Why I Hate Painting

We all have something around the house that we avoid doing at all costs. For me it's painting. What looks like it will take just an afternoon takes all week, and coats that look like they should be perfect coverage wind up too thin or spotty. Not to mention masking everything... It's annoying.

The bedroom has been all sorts of colors. White with forest green on the chair rail and crown molding (?!), bright apple red, and then sort of an olive color which is different from the rest of the house. The green really wasn't working out, and since it was dark it made the room feel smaller than it really was. Darker colors are a major commitment - make sure it's really what you want if you're considering doing it.


Yes, I'm redoing the blinds with white fabric instead of forest green so they'll look normal.

The bedroom as it is this morning:





So what doesn't work? Power sprayers - the kind you see at any big box store. It took 2 coats during the first round of spraying, then coming back for a second round the next day to do this. About the best thing I can say about them is that they use far less paint than a brush or roller. I think the problem is, the smaller homeowner type aren't strong enough to give broad coverage with common latex paint, and the larger ones are too expensive for just doing a few rooms once every few years. I have a feeling these things work out much better for thinner oil based paints or stains. Maybe I'll find out someday.

What I'm trying for the remaining 2 1/2 walls is going back to a roller with a thick nap. It's intended for use on stucco type textures, but hopefully it will also work on the knock down texture that's been common in houses in the area for the last 20 years or so. The problem I had last time I used a (cheap) roller was that it did a great job getting the top of the texture and a horrible job getting the lower areas.

More later on how well it does or doesn't work...