Painting exterior trim is among the more difficult exterior paint jobs. It requires more preparation and greater care during execution. But it can also be the most satisfying, since good trim really makes a house stand out. Preparation Proper preparation is key, as it is with any painting job. Trim will need to be masked [...]

Apart from preparation, which is often 80% of the job, painting an exterior wall is about as easy as it gets. But there are still a few guidelines useful to follow to achieve the best final result. Proper paint selection is first and foremost. In most cases, an oil-based or alkyd paint is the best [...]

Few jobs are as tough, or as satisfying, as painting your house. Professional painters really do earn the high fees they get. The areas are always larger than they seem. The quantity of materials is always greater than the initial estimate. But few other projects around the home can be carried out by do-it-yourselfers without [...]

A primer is a paint or coating applied directly to a surface to serve as an undercoat for other paints. In principle, any paint could be used as primer, but specially prepared compounds typically do the job much better. Many surfaces aren’t quite ready to serve as the base for a single coat of oil-based [...]

Regrettably, about 80% of any interior home painting project is preparation. Skipping this step will almost always produce a poor final result. Adding to the difficulty is the fact that interior preparation jobs require much greater care than for exterior surfaces. Washing is harder. Dust from sanding requires special handling to avoid making the complete [...]

Whether the paint job is outside or in, masking is almost always needed at some stage. Unless the section to be painted is nowhere near a surface you don’t want touched, this preparation step will be vital. Nothing looks more unprofessional than globs or streaks of paint where it doesn’t belong. Tape For quick and [...]

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just buy a bucket of paint and a brush then get going? But any interior or exterior home painting project will require much more. For all but the smallest jobs, a ladder is a must. Make sure you overspend here. That doesn’t mean buying foolishly, but getting more [...]

Like it or not, most exterior house painting projects will be about 80% preparation. In those cases where the preparation can be almost entirely skipped, there’s usually no need to paint the house. It can just be cleaned. Also, despite the existence of power tools that can be helpful, most of the job comes down [...]

Faux painting is a method for painting a surface to resemble some natural finished material, such as wood or marble. ‘Faux’ in French means ‘false’, or ‘not genuine’. Paint is used to make the plaster, dry wall and other surfaces appear like another material with a veined or grainy look. In most painting jobs, we [...]

Thankfully, every painting job eventually comes to an end. After all the effort of preparation and painting, though, there are still a couple of things left to do. Once the paint dries, a thorough inspection is called for. Before removing any masking, look for areas near the edges or corners that are not quite covered. [...]