My Favorite Painting Tips and Tricks
As I mentioned on Friday I have been painting a lot (see my last powder room post HERE). And it always amazes me how much of a difference a fresh coat of paint makes. It was about time in our powder room. You really don’t need a ton of money to make a room look clean and fresh and actually also smell new again. Paint is magical.
I know Pinterest is filled with all these tips and tricks that everyone else claims are the best but it’s all also preferential. What might work for that person, might not work for the next and you have to pick and choose and maybe even come up with your own versions. I know I learned mostly from trial and error. A lot of the things might come naturally to me after doing them so so many times but for some of you who don’t do it as often as me, it might be new.
So here it goes.
My Favorite Painting Tips and Tricks
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Sealing the painter’s tape
My favorite tip of all time for painting and what I did on my porch and also where the powder room cabinet meets the wall is…. letting the paint bleed through the tape which it always does anyways no matter how hard you try to avoid it.
I explain everything in detail in this post HERE.
See how I sealed the tape with the same white wall paint before priming and painting it black?
It takes a little bit more time to do but is so so worth it. I also used that method for where the ceiling meets the crown molding.
I painted the molding with a fresh coat of paint first, not worrying about the ceiling. Then I taped the molding, sealed it with the same color as the molding, and when it dried just painted the ceiling black. It looks professional and great.
Garbage bags!!!
Hey and I should throw ziplock bags in there too for keeping paint-covered brushes fresh in-between coats.
Yes, my number two favorite tip is garbage bags in all kinds of different sizes for painting. I line my trays with them, then encase the entire tray and roller with a garbage bag after I’m done so I don’t have to clean them between coats. You also need a rubber band or tape to seal the bag so the paint doesn’t dry.
I slip a garbage bag over the toilet tank when I paint and I can squeeze a small roller right behind it.
I also slipped my barstools into large garbage bags before spray painting the tops a different color and protecting the legs from getting the overspray. (see the makeover HERE). You can seriously use them for so many things while painting.
A good oil-based primer
This only counts for certain jobs because in some cases you just can’t use them but I try to use them as much as I can.
My favorite one is Kilz oil-based spray primer (THIS one) which you need to shake up really well and which I used for the new cabinet door outside. Shake well before using and sand lightly in between coats and you are good to go for the paint.
When I can’t spray I use good rollers (HERE and HERE) and Kilz oil-based primer or if you can’t ventilate well then latex primer. This is the only time I don’t clean my rollers and just throw them out. I don’t think it’s worth using all the chemicals to clean them. For regular water-based paint, I always clean my rollers though.
Especially on stained walls, an oil-based primer does wonders.
For the black cabinet, I used a tinted oil-based primer that I had the home improvement store tint for me.
This leads me to my next favorite step:
Letting the paint sink to the bottom of water when cleaning!
What does that mean? Well, when I wash my rollers I try to get as much paint washed off as possible but if you’ve ever cleaned rollers then you know that it feels like, you can’t ever get it all out. The paint just keeps flowing.
So what do I do? I place the roller into water and let the remaining paint flow to the bottom which you can see happening in the below photo:
Then after a little, while I just rinse the glass, fill it up with more fresh water and place the roller back into it. I repeat that about three times and the roller is clean. In-between I rinse the roller quickly though too.
It really works!
Tack Cloth
I can’t live without it anymore. It is the best when painting anything. You can wipe up all kinds of stuff that can ruin a paint job. Sanding residue, dust, spider webs, little flies… you name it. I always have them in stock.
Tack cloth works wonders between coats when you have to lightly sand.
My favorite easy to use sprayer
Like I said before, whenever I can, I use canned oil-based spray primer. I don’t use that in my favorite sprayer because it is hard to clean and you need chemicals. I’ve had this sprayer HERE for years and I still love it and use it all the time.
I actually used it on my vanity cabinet door and used the same technique, paint, and varnish as I used on my pink dresser makeover (you can find the tutorial HERE for details). I also used the sprayer for this dresser makeover HERE.
For the paint coat, I almost always try to use water-based paint so I can use my sprayer and so I can clean everything with water and not chemicals. I even use a water-based polycrylic (HERE) for topcoats. I love just cleaning with water and the finish is fabulous.
A great quality roller and brush!!!
A lot of times I use these fabulous little rollers HERE which you also saw in the above photo of me applying the oil-based primer. I just love them. But I also use large ones for entire walls and I don’t get cheap paintbrushes either. My favorite brushes are without a doubt Purdy brushes (HERE).
Always pay attention to what they are made of and made for. There is a reason for that and you shouldn’t generalize them. A brush isn’t just a brush for anything. Trust me on that.
Clean everything first!
This tip should be above all and kind of a no-brainer but I remember my husband didn’t do it when he painted our first apartment. It’s cleaning everything before painting. I mean everything! If it’s a room then the walls and moldings and if it is furniture you need to use a degreaser and of course tip number 5 which is the tack cloth.
It makes such a difference and the finish looks so much better. It’s one of the most important steps in the entire process of painting.
Take-out soup containers
Say what? Yes, you heard right. I used to collect pickle jars and such to store leftover paint in them but I hated when the lid threads got clogged and I couldn’t open them. So now I collect the take-out soup containers which we always get enough of since my son and I have a pho addiction. (Pho is Vietnamese soup for those of you who don’t know it, a must-try) I pour the paint into the containers and write the paint and number on them. So much easier to open when you need it.
I will add to this post if I can think of anything else along the way, so pin the below graphic to your Pinterest boards and check-in again to see if I added something.
You might also enjoy the following post HERE:
or this one HERE:
The progress of painting my powder room has inspired me to write this post. Remember the last photo before I started to paint?
Next is what it looked like when I first painted it several years ago, fresh and clean.
And here is the same room painted again. Also, keep in mind it’s not done yet. It’s just the in-between phase (HERE and HERE for my previous posts about this room). The only thing that is different is the counter, cabinet door, and towel. The cabinet and mirror are still the same.
sink HERE (only $40) | marble bought local (similar one HERE) | cabinet door HERE | mirror not available anymore | faucet HERE | towel ring is vintage
UPDATE: You can see the finished bathroom HERE.
{mirror HERE | sink HERE | pop-up drain HERE | faucet HERE | marble top not available at the moment | lighting HERE | cabinet door HERE | similar towel HERE and HERE | towel ring vintage and you can find a similar one HERE | basket HERE | the tassel is vintage | handmade soap HERE and HERE | HERE for the stencil DIY and you can buy the stencil HERE and HERE now}
I hope I could help you in any way with it.
Tschüß,
These are spot on, Julia! I’ve been painting for years and this post was still really helpful for me! If I’m painting for multiple days, sometimes I wrap up my paintbrush tightly in a plastic bag and store it in the fridge overnight instead of cleaning it every single day.
I LOVE ALL OF THESE TIPS! I JUST GOT A HOMERIGHT SPRAYER AND USED IT FOR THE FIRST TIME!!! IT WAS AMAZING AND I CAN’T BELIEVE I HAVEN’T USED ONE BEFORE NOW!
You are the BOMB!
Always so much useful info.
I totally àgree with all you said. Well, since I don’t have a sprayer (wish I did), I just can not say. I would love to have one like yours!
oh i am loving it!!! that ceiling is awesome!!
great tips! I’ll have to try the one about roller cleaning. I’m ashamed to admit that I’ve taken to just throwing them out after we use them because I hate cleaning them so much.
Squeeze out as much paint as you can, then throw in the washer! I estimate this actually uses less water than wa shingles by hand and they come out pristine.
Love these tips!!! My husband is a fanatic when it comes to cleaning paint brushes/rollers, so I’ll have to try the water in the glass trick. Love the ceiling too!!!
Great ideas! Some I never heard of before, but definitely would never have thought of myself. Thanks. Also, LOVING the new direction of the powder room.
This post came at a really great time, my husband and I are doing a lot of painting to get our house ready to sell. Great tips, thank you!
Love these ideas – I think my favorite is the idea to use soup containers. I’ve been thinking about doing something like that in each of the rooms in our house for each touch ups – may have to try this.
You have to develop a soup addiction too for all the containers 😉