Painting Bonanza

I decided to finally paint my place after almost a year and a half of living in white space. The funny thing is that I came extremely close to having it painted before I moved in since I had the place a couple weeks before I moved. The last straw came when I bought all new natural light bulbs which looked awesome but made the place look very white.

Choosing the right paint

The one thing everyone told me and what I heard was that a good paint makes all the difference. I had been looking at various Lowe’s paint offerings for the past couple weeks. I had settled on some Valspar colors but then at the last minute I chose to go with Eddie Bauer because I was told that the paint was a little better. I then heard about a Labor Day paint sale at Home Depot plus I was recommended to try Behr’s new paint because it had the paint and primer all in one. Supposedly all the Home TV shows use this new Behr paint. Do you want to know why I ended up going with it? You could say because it was cheaper. You could say because it had the primer built in so possibly less coats. You may also think that it was because a good friend kept telling me the Ralph Lauren paint at Home Depot was the best and I had two different Home Depot employees tell me the new Behr paint was better. All good reasons but the reason I went with it was because it had NANOGUARD® technology. Don’t know how this nano technology helped but both the Engineer and Marketing person in me loved the buzz word so I went with it.

Choosing the right color

Luckily I have some friends that understand the “color wheel” and choosing complementing colors. I obviously have no clue about colors. I tried adjusting colors online and kept getting totally different colors that I desired. I wanted bright colors since I have a contemporary open space. I ended up going with a combination of blues and grays (almost green).

Mistakes

1. Taping – I didn’t tape some of the bathroom after I though I could use the edger but it didn’t work out. Also, I did not realize that there are 3 different grades of tapes. I bought medium stickiness. I did pull off pieces of the dry wall/paint so probably not the best choice for non wood or concrete applications.
2. Ladder – I had only a 7ft ladder which worked fine in the hallway but was impossible around the kitchen since I could not put it against the wall. The corner above the refrigerator was impossible, I am lucky I didn’t kill myself after I was standing on about on anything I could.
3. Not having a shorter extension. I borrowed an extension from a friend. It was probably 4ft long and extended to another 4ft. In open spaces, it made it super easy to paint wall to ceiling since I have 12ft ceilings. In the hallways and kitchens it was impossible. I later bought a 2ft one that extended to 4 ft. It made a huge difference.
4. Throwing away some of the paint cans before I got the UPC for the rebate. The funny thing is that I Googled paint sales last week to find the Labor Day sales and actually read someone’s comment about making sure to save the paint cans.

Good Calls

1. I read at the last minute that someone said one of the 5 key things to painting is owning a canvas drop cloth. I borrow some plastic from a friend but ended up buying a runner drop cloth at the last minute. This was key because I could put it along my entire wall, it absorbed paint so you did not track it around, and it stayed in place while laying flat.
2. Buying the good paint

What I learned

1. Good brushes really made a difference
2. That I do not understand how to paint with a roller
3. That you can spend a huge amount of time taping and it still doesn’t look right when your done.
4. That I suck at painting overall and I should hire a professional next time!

What do I think?

Overall, I like the colors. The kitchen is my favorite. My customer vases would work perfect in there if I ever did it. The one major problem I have is a spot in the hallway. It is the area where I went from one can to another. There was a super bright streak. I painted a second coat over it and you can still see it. You cant notice it if you look at it straight on but easily is noticed when looking at if while walking down the hallway. The other issue is the white trim I have around my whole place. The paint looks a little rough around it. I need someone with a stead hand to paint the top lip with a small brush.

The Final Product

Click here to see picture of my progress and the end results.