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?
Lindsay says
You’ve probably already answered this, but do you think it would be feasibLe to UsE This WitH Already Painted Walls/Floors Down/HardwarE You Are Attached To/Etc? Seems Messy To use In Anything Less Than The Blank Canvas You Are Working With? Ideas?
(Sorry FoR The Crazy Capitalization, My Phone isn’t Behaving AtThe Moment!)
YoungHouseLove says
I think you’d have to tape off and protect everything so it would be a lot more prep but we’ve seen it done :)
xo,
s
Mel says
So I was digging through the projects/archives a bit and I came across something interesting. It looks like your first house had a dining room turned 3rd bedroom that also started with blue trim.=O You guys can’t escape blue trim! Is this a weird Richmond fad from back in the day?
https://www.younghouselove.com/2009/06/chalk-it-up/
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yeah it’s a tradition!
xo,
s
Barb says
We did a total remodel in 2010-2011 of the entire house and had all of the 3 panel doors sprayed professionally. Downstairs the trim was painted by hand and upstairs the trim was sprayed. The sprayed trim has held up way better than the hand painted. It just coats better!!
There is a product you can brush onto the panes of glass before you paint the windows that protects the glass from getting any paint on it. Then when the paint is dry, you just peel off the material you brushed onto the windows. I don’t know the name of it but I saw HGTV’s Rehab Addict use it multiple times on multiple projects. Seemed a lot easier than scrapping paint off the glass…..done that….UGH!!!!
YoungHouseLove says
So interesting about sprayed holding up better than hand painted! Who knew? And thanks for the window-product tip :)
xo
s
M. Dixon says
5 years ago we bought a 1950’s split level in N. VA. It was the the style house we were looking for and in a great family friendly neighborhood. The previous owner was a carpenter and added custom molding throughout the house but it also was painted that same Williamsburg blue! The house also had 30 years of cigarette smoke so before painting we had to wash all the walls and ceilings with a vinegar, water and baking soda mixture. Our house is a work in progress since we had a 2 year old and I was newly pregnant when we moved in. Your blog has been such an inspiration not just for design ideas but for reminding me to tackle things one at a time. Thank you and good luck with the new house!
YoungHouseLove says
That’s awesome! Sounds like so much work!
xo
s
Ashley D says
How did you find the BM paint compared to Natura? We have always used Natura but it is PRICEY. Would love to find one that works just as well for less! The Natura seems to cover really, really well, even over our former hot pink (really) master bedroom.
C’mon over and paint our blue, gray, pink and wood trim if you want some practice with that paint sprayer. :)
YoungHouseLove says
Natura is definitely still the best (its around double the price, so the better coverage makes sense) but we thought the Ultra Spec was still great (maybe a bit thinner but once you got two coats it looked great – and for the price (around what big box stores charge for their paint) we thought it felt slightly better quality since it still carries the BM name :)
xo
s
Christine says
That sprayer looks quite handy and fast. Did you have to thin the paint to prevent splatters. And also did you have to follow with a paint brush to “lay down” the paint?
I bought a Wagner HPLV for painting my kids furniture and I found that I had to thin the paint quite a bit for it work properly.
YoungHouseLove says
It depends on your sprayer whether you have to thin things out. Ours doesn’t say to so we didn’t and we loved how it worked (no brushing afterwards, it just sprayed out and dried like you see in these pics). We were very happy with it!
xo
s
Jill says
Do you think you would use the sprayer if the floors were already installed? We are just buying a house and I would love to paint all the trim.
YoungHouseLove says
I think if you taped everything off (to protect the floors) it would be great! Katie over at bowerpowerblog.com has done that and it was awesome.
xo
s
Marti says
I think I remember reading you guys used off the shelf white in your first house. Why the change to actual colors of white?
YoungHouseLove says
We just realized that bringing home swatches and holding them all up (both off the shelf swatches and custom colors) made the most sense since some colors look white in one house and yellow or blue-ish in the next (lighting and the direction the house faces really change the way paint reads). Hope it helps!
xo
s
Sarah says
I’m curious why you went with an airless paint sprayer over one that runs off a compressor. (I remember you bought a compressor that ran your nail gun for your board and batten hallway, no?) Just looking at compressor/nail gun kits for father’s day and I would also use the compressor to spray paint, but I know nothing of the airless ones…
YoungHouseLove says
We looked at them and they weren’t substantially cheaper (some were more expensive just for the gun and then we’d have to hook up and use our compressor, which is a lot bulkier than just plugging in and going) and many of them called for thinning out the paint or adding an additive (we liked that our gun was cheaper than the compressor ones and could use paint straight from the can). Hope it helps!
xo
s
Jen L says
Wow, you guys have like 600-million comments on this post, so if you don’t get around to answering my question, I am totally cool with that! ;0
I love what you’re doing to your trim because that is what I’ve been jonesing to do with our wood trim, doors, etc…
My question to you is: do you think I can forgo sanding the wood down, or will priming then painting over the (oak??) wood will do the job? I dread the idea of sanding. Thanks a million, youse guyz are Da Bomb of DIY! :)
Jen
YoungHouseLove says
If it’s glossy you probably have to sand and then use a liquid deglosser and then prime/paint if you want the best results. If it’s matte you probably don’t have to sand and can just go to priming :)
xo
s
Johanna says
Hi guys,
I am super excited about your new house! Yea! My husband and I are working on our house and it needs a serious paint job. Would that paint sprayer work on interior walls? Would it be more efficient than a roller? Also, what paint did you use on the trim, oil or water based?
YoungHouseLove says
I’d still definitely roll walls, so I think the sprayer is best for trim, doors, cabinets, furniture, etc. Like how you wouldn’t spray paint walls but you might spray paint cabinets/doors/furniture/etc.
xo
s
Jessi says
I am so looking forward to seeing this house progress as I started following you about 3/4 of the way through house #2. I think it’s perfect timing as I closed on my first house yesterday and know you’ll be a huge inspiration for us.
Should all the rooms in a house have the same trim, or can the rooms be slightly more individualized?
YoungHouseLove says
I definitely think they can be individualized!
xo,
s
Ashley says
I can’t read thru allll the comments to see if this has already been answered, so would love a response from anyone who knows. Do you not need to use oil based paint for doors and trim? We used oil based on our current trim but will be replacing it next week, and hope to be replacing all of our doors in the next 6 mos. Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
As long as they’re not oil-based already (if they are, just use oil-based primer and latex paint) you can just use water-based primer and latex paint. Hope it helps.
xo
s
Emily G says
LOVE your new home! It is pretty similar to the home we just purchased and I cannot wait to see how you update yours!! I have a QUESTION… Our home still has the original oak, stain grade crown moulding and custom 4 1/2 inch trim throughout. I’m very torn between painting it all white or keeping it original. It’s not the priciest but not the cheapest in the books. I’ve found similar looks pricing at $32-40 per 8 ft. I have oak (honey color) floors in most of the home and right now my kitchen looks like a wood jungle with red countertops! I cannot live this way forever! Now for the question… Is your trim stain grade wood or particle board? If it isn’t but was, would you still paint it white?
YoungHouseLove says
The trim is solid wood (painted in many places, so it’s not stain ready). We just think if you like the wood look, leave it wood – and if you like the painted look, paint that stuff!
xo
s
SJ says
Hey guys- I just came back to this post in hopes of getting tips for using a spray gun. We are getting ready (next week) to spray our entire basement and my husband is freaking out about it. I told him “Young House Love did it!” He’s counting on me to find a good tutorial so we don’t screw this up and I noticed you wrote “Once we feel a bit more seasoned with the sprayer we’ll do a deeper post about using it”. Any chance you’re ready to write that post asap? Pretty please! :)
YoungHouseLove says
So sorry SJ, we have only used it that one time, so until we do another project with it, we won’t know any more than we did when we wrote this post. Maybe check out bowerpowerblog.com since they have a sprayer they’ve used for a bunch of projects, so they’re a lot more seasoned when it comes to breaking it out! Good luck!
xo
s
Angie says
What specific primer did you use on your baseboards and why?
YoungHouseLove says
Zinsser Smart Prime. It’s low VOC and the best we’ve tried (and we’ve tried a lot!).
xo
s
Berit Ashby says
So I’m 13 and I’m dying to get painting the incredibly dark wood in my bedroom. Would you recommend this technique for me. Oh, and I will also be changing the flooring anyways.
YoungHouseLove says
Yes, I think it would work for you Berit! Good luck!
xo
s
Kalene says
We are getting hardwood floors installed soon in the entire downstairs. We currently have oak trim. My contractor suggested I sand, prime & then paint using an oil base paint . Could you tell me why you didn’t use the oil base? Maybe it’s bc if the VOC’s? Could you use the oil base in a sprayer? The the contractor also said he would remove the trim for me on the floor so it would be faster to paint. I have a feeling I have a HUGE job ahead of me.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, you can use an oil based paint (it goes on thicker for better coverage but it’s high VOC so since we have a kid in our house we went low-VOC. You can remove the trim and roll it or spray it, you just have to factor in the time you spend taking it off and putting it back on (sometimes it’s much faster, sometimes it’s complicated and doesn’t save you much time). Good luck!
xo
s
October says
Wow! It’s amazing how much difference just painting the trim makes. Your new house is coming along so beautifully!
I’ve been searching your blog to find out what type and color of paint we want to use on our trim. Did you consider using the BM Advance Paint on your trim? We currently have oil based paint on our doors and trim and we love the durability (two boys and tricycles) but it has a yellow/brown tint that has to go. Thanks for your insight :)
YoungHouseLove says
We love using that on furniture and cabinets since they get handled/used all the time (it’s pretty expensive in our book, so we’re happy to just use Ultra Spec on the trim).
xo
s
Jenna says
Hey guys! If you could do it all over again do you think you’d still choose the sprayer with the paint cup over one that attaches to the can of paint? I wasn’t sure how much of a pain it is to refill all the time. We’re finishing our basement so we have mucho trim and crown plus doors and misc. furniture projects along the way. Thoughts?
YoungHouseLove says
I think we’re happy with ours since it would be heavier and harder to use for longer projects (like spraying all the trim upstairs) if we had to hold up more paint (as it is it sometimes feels heavy after a while of using it). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Lizz says
Hi there. I’m a long time reader and first time commenter. I love, love, love your site and ideas. I’ve checked out your book from the library at least three times. I think it’s about time I bought it! :)
Now for my question…would you attempt to spray trim near walls you don’t want to paint? That is, would you trust taping and covering with paper the floors and walls near the trim? We’re getting ready to kill the 80’s orange oak and to say it feels like a daunting task is an understatement. Hope you can answer. Thanks and keep up the amazing work!
YoungHouseLove says
I think you could do that, but all that taping might take as long as painting by hand, so it might be a toss up! Hope it helps!
xo
s
Natalie Seum says
Greetings,
Wow! So beautiful! We are in the process of painting our trim but haven’t done the windows yet because I assumed we needed to remove them in order to avoid painting them closed. How did you avoid that? Mant thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
I would paint them in an order that allowed them to be open to get the sill and edges and then after I painted them and they dried I would close them and get the other parts that overlapped. Hard to explain, but go slow and try to do each part with drying time between if necessary.
xo,
s
Olivia says
Hey guys! I’m getting ready to paint more trim this weekend, the most daunting part is our huge bay window with all of the crossbars. The last few windows I did, I taped off, but that part took forever!! So now I am debating doing your technique by free handing and scraping off the paint that got on the windows. Would you still recommend that technique after doing yours? I’m thinking it will take less time than all of the intricate blue taping! Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
Yep! We’re big fans of the technique. It’s certainly a lesser-of-two-evils situation. But I was actually reading some professional painter message boards the other day and it seemed to be a popular method there too.
-John
bridget says
How is that primer? I need a primer for some fake paneling in my basement but I am scared of how horrible the fumes will be down there. Was it stinky? Did it cover just as well as zinzer stain blocker? I had horrible time with kilz low voc oil based primer and the gripper stuff peals.
YoungHouseLove says
It seems to work really well. We like it! It’s not too stinky when in use (pretty comparable to Zinsser) and completely odorless once it dries.
xo
s
bridget says
Thanks Sherry, you guys are the best! Love how the foyer turned out, can’t wait to see what you do with the stairs :-)
Caitlin says
Well on the bright side the trim is actually pretty nice (besides the color), looks like good quality and solid! Not builder grade moulding like some of our house, ugh, the worst…especially in your foyer, that is really nice trim work, once you painted it white it looks awesome! Having to add all that trim work would have been so expensive and time consuming.
Cara says
I know this is old, so I’m hoping you see it!! Have you tried the Aqua Lock primer on bare wood? We have a 1920s house with great,chunky old trim that was covered in 1000 coats of paint. We stripped it and are going to be painting it white. I’d prefer to use a greener primer if I can, but I’m curious how it covers and blocks stains. Thanks!!
YoungHouseLove says
I would use a stain-blocking primer on wood (like Kilz Stainblocking water-based primer) just to be sure not to get bleed-through. Hope it helps!
xo
s
Angela says
I just wanted to say THANKS for this post!! Not only did you give us the courage to tackle our gnarly yellowish/tan beat up 1963 trim but you also recommended an awesome product. We bought this sprayer on your recommendation and have knocked out 10 doors just this weekend!!!! It took a couple rounds to understand the best way to do it, but, man alive, what a lifesaver!!! Clean and crisp WHITE here we come!
YoungHouseLove says
Wahoo! So glad Angela!
xo
s
Claire says
I would LOVE if you do the “deeper post” now that you have gotten the hang of using your sprayer! I’m so intereted to hear if you like the paint sprayer you purchased and more detailed tips/tricks/pitfalls.
YoungHouseLove says
That would be fun! Might have to try to make a video and take lots of photos the next time we use it to help illustrate what we’ve learned! We’re still not experts, but it’s a lot less intimidating!
xo
s
Claire says
I would love to see a “deeper post” about the paint sprayer if you feel you are now more expert in using it. We are preparing to buy one and will need as much help as we can get :)
YoungHouseLove says
That would be fun! We’re certainly not experts, but we have more control over it for sure! We’ll have to add that to the list.
xo
s
Erin Stackhouse says
I have a question if you have time. I need to paint the doors in my house. My house was built in 1945 and they are the original medium brown orangish UGLY stain and they have a medium gloss finish. I read your blog about painting your kitchen cabinets at your last house. I know you said to SAND, SAND, SAND. Then I read this blog about spray painting your doors. I have a friend who has a nice sprayer they will loan me (yay!). Do I need to sand mine really well since they are stained? I’m just absolutely dreading the prospect of sanding. Love your blog! Please and thank you!
Erin
YoungHouseLove says
Hmm, if they’re stained I would still sand them a bit before painting (any glossiness, which comes from the sealer on top of stain can ruin your finish). Then you should spray prime and paint (don’t skip the priming step either, or it can all just flake right off). Good luck!
xo
s
Rebekah Johnson says
We just bought our first house and someone suggested that we spray our trim and doors too!
Would you recommend spraying if we already have hardwood floors that are in great condition? We would have to tape everything off…would that be worth it? We are planning on painting ceilings.
Thanks! Rebekah
YoungHouseLove says
In our experience, it went so much faster when we sprayed all the trim and doors upstairs, but we had just subfloor showing, so we didn’t have to tape anything off. We taped off our office and sprayed and it wasn’t much of a time saver after all the time spent taping and all the window scraping afterwards. Sort of a toss up I think!
xo
s
Ashleigh says
I’m a newish reader, so I apologize if this had been answered in another post I haven’t made it through yet, but now that it’s been on the walls for over a year, how’s the paint been holding up for you? Would you choose it again for trim or walls? I’ve recently bought a house and will start painting soon. The price looks fantastic on this, but would hate to waste money if it doesn’t hold up well in the long run.
Ashleigh says
Oops, on the trim, not walls. :)
YoungHouseLove says
It’s still holding up really well! We’ve been really happy with it!
xo
s
Tiffany says
I’m in the process of planning to paint our new home’s trim. It’s a 1983 beaut. It’s stained wood, so we will need to sand, primer, then paint… I believe. do you have any experience with stained wood trim? I’m also debating pulling it all and just replacing. Opinions?