I initially was not going to write about this DIY project, because reading about painting, is like…watching it dry. But somehow, I can make even painting adventurous.
Efiwym, my wife and I picked out the exact paint color we wanted for the kitchen and dinette area. I decided that I should paint the foyer the same color too. So, I went to the home improvement store to save 11% and bought, let’s say, a good paint for the project. No cheap, watery, running stuff, I would usually buy. While I was there, I picked up a new brush and roller cover, even though I already had them at home. I also purchased another miracle tool, the edger. I could not find my edger while looking for painting supplies in the basement. I was discouraged, because I really liked this edger. It does an excellent job of cutting in the line between the ceiling and wall that a paint brush just cannot do. At least, that I could never do. This edger looked like it could do the job. I had all the supplies I needed to start the project this weekend.
That weekend I prepped the area on Saturday to paint on Sunday. I generally do it all in one day, but I wanted to take my time taping the trim and cabinets. I do not usually tape the trim. I do my best to cover it and come back and cut it in with a brush. However, I have seen DIY shows where they tape the trim and do not have the nasty bleeding under the tape.
I wanted to try my hand at taping because I was not good at cutting in as I used to. I usually need to support the hand with the paint brush with the other hand. These hands just are not that steady anymore. I took my time taping making sure I covered the trim tightly and I followed back by using a plastic scraper to make sure the tape was securely in place to prevent the bleeding. I would find out after I painted if this method would work.
This time I would also cut in and edge the wall after I painted with a roller. I normally roll out the paint on all the walls and come back later and finish it. I did not want to get lap marks. Which is strange because I never had that problem before. Nonetheless, that is what I did.
I had my typical oopses. I would be too aggressive with the roller and hit a cabinet door. Or I would paint past the tape on the trim. I had to keep a rag handy to clean them up. As I was doing the edging with my new edger, I was having difficulty covering the old yellow paint at the ceiling line. Apparently, this new edger had larger wheels, or the pad was lower on the edger. There was a tiny line of yellow paint showing above the new gray paint. I would live with it for now, but I would need to repaint it with white no more than an inch below the ceiling to cover the yellow and follow up and re-edge the gray again. I planned on tackling the foyer another day, so I would circle back and fix this issue.
As I was removing the tape, which surprisingly worked, I saw the yellow bleeding through the new paint especially where I used a brush. I was afraid of putting too much paint over the tape that it would bleed through so the paint was light around the trim. Now I needed to touch up these areas near the trim without the tape covering it. I grabbed a foam brush, because I already cleaned my bristle brush. I would just toss the foam brush when I was done. However, the foam brush could not hold paint, and I was dripping paint all over the floor. Plus, the foam brush would lose its rigidity and flop around as I applied pressure to it. I had enough and tossed the foam brush in the garbage can and got my bristle brush. There was one soffit I thought the edger would be a nice way to paint it instead of a roller. Well, that was a mistake. That soffit had to be repainted with the brush. I touched up areas I found as I removed the tape, but I found more after I thought I was done painting.
When Efiwym returned home, I pre-empted her critique of my work by showing and explaining my bad painting job. I assured her I would fix it when I painted the foyer, even if it meant repainting a wall. She laughed as I shared my painting debacles, and she said I just wanted something to write in my blog. She wasn’t wrong.
I replaced the 2 outlets with the new white ones. After five trips to the basement, I could not find the circuit breaker for one outlet. So, I shut off all the breakers on one side of the panel and then the other side until the outlet was not live.
I put everything back on the walls, except for a few items Efiwym did not want anymore. We had a couple signs on our soffits that said, “Smile, Indulge, and Live.” While “Live,” fell off the wall and broke, but was repairable, the “Indulge” sign broke in 3 pieces. Efiwym told me to just throw them away.
Not a way to end a painting job, but it was done. Well, not completely done.