If we’ve made one thing clear about our new house, it’s that we’re not crazy about the trim colors…
Somewhere between the Williamsburg Blue and the Muddy Mauve, our painting hands began to quiver with excitement. Or was that dread? Not sure.
We reasoned that while all of the carpet was up and before the new hardwoods went down, we should take advantage of the can-get-painted subfloor and go ahead and tackle the upstairs trim. Correction: trim and doors. Sixteen doors to be exact… which we removed and de-hardwared first for easy painting.
Attempting to quickly paint four bedrooms and closets worth of trim along with a long hallway plus nine windows (with tons o’ mullions) and the aforementioned sixteen doors seemed like a job that warranted a paint sprayer. So we decided it was finally time to get one. And thanks to a suggestion from the Bowers, we picked up this Graco TrueCoat II which was on sale for $180 at Lowe’s (update: we’ve since switched to using this Wagner model with more success). We opted to buy one instead of renting it because there’s still plenty of stuff to paint in this house beyond just these things – so we’d like to have one that we can use a bunch of times as we move from room to room (did we mention there’s still a ton of blue trim downstairs?).
The sprayer is a lot simpler than I expected. It’s pretty much just a plastic cup attached to the gun, which just plugs in. So there wasn’t much in the means of set-up (although we definitely read the directions twice just to make sure we didn’t screw it up). Then we dove into our primer coat.
We’ve heard that the biggest pain of owning a paint sprayer is clean up, so we opted to use a provided bag in the paint cup to keep it clean and hopefully eliminate one step afterwards.
We don’t have a ton of pictures of the process because one of us was downstairs with Clara while the other sprayed. And also, the process was pretty darn fast. We could zip along the baseboards of one room in about 10 to 15 minutes, and the majority of that time was usually spent refilling the paint cup.
So I definitely agree with what everyone had told me about spraying: it’s MUCH faster, but you use a lot more paint. I could only get through about two door sides before having to refill my paint cup. But boy was it satisfying to watch that blue paint disappear with each swipe. And it’s not that you’re wasting paint, it’s just that you’re getting more coverage (spraying the front of a door once might take twice as much paint, but it’s akin to two coats applied with a brush).
Once we feel a bit more seasoned with the sprayer we’ll do a deeper post about using it, but for now I feel like we’re still getting the hang of it. Our biggest challenge is fighting the urge to go back and “touch up” a spot we missed because we found it’s very easy to apply too much paint and create drips.
But if you go slowly and resist the urge to double spray, the smooth factory-like finish is amazing.
We made the call to paint the windows by hand rather than attempt to get every nook and cranny of it sprayed (we pictured a ton of rogue drips and a bunch of overspray covering all of the glass panes). After the fact, we’re not so sure it was the right call since our hand technique will still require some glass scraping with a razor and all of the blue/mauve windows took one coat of primer plus 3 coats of paint each since we were doing them by hand. Woof.
So yeah, this has pretty much been keeping us busy for the last few days. Spraying only occupied two mornings (priming one, painting the next) but we’ve made several trips to hand paint the windows and other areas that we couldn’t spray easily. I’ve lost track of which trip these photos were taken, but you can see what a difference it’s making.
We didn’t bother to tape off the walls or floors or anything around the sprayed areas (except for some too-close-for-comfort outlets and vents). So it means the walls are in desperate need of painting now too, but that’s a project for another day.
Some rooms, like the guest room and our master, only had cream trim/doors so they didn’t require any primer. Which meant this whole paint job only took 2 gallons of primer. Not bad for four rooms, four closets, nine windows, sixteen doors, and a giant hallway (about 30% of those had cream paint).
But we needed 4.5 gallons of white paint. Had we been able to predict that we’d have bought one of those five gallon buckets at the start, rather than making the multiple trips to the store we’ve been making. Live and learn, right?
The paint we’re using is Benjamin Moore’s Ultra Spec in Simply White (in a semi-gloss finish) based on a few recommendations for that type of paint from you guys (and knowing it’s one of the best white paint colors out there). It’s No-VOC contractor-grade paint that’s more affordable than BM’s Natura paint that we usually use and so far we’re really happy with it. Instead of being over $50 per gallon, it’s just $36 through our local paint store (I’m sure it varies by location, but it should be in that range), which has certainly made buying five gallons of it a little less painful.
Oh and as for choosing the color, we brought home about ten swatches of white and just picked the one that looked the best when we taped it up next to all of the others (some were too yellow, some were too blue, but Simply White looked clear and crisp without feeling too warm or too cool). Of course it’ll look a whole lot better after we paint those yellowed walls and ceilings…
Our total budget for four rooms and four closets worth of trim/baseboards plus nine windows, sixteen doors, and a giant hallway has been:
- Paint sprayer: $180
- Primer, 2 gallons: $36 (on sale)
- Paint, 5 gallons: $180 (we still have half a gallon leftover for a future project)
- TOTAL: $396
It’s certainly more than we envisioned spending, but because we’re on a time crunch to get the new floors in before we move, we’re counting our lucky stars that painting so many things went as quickly as it did. And now that we own the paint sprayer it’ll probably will work out to around ten cents per use by the time we’re done painting this house (so. much. blue. trim.).
Next step is to rehang all of the doors (after we replace some of the old pitted brass hardware) and then we can get to laying those hardwoods. We contemplated getting some other painting done while the subfloor is still exposed – walls, ceilings, closet interiors – but we’re starting to feel that move date creep up on us (T minus 2 weeks!). We figure we can move in with unpainted walls and ceilings more easily than moving in without completed floors – and thankfully we’re no strangers to painting walls and ceilings with hardwoods that are already in place.
So that’s what we’ve been up to. How about you?
Sarah says
How exciting! I’m so happy for you guys – and selfishly excited to follow your progress on the new house.
On a creeptastic note, I had a dream a few nights ago that we were friends, and was sad when I woke up and it wasn’t true. But as a fellow Richmonder, I’m keeping the hope alive that I’ll bump into you guys some day at the Decorating Outlet.
YoungHouseLove says
Now that you said that we will. Like tomorrow! Richmond is a small city…
xo
s
sue says
seriously, you guys are an inspiration… you get as much done in a day as it takes me a month of sundays to even plan! i can’t wait to see the progress on this home! do you think you’ll use the same approach as last time for picking colours (ie, another ‘sue the napkin’, but different)?
YoungHouseLove says
Not sure yet! So far we don’t have a “thing” that’s guiding us, but we seem to love all colors these days (warm and cool) along with lots of white and natural tones like wood flooring, so I bet it’ll be a mishmash of all of that :)
xo
s
Megan @ Rappsody in Rooms says
Wow! That sprayer is amazing. Great call on going with a sprayer while the floors were up. I’m impressed with your progress!
Heather says
I have a love/hate relationship with paint sprayers. My mom bought my husband one for Christmas, we he used it for pretty much everything during our kitchen/bathroom renovations.
I love it because it painted the kitchen cabinets I primed in about an hour.
I hate it because it took me about 5 hours to prime the cabinets, and I was proven wrong by saying the thing was a waste of money =)
Thanks for the bag trick! Clean up is definitely the worst, so I;ll have to share that with him.
YoungHouseLove says
Hahah!
xo
s
Mariecel says
Looking good! And without the carpet, it helps when you’re not looking out to mess up the floors! Will you be painting or replacing the hardware? Or will you keep it the gold/brass color? I admit that I mourned your last house for a week, but I’m starting to really get excited for what miracles you’ll make with this new space.
YoungHouseLove says
We’re planning to replace the hardware since so much of it is rusted and pitted so we don’t think spraying it can save it. We won’t be doing brass anymore though! More details whenever we choose the new hardware :)
xo
s
Cindy says
Cool. I look forward to your more in-depth post re: the sprayer. I’ve been wanting a stand-alone sprayer or an HVLP that hooks up to our compressor, but scared to choose the wrong one. Back in the day, we also bought a house that needed ev-er-y surface painted and all the carpeting removed. Fortunately now I only want a sprayer to use on furniture and not all the stuff you guys are facing! :) xo
Carrie says
I LOVE that hanging light fixture near the laundry space! I hope you guys can salvage it (hello, ORB spray paint). If not I will mail you a postage paid box and you can send it to live with me :) haha
YoungHouseLove says
Haha! We’re thinking ORB too! Or white! I think they’ll have a whole new life without the brass :)
xo
s
Kelly says
Looks so much better!
My only question would be about your baseboards & new hardwood. Having installed an entire main-floor worth of hardwood myself, and knowing you bought a 3/4 inch floor, are the baseboards not sitting too low to the floor? I had to replace the baseboards/quarter round throughout my house when we took on the floor.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, we realized this morning that we have to pop the baseboards off, but hopefully it’ll just call for a few touch ups and we can nail gun them back in after the floor’s down without too much trouble.
xo
s
Nell @ Allbritton or Nothing says
I’m fascinated by paint sprayers, but I always need a short cut to just painting trim. Which would require taping off floors and walls. Do you plan to use to sprayer for the walls as well, so stick with rolling and cutting-in by hand?
YoungHouseLove says
For walls I think we’ll still roll, but for furniture, cabinets, doors, trim, and wainscoting the sprayer is awesome.
xo
s
Mary | lemongroveblog says
WOW! What a difference. I’m a total sucker for the crisp, white trim – it looks awesome! We also used Simply White in our house, and I really love it, I think it is the perfect white :) That sprayer really got the job done fast! It seems like the way to go when you have that much ground to cover.
Ally says
Just a quick question- Do you think you might like another colored trim? I was picturing light colored walls with a really dark trim, maybe navy or something. Or is white trim really the way to go?
YoungHouseLove says
I think that’s all personal preference, but for us we just saw this dark house full of blue and mauve trim and wallpaper and yellowed walls and we couldn’t wait to crisp things up and brighten the hallway with white trim :)
xo
s
Heather says
We used to have dark trim in our house, and it made the rooms look so much smaller. Your eyes were sucked right to it. Once we painted it white, the rooms looked SO much bigger…
YoungHouseLove says
That’s awesome!
xo
s
kristi@SimplePrettyThings says
I wish we had a paint sprayer when we moved. It sucks that you didn’t buy a 5 gallon bucket of paint… that probably would have saved a ton of money. Now you know for downstairs right?! By the way, now that the trim is white I’m noticing the hallway lights more and I like em’!
Ariane says
Hey ! This paint sprayer looks like a lot of fun – you know what I mean ! I’m in the middle of a painting extravaganza myself but I’m doing walls so I don’t think it would be helpful … It’s in French but pictures are international language ! http://www.carrement-marteau.com/du-vert-et-du-bois/
Take care and good luck for the hard wood floors … it seems like a huge job to tackle … in LESS than 2 weeks !
YoungHouseLove says
Wow, that’s so much work!
xo
s
karen says
aw man..that looks like lots of work.
we are building a 3800 sqft house next year and will be doing all the painting. Do you think i should splurge for a high quality sprayer?? this seems to be the way to go.
so confused….like would i spray the walls and mess up the trim??
YoungHouseLove says
I would spray all of the trim and doors and cabinets and wainscoting but roll walls and ceilings :)
xo
s
katie | deranchification says
It looks so much better! Makes me want a paint sprayer even though I can’t think of anything I actually need one for right now :)
brittany says
Did you all do any sanding on the doors or trim before you primed and painted? If not..what is your secret for a lasting finish??We recently moved into our current house and did kinda what you all are doing now..ripped out the carpet, painted all the doors and trim and then laid the hardwood down. Sanding down all the trim is what required a lot of time/effort/sanity. Would have LOVED to skip that step if we could have!
YoungHouseLove says
If your trim is glossy you have to sand, but ours was a nice matte finish (chalky) so we knew it would soak up primer and paint well. Hope it helps!
xo
s
Loey Winans says
I’m curious since your last house was more of a mid century modern and this house is a more traditional colonial, will it influence your style and how you decorate? Thanks. I love watching all your improvements!
YoungHouseLove says
I think we’ll definitely lean towards more classic influences but always love pops of color and a casual vibe, so it won’t get stuffy or anything. Should be fun to see where we end up!
xo
s
Danielle P says
Is the sprayer something you will use when painting walls–or is it too uncontrolled of a spray? I didn’t know if little paint specks would fall to the floor while spraying?
YoungHouseLove says
I think rolling walls will still be the way to go, but for doors/cabinets/furniture/trim/wainscoting it’s perfect.
xo
s
rebeccasdelightfulhome says
Well my hubby is going to get an earfull when he gets home! I have painted, and painted, and shall I say PAINTED so many doors AND trim – redid or first home, one flip, working on another flip now, as well as redoing our current home! I mean all new doors, windows, trim in 4 houses! And I could have been using a $180 paint sprayer with fabulous results! Ok, I’m done now… thank you for this information! ;)
Dianne says
Wow, what a big difference!! I just bought a new house and also have a lot of painting to do. I’m using Benjamin Moore Simply White, too, and I LOVE it. I was actually a little afraid of not being able to decide on which white to pick (there are sooo many!!), but as soon as I saw Simply White, I knew it was perfect, for all the reasons you said. Good luck with the rest of the trim and doors!
christina @ homemade ocean says
Whooooo Weee what a world of difference!
I have been eyeing Ms. Bowers paint sprayer for way too long…but I just don’t have the “need” per say for one.
I am so so so excited about this new house of yours!
Kim says
Did the ultra spec already have primer in it or did yall spray primer on first? I am sloooowly going through and painting all of the baseboards in my house and been using Behr premium paint with primer in it in low traffic areas but wondering if I should do real primer under the Behr paint in some of the more high traffic areas for ultimate durability. In your first and second houses, I don’t think yall used primer on the baseboards – did the paint hold up ok over the years or did you find yourselves going back and doing periodic touch ups?
YoungHouseLove says
We did primer first (see the can in the pic with the blue sprayer? that’s what we used). As for how the paint held up, it was ok without primer, we just knew using it would help us get faster coverage and we also hoped it would hold up for decades instead of years, ya know?
xo
s
Ana Silva says
You just gave me the inspiration and motivation to buy myself a spray gun. I’m excited!
Reenie says
WOW!! What a diff :)
Ashley E says
Any tips for painting trim and doors that are currently painted with an oil-based paint? We would love to repaint ours a crisp white, but I’m not an expert painter and the thought of doing that much work with oil-based paint keep me from tackling it.
YoungHouseLove says
I would use oil-based primer followed by latex paint. As long as you use oil primer it’ll be a good base for latex paint, so that’s how pro painters make the switch to latex.
xo
s
Ashley E says
Thanks!
Tinkster says
I would so not be putting all the old hardware back on, those crisp white doors need some respect- give them new jewellry!
:)
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, the old brass hardware is rusted and pitted so we’re excited to get new hardware for them (we mentioned that in Listy McListerson) :)
xo
s
Sara T says
I saw a product used once on a DIY show that might be helpful with the window trim (time issue). I dont know the name, but It’s basically a plastic that you “paint” on the glass. Once it dries you could spray the window and then just scrape/peel the plastic film off the glass when done. I think it’s primary application is for exterior painting but it might help you all out. Good luck!
YoungHouseLove says
Someone else mentioned that! It sounds awesome!
xo
s
Diane says
ABR Liquid Shield:
http://www.abrp.com/pdf-files/LIQUID-SHIELD-SPEC.pdf
Jess says
That white looks fantastic! As someone who’s been painting baseboard trim by hand with a bloody 2″ brush around existing carpeting I am SO jealous of you swooshing away with that nifty sprayer. I have been meaning to get one to do all of our interior and exterior doors…will definitely check yours out.
Lately we’ve been getting around to finally hanging all the spiffy new lights I’ve scored over the past year on Craigslist/Amazon/sheer luck and force of will discount bin. Now we finally have a lovely chandelier over our dining room table instead of a 52″ ceiling fan. Next up – whole house fan!!
Helen says
Do you also plan to ORB all the hardware on the doors, as well as the rest of the house hardware?
YoungHouseLove says
You can scroll back in the comments for that info :)
xo
s
Wendy says
That change alone is making a huge difference! Looking good!! Can’t wait to see the progress of this new house. You go guys!!! :)
Sille says
Looking good!
I have a question though, why didn’t you tape off the glass before you painted the windows? Won’t scraping the paint take more time than applying tape?
YoungHouseLove says
We just want a nice perfect finish, so we worried if we taped all of those panes a sliver of blue or pink could creep through, so painting on the window and scraping will ensure that doesn’t happen (and it saves tape!).
xo
s
Cara D says
It looks soooooo much better! I just painted my master bedroom white along with the trim and the tray ceiling and doors navy. I love it! Luckily I had read a blog about painting doors and what happens if they are painted with oil based paint. My trim and french doors were latex paint but the regular doors were painted with oil based so I had to primer them with oil based primer first (yuck)! Now I want all my doors colored instead of white!
Blair R says
Wow! Such a difference! It’s like a face lift for your house! I can’t believe what a difference white trim makes. I actually like the light fixtures hanging in the hall way now. They would look great in your favorite ORB. ;)
Tracie says
For the windows downstairs, you might try out that window film product Nicole Curtis from Rehab Addict (HGTV) uses. She paints it onto the glass, uses a sprayer on the trim, and then peels it right back off – the glass stays clean. It seems like it might be easier than cutting in on those teensy mullions or taping off the glass perfectly. Sorry, I don’t know the name of it but you could email the show if you wanted it.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks so much for the tip Tracie!
xo
s
Derek says
I think you just sold me on a paint sprayer. I did all the doors (9 total when all was said and done, 5 at the link below) with a brush, and it was obnoxious.
http://wolvenhouseproject.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-doors.html
I also love your photo of all the brass handles – I replaced ours as well, and gave all the brass to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore.
http://wolvenhouseproject.blogspot.com/2013/01/when-nickel-is-more-precious-than-gold.html
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, I have a giant donate pile right now. I feel like Santa. Haha!
xo
s
Erin says
Love it!! We are debating painting all our honey oak trim. Any advice on what technique to use since there are carpeted areas? Paint sprayer or by hand??
YoungHouseLove says
I’m not sure. Has anyone tackled trim with carpet? Did you tape it off and spray or do it by hand?
xo
s
Jess says
Erin, I did it by hand, using packing tape stuffed under the baseboard to cover the carpet so I could get all the way down there. It was a pain in the butt. If you like the paint on your walls you will have to not only drop cloth the entire carpet, but at least the bottom half of your walls as well.
The other problem with using a sprayer with carpet is you really have to push the carpet down as you go to make sure you get paint all the way to the bottom of the trim, that’s not that hard as your going along with a brush. With a sprayer you’d have to figure out some way to keep the carpet pushed down – like using something stiff and very thin to wedge between the bottom of the trim and the carpet.
Emily R says
My parents always used a really large straight edge. I think it was intended for wallpapering. It pushes the carpet out of the way easily, and I think you could use it with a srpayer if you masked off the rest of the carpet.
Becky says
The white is definitely much nice than the country blue! Nicely done!
I’m recovering from a remodel that I hired out – I do not do power tools or dry wall or anything close to that – complete with new carpet (it’s cold in MN in the winter don’t ya know) so of course my house was in chaos. So glad its done and looks beautiful.
Christi says
Love the paint and now I want to spray paint everything!
All I could think of is how much time went in to painting all of the trim and doors blue?
Seriously, who goes to the paint section and thinks… Blue would be awesome for our trim and doors?
:)
Barbara says
How I envy that you have no floor to worry about when you spray. I have to paint the living rooms, and not only will I have to cover the hardwoods, but I have three dogs! I guess an afternoon out in the yard won’t kill them!
Ashley says
It look so much brighter with the blue trim gone!
Is there a reason you’re re-hanging the doors before installing the hardwood? It seems like it’d be easier to install hardwood without having to work around them. Just a thought! Good luck!
YoungHouseLove says
We have all of the doors resting on the floor in all of the rooms that we have to lay flooring, so getting them hung is easier than trying to carry them around upstairs since we have to lay flooring :)
xo
s
mribaro says
I’m wondering if frogtaping paper onto the glass squares of the windows and then spraying would take less or more time than painting 4 coats by hand and then scraping off the paint from the glass…
YoungHouseLove says
We just worried the tape would overlap the window a smidge and we’d peel it off and have slices of blue or mauve staring at us, so we thought painting over the trim and then scraping would be a nice way to get a clean all-white look without anything peeking out around the edges :)
xo
s
Katy says
What is your plan for laying the floors? Since you didn’t pull up the base trim, will you run quarter round along all the trim once the hardwood is down?
YoungHouseLove says
We realized this morning we have to pop up the baseboards so they’re not dorky short, so we’ll share all the details as we go!
xo
s
Lindsey says
We’re really pinching our pennies, and now looking at how fast your paint sprayer is working for ya, I’m trying so hard to resist the temptation to buy one…we’ll be doing all the trim and walls in our house as well…do you think it would be worth it?
YoungHouseLove says
I really think it’s much faster and the finish is awesome! I wouldn’t use it for walls though, just for trim, doors, furniture, cabinets, and wainscoting (I’d still roll large surfaces like walls and ceilings). Hope it helps!
xo
s
Shannon says
Can’t wait to read a more in depth post about using the paint sprayer! We are in the midst of painting over all of the bright orangey stained trim in our house and seeing this post has convinced me to purchase a sprayer!
Carley says
Love the difference it has already made!
When you move downstairs, you should video the spraying, speed it up and set it to crazy music with some silly dancing in the mix! ;)
YoungHouseLove says
Haha! That sounds like our idea of a good time.
xo
s
Dave says
I would repaint as many ceilings as possible before doing the floors. Walls I agree are easy to handle after the floors are finished.
YoungHouseLove says
Sadly we’re out of time! With our moving day in 1.5 weeks, we just can’t stand the thought of moving into the house without the floors done, so we’d rather do ceilings later than move in with half of the house unfloored :)
xo
s
JMK says
I’d have to agree Dave. Since the flooring is prefinished there’ll be no sanding or waiting for finishes to dry. Edging and then rolling ceilings over brand new floors seems like a risky plan. I’d do all the ceilings first, then start with the floors in the masterbedroom and Clara’s room so those are ready for furniture if time runs out. If necessary the guest room stuff can be stored in the “nursery” which sounds like it will be sitting empty for now. Then if necessary, after you move in lay the guest room floor, then move everything in there and lastly do the floor in the empty room.
I know time is a consideration, but choosing to paint above new floors sounds like a plan of last resort. Lots of tarps to cover the floors and baseboards from drips, spills and ladder feet. Hope it all works out and I’ve worried in vain!
YoungHouseLove says
We’ll just have to see how it goes I think! Haha! Thankfully we’ve painted two houses worth of ceilings while the flooring was in so I think we’ll hopefully be ok :)
xo
s
Steph Nelson says
That blue trim looks like it was in really good condition. Maybe it was sprayed on as well?
It is amazing how much that white paint opens up and makes the windows look so much bigger!! The rooms themselves look bigger too now. I envision some sort of silver gray on those hallway walls…:)
YoungHouseLove says
I wondered that about the trim too! It definitely doesn’t have drips and looks original (like they sprayed it 32 years ago and just left it as-is since then).
xo
s
Megan says
It’s amazing what a difference a little (or a ton, in your case!) paint can make. I am taking advantage of the long Memorial day weekend to repaint our great room/kitchen. Painting seems to be the catalyst in our home though. Once that’s done I can build gallery shelves, put up cat shelves, rearrange the artwork, move the furniture around (and finally get rid of some of the “stand-in” pieces), as well as a hundred other little things. Being in the middle of things has been fun but I’m eager for some actual results!
Andrea says
You guys, you are making so much progress already! Hard work pays off and it’s looking great! Can’t wait to see all your future progress in this house!
The paint on the windows — I painted a mirror frame and got some paint on the mirror itself which I started scraping off. Until I remembered reading something about rubbing alcohol and paint. I sprayed some on and the paint wiped RIGHT off. It was magical! I felt silly for scraping at it as long as I did, but I am quite happy to have that trick in my back pocket now! Maybe you can use it too!
YoungHouseLove says
That’s awesome!
xo
s
Linda says
And, I found when push came to shove, the old fashioned nail polish remover can even work for a drip or drab on a mirror. The guy at Ace told me that!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the tip Linda!
xo
s
nick says
Good call on the Graco. Handyman (the mag) did a recent write-up on sprayers, and they gave good reviews on the Graco.
Did you notice any difference in spray-coverage between primer and paint? I wondered if John had to adjust his technique between the two to avoid drips or if it all covered more or less the same.
YoungHouseLove says
Wahooo! That’s awesome about the good reviews! As for a spray-coverage, it seemed the same. Only difference we noticed was that the primer was cooler in tone (blue-white) and the paint was white-white.
xo
s