PAINTING PERFECTLY
Al Carrell: This is a beautiful bedroom. There's just one problem - the scratched and scuff paint job from many years ago is making the room look dingy. We're going to magically brighten the bedroom with fresh paint. And while we do it we're going to be giving you some tips on painting your rooms perfectly. Your paint job will look like the pros did it. But there's going to be one big difference - you won't be draining your checking account to make it happen. Here's what you'll need to paint a room: latex paint for walls and trim. Your paint dealer will help you determine the right quantities based on your color choice, the wall's existing color and the room size. You'll need paint rollers for every person you can enlist in this project. And pick up several plastic drop cloths, a paint tray, a brush, liquid deglosser and masking tape. You'll also need a ladder plus have some rags on hand to clean up any paint mishaps before they dry.
First off, get as much of the furniture out of the way as you can. Cover the rest with drop cloths. Next, pull the nails and any other attachments from the walls. Preparation is a very important part of your paint job. Sometimes all you have to do is clean the walls just by sweeping the dust off. Whatever it takes, it's got to be clean and dry. The next step is to cover up everything that you don't want painted. That requires masking tape. Now this particular kind of masking tape is good because when you peel it off it doesn't take the paint off with it. Another thing you want to protect is yourself. Now you can make a dandy apron out of a trash bag. You want to be sure and cut out a place for the head, one for the arm, then cut the other side all the way down for easy entrance. And kids - don't try this at home. If you wear glasses or goggles, and you should wear goggles when you're doing things like this to protect your eyes. You don't want spots to get all over there, so just take a square of Saran Wrap, put it over each one of the lenses and you're going to be in business. You just peel the Saran Wrap off when you get through painting and you don't have any spots at all. Another thing you want to protect is your hair. And this is a hat that I made out of a grocery bag. Now how does that...oops! I believe it's a little large. Well, there is a substitute. And that is if you get your old shower cap out or maybe borrow one from your mate. Now you got yourself protected.
Even though the paint dealer has put this on the machine and shook it up real good to mix it right, you want to still do some mixing when you get it open. The proper way to mix is to do what they call boxing. That means you pour about a third of it off and then you pour it back and forth. Pour some more off. Then stir the bottom again. This way your paint's color is going to be consistent throughout your room. Add some paint to your tray and you're ready to get to work.
First, brush paint onto all the hard-to-reach corners. This is called "cutting in" because you see, a roller will miss those spots. Use a roller with a short nap for a smooth wall like we're going to be painting. A longer nap for something more porous, like concrete. You want to use sort of a letter M. You can remember that because it stands for money because that's what you're going to be doing - is saving an awful lot of money, 'cause it cost you almost four times what the paint costs if you pay somebody to get it put on there, sometimes even more than that. If your new paint is similar in color to the old paint job, you can probably just use one coat, and you may even need to use a product called Kilz (available at any paint or hardware store) to prime a very dark wall for a light colored paint.
Okay, your walls are painted. Now it's time to paint the woodwork. First off, remove the masking tape covering the trim. And then apply tape to protect your ceiling and your new dry paint job. You can use a big ruler like this to guard your ceiling or walls, sort of a moving masker as you work. One of the most important steps when you're going to use enamel over enamel is to make sure you prepare the surface properly. If you left any kind of sheen on there then the new enamel is not going to adhere to the old and in a couple of weeks is going to peel off. There are two ways to take care of that. One is you can come up there with sanding paper and go over it and get that stuff off of there that way. That's the hard way. Or the easy way, you can get a liquid deglosser. This is a chemical that actually takes the gloss off. And all you have to do, pour a little bit of it out in a can and get a brush and get after it. And it's that easy. You see how easy it goes on? And while it's tacky, it's going to be ready for you to paint. Now the same procedure and preparation that we use up here on the molding is going to be used on the baseboard and also on the shutters over here.
When we get through we're going to have a paint job that's going to look great and it's going to last for a long time. This room sure looks cheerier. Even though the color difference is subtle, a little paint and elbow grease bring out the room's charm and personality like nothing else can.
Episode 59 1997 - 98 Season
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