It's not often I say that I've OVERestimated someones abilities, but WOWZAH, my lovely friend who shall remain nameless is brilliant in many ways, but painting is not one of them. When she lured me over to her place with the promise of a glass of wine (I'm easy that way) I wasn't sure what to expect. With her husband on the road for months for work, she wanted to surprise him when he got home with a room-make over. If he walked into what I saw he'd be surprised alright! Painting, my friends, isn't terribly difficult, but does require a little focus, so when I walked into my friends overwhelmed house of horrors, I did what I do with all of my clients. I asked her to step away from the chaos for one second, come up with a plan and attack it one bit at a time. The red room was a mistake to begin with, but no sense in beating someone when they are down (instead of painting a room red, which is very difficult to fix when you decide you hate it, add red accents in curtains, throw pillows, furniture, rugs, artwork, etc.). To avoid painting ten coats of whatever color she chose, I suggested she start with a primer or paint-with-primer (Behr has a pretty good one at Home Depot, but I prefer Valspar at Lowe's) and, unlike the image above, always begin a painting project by trimming near the ceiling and the baseboards. The key to a good trim-job is to TAKE YOUR TIME. I never use tape because, at least in my experience (and I've been painting since high school), no matter what kind of tape you use, it always bleeds AND takes forever to tape something out. Use that time you'd waste taping by simply taking your time with a good brush. You might opt for the cheap brush at Home Depot, but you might as well attack your painting project with a Q-Tip! A good brush makes a world of difference! While she veered off course for just a bit, a few simple tips and words of encouragement got her right back on the road to completing this project...and a little help from her designer friend brought it in for a landing!
