Light makes a lot of difference, and if you paint a room in dim light, your final result may be deceiving. You can see greater details in bright light, meaning that the work you assumed looked perfect, might actually be pretty sloppy! Open the windows and let the light in while painting. Avoid painting after the sun goes down and under harsh florescent lights.

6. Painting over a glossy wall

If you’ve ever had a manicure, you will probably know why doing this can be a problem. There is a reason the nail artist removes the old coats of polish. Painting over an already glossy surface could end in an uneven finish, chipping, cracking, or discoloration. Paint requires a slightly gritty surface in order to stick. Glossy walls lack the right texture to hold on to the paint properly.

To avoid this scenario, prepare the wall properly. Sand the painted walls down gently, creating the necessary grit to hold the paint. Then, wipe down the wall with a wet cloth to remove dust and debris. Once the wall is dry, start painting.

7. Forgetting to use primer

Buying a 2-in-1 paint and primer sounds like a great way to save time and money, right? Wrong. Many first-time painters are unaware that this product only works with smooth, clean walls. In the case of a rough or textured wall, use a separate primer.

On a textured wall, the substance creating the texture, such as drywall, has absorbent properties that can act as a sponge to a fresh coat of paint, leaving the wall blotchy and uneven.

If your home makeover plans include a glossy wall, pick up some primer. A bonding primer will stick straight to the surface, providing a good, clean backing for the shiny new color.

Avoid these all-too-common painting errors, and tackle your first do it yourself home painting project like a pro!

As with most home improvement projects, practice makes perfect. Relish in the experience of taking the fate of your home’s look into your own hands.

Before things go wrong, however, it is always smart to consult a painting contractor before picking up that paint roller. Before things go wrong, call The Paint Manager for all of your residential painting needs.

Home Improvement: 5 Paint Safety Tips

Home improvement is not just for Tim Allen. In fact, it’s for everyone, even your teenage son who thinks painting his room will be fun until he realizes he has to put a primer on the walls first.

Either way, even if painting for home improvement can be a bit tedious, it still has to be safe. I’m not just talking about your safety but also your family’s because accidents can happen otherwise.

After seeing my mom accidentally step off a latter two steps too short when I was ten years old, I knew just how being overly

cautious can actually be overly rewarding. I’ll just say that as a ten year old, it was not fun spending the summer plastic-wrapping the metal bar in my mom’s arm before she could take a shower! Am I trying to scare you? Maybe just a little…

If it helps, we did get a ton of lasagnas delivered by family friends! Anyway, I digress.

Here are my best tips for keeping your painting home improvement project safe:

Hand safety:

Painting exposes you to a lot of chemicals. And, your hand could be the primary point of contact for these harmful chemicals. When absorbed through the skin of your hand, these chemicals can cause a number of medical problems.

Always use a pair of gloves when painting your house. It could be normal latex gloves or those that are chemical resistant. Average latex gloves offer a thin layer of protection to your skin, as they are much lighter in weight. These are handier than the heavier ones, which makes it a better choice to work with when handling the painting tools.

On the other hand, chemical resistant gloves are heavier than the latex ones and can offer more protection to your skin from paint strippers, solvents, acids and caustics. They reduce chances of chemical exposure significantly, but since they are heavier it makes handling painting tools a bit difficult.

Skin Safety:

When taking up the job of painting in your house you would also need to protect your hair and other body parts from paints, acids and dust. You can get numerous home improvement accessories that offer thorough protection of hair and your other body parts, from top to bottom. You could get spray socks, which would cover your face, neck, hair and face – up to the nose, including your mouth.

You would also need to get overalls for protecting the remaining part of your body. And, finally a pair of shoe covers or boots. Home improvement jobs usually require boots with hard soles as they can protect your feet from stepping on stray nails.

Try and get 100% cotton clothing, one that is neither too loose nor too tight. This will allow you to paint freely. Not only is cotton light but it’s also breathable which means heat won’t trap in your clothing if you’re working in hot conditions.

Lung safety:

When painting you are exposed to fumes, particulate matters, vapors and spray mist. Any of these can have an adverse effect on the health of your lungs, which should never be ignored. From preparing the paint to applying it on the walls, you would be exposed to a lot of damaging fumes and particulate matters. Always use a mask, or a paint respirator.

Use a face mask when sanding the walls of your house and a solvent respirator while dealing with products that contain organic solvents. Keep all the windows and doors in the room your painting open and open to the outside air. This will help diffuse the chemicals in the air.

As always, keep your pets either outside or at a friend’s house. They can be more sensitive to chemicals than we are.

Eye safety:

Eye safety is important in any home improvement activity. Painting easily causes little splatters and you never want one of those drops to fall into your eye.

Your eyes are exposed to solvents, spray mist, paint drips and chips and dust. Eyes are delicate organs and any of these can cause injuries ranging from minor to major, and this could even damage your eyesight. It is advisable to use glasses or goggles to protect your eyes. This is true of most home improvements including pressure washing, drilling, and sanding.

Chemical Safety:

Though the quality of paint has improved significantly over the last few decades, still you need to take a lot of safety precautions while handling paints. It is true that the toxicity levels have substantially reduced and paints now are low on volatile organic compounds or VOCs. But thinners, primers, solvent based paints, and paint remover needs careful handling as they have sufficient quantity of organic solvents.

Always store them in a cool place where it is out of the reach of children and pets. Also, make sure the place is properly ventilated.

If you have to keep your pet home, keep them outside but if you’re still worried about paint and your pet, consider an eco-friendly paint company like ECOS. It is so safe, in fact, it can be used to paint dog kennels!

Just a reminder of the history and dangers of lead paint:

It was in 1978 that the Federal government passed the law of banning lead as a constituent in paints. But houses constructed up until this time could have high levels of lead based paints on their walls. If you are living in an old house, the first thing that you should do is buy a kit that is used for lead testing. After conducting the test you would come to know whether lead is present in the paint or not.

If the test confirms that there is lead in your house, it is best to call in experts who deal in the removal of lead paints. Lead is not just hazardous for your health, it is also dangerous for the environment.

Only you know what’s best for your family but I know what’s best for keeping your family safe during a paint home improvement project! If you follow these guidelines then there is no reason why you can’t paint your home safely.

If you are based in Central Florida just call The Paint Manager for residential and commercial patining now for a few more helpful tips that would make painting your house a memorable journey.

If you think painting the house is a job not cut out for you, relax- call us and we would be more than happy to help you paint your house. Because, that is what we do and we do it perfectly.

Want to go a step fruther

Show Your Home Some Love: 6 Design Tips to Make You Fall in Love Again

You look at your husband and you almost see him the same way you saw him 40 years ago. Yes, he traded in his leather jacket for cargo shorts and New Balance sneakers. Yes, his James Dean hair has lost a few, well, inches. Yes, he still hates your lasagna. But he is still the same Valentine you’ve always wanted, even with a changing exterior.

Now, can’t you say the same about your house? You fell in love with your home at one point in time for a reason. Sure, you find yourself thinking, “my skylights need replacing”, or, “Why did I paint the kids’ bathroom that green?”, or “how much would it cost to just move?”

While, yes, it would be nice if you could just pack up your belongings (and strategically leaving the cargo shorts behind) and move into your dream home, it just isn’t likely. But that is okay! You already have everything you need to show your home some love. After all, isn’t that what you built your home on? Love? Cheesy, I know. Moving on…

6 Design Tips to Make You Fall in Love Again

1. Go ahead, put your son to work, have him move the furniture around for you.
Rearranging your furniture is a good alternative for purchasing new pieces. Consider exchanging furniture from room to room. Ever think about using that drop down desk as a cabinet for your microwave? You could stain the wood to match the cabinets of your kitchen and hide the microwave that is internally, permanently stained from someone not putting a lid over their spaghetti…

2. Out with the old and out with some more of it…
Donate the things you don’t use or like anymore. Most of the problem with not loving our homes comes from us not even being able to see it anymore. Clothes, vases, that pot you never returned to your neighbor from three years ago. All that needs to go, including couch that you’ve secretly hated since your husband brought it home twelve years ago. You’ve avoided hurting his feelings for twelve years, just tell him it’s time for it to go.

3. Opening up a room is like adding a room onto your house; without all the dust and hassle.
Paint your rooms more uplifting colors. Neutral colors, yellows, grayscale, off-whites, muted blues have a tendency of lightening up a room. If you don’t think you can afford (or want) to paint a whole room, have you thought about painting some furniture? Painting furniture not only makes it look like a new piece but it can add something special to a room you’ve seen a thousand times. It’s like your husband putting on slacks instead of his cargo shorts, a nice change to see.

4. Create a real-life Instagram post in your home.
If you must spend money on redecorating consider this: go to your Instagram (or whatever site you use for inspiring home photos), find a post you like and try to recreate it in your home. Is it of a fuzzy blanket and mug of tea? Okay, go to Homegoods for a fuzzy blanket, pillows, rugs, or a lazy boy- style chair and create a cozy sanctuary for your evening tea. Just a small place of your own might make you look at your house differently…even if your dog ends up taking it for themselves.

5. Display your memories as a gallery.
Create a gallery in your home with pictures, maps, and prints you already own. Just switch out frames for a less uniform look. The different textures and sizes on your wall will make you feel like there’s another new room in your house. Michaels Craft Store and Joann Fabrics always have sales on frames. It’s just vamping up what you already own. Additionally, it’ll make your kids feel like they came home to their own hall of fame during breaks from college.

6. Be grateful you have a house that loves you back.
Lastly, be grateful. Love is shown in different ways. Your husband shows it by doing the dishes because he knows how much wet food grosses you out. Your house shows it by keeping you, your family, and your memories safe. You have a roof over your head, food to cook in a kitchen, and a bed for your dog. Those are all wins in my book.

Remodels are a form of love. Show your home some love with these minor changes. These minor changes also show your wallet some love with the lose cost of each tip. If you are based in Central Florida, just call The Paint Manager today and discuss how they can assist in showing your home some love. For me, I think I’ll stop by Homegoods on my way home from work…you know, for research…