Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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How To Paint Trim Without A Paint Sprayer

“I’m Blue Da Ba Dee Dabba Da-eeeeee” (anyone remember that song?). Picture us maniacally singing it while priming and painting trim for hours days. We’re slowly losing our minds, but we’re having fun doing it. Please feel free to click over and jam out so we feel less alone (and slightly less certifiable).

Ok, so when we last left our hero, er, our foyer, he was sporting some snazzy blue trim.

Wallpaper13

We had stripped down all the wallpaper, and had also removed two closet doors and the bathroom door so we could take them out to the garage and use our paint sprayer to apply a coat of primer and two coats of white semi gloss paint.

As for how we like our paint sprayer, it has definitely been a huge help in these two scenarios:

  • when we can remove something and lay it or lean it on a drop cloth and spray it (like doors, cabinetry, or crown molding before it’s installed)
  • when we don’t have a ton of other rooms/floors/areas to tape off (like when we had removed the carpeting upstairs and could quickly spray all of the trim and doors without worrying about getting it on any of the floors upstairs)

We’ll still definitely roll walls and ceilings (we think the sprayer is best for when we tackle trim, doors, cabinets, furniture, etc). Like how you wouldn’t spray paint walls but you might spray paint cabinets, doors, or furniture.

Foyer1

Here’s a video of it in action, just in case watching the motion of someone using it helps you picture things. John’s moving a little slow here, so for an even smoother finish we learned to go faster (it lessened the chance of drips).

The pros that we’ve found to this particular model (we had a Graco True Coat II – but we’ve since switched to this Wagner model) are:

  • great coverage (it goes on thicker and smoother than a brush or roller for a faster finished result)
  • you don’t have to water down the paint with anything (many sprayers require this, and it’s nice and easy not to have to worry about it)

And just to be balanced, here are the cons:

  • as with every paint sprayer, there’s overspray, so it’s not as controlled of an application as using a roller or brush since you get paint flying around outside the item you’re sprayer (check out the image above – all the paint on the plastic drop cloth behind the doors is overspray)
  • you have to learn how to control it so you don’t get drips – spray quickly and don’t hold the sprayer too close to the surface (this just seems to take some time to master, so it’s not as much a shortcoming of the sprayer as it is a skill that the operator has to hone)

So with the doors out in the garage being primed and painted with the sprayer, we dove into priming and painting the rest of the trim in the foyer by hand.

Foyer2

As for why we didn’t remove the trim and spray it in the garage like the doors, we were all for using it on the doors that way (which were easily removed and brought out to the garage) but removing and reinstalling all of the baseboard, chair rail, and crown in the foyer, as well as the trim around the seven doorways (!!) in there would have taken forever. We also considered taping things off and then spraying while standing in the foyer, but it leads into the kitchen, the dining room, the office, the portico, two closets, and the bathroom – so taping those all off to protect them from flying paint would have taken about a million years.

So we primed, and we primed, and we primed, and we primed (two coats on all of the blue baseboard, trim, chair rail, and crown). This is my tired of priming face.

Foyer3

If you have shiny wood trim or glossy painted trim, you’ll want to rough it up with sandpaper and wipe it down with liquid deglosser before moving on to the primer and paint step (be sure to use a stain-blocking primer if it’s raw wood). But since ours was chalky and matte painted wood, we didn’t need to sand or degloss it, and we could skip right to applying a primer followed by some semi-gloss paint.

It really depends what color you’re starting with when it comes to how many coats you’ll need of primer and paint, but in our case it was four coats (so after two coats of primer we could move onto two more coats of paint). We used Benjamin Moore’s Simply White in semi-gloss just like the trim and the doors upstairs. Here are some other designers’ best white paints you could use instead.

Foyer4

Finally after everything dried we could rehang the doors (with the new knobs that we ordered to match the ones upstairs).

Foyer17

We have yet to paint the back of the front door in the same teal color as the front of it (or ebonize the stair railing and paint those blue spindles white)…

Foyer19

… but it’s already a lot lighter and more open than it felt when we inherited it with blue trim and wallpaper aplenty.

Foyer Before1

Here’s a before picture from the other side.

Foyer Before

And a now shot with the white trim and doors. It’s also funny how much less blue the slate looks now that all the blue trim isn’t reflecting on it. It definitely still has some blue undertones, but it feels more neutralized now that we de-blued the trim.

Foyer9

So while the stairs are still quietly mocking us, we’re slowly inching towards a fresher looking foyer. We can’t wait to paint those yellowed walls.

Foyer6

And just in case you’re worried that we might be close to done painting blue trim, you’ll be comforted to know that it’s still hanging out in our office and our dining room – both of which not only have window trim and baseboards, but also have crown molding (along with blue chair rail and built-ins in the dining room). So there’s a fair chance you might be reading about us painting blue trim for the next decade or so. While we softly cry into our paint brushes.

Foyer8

But man oh man, does the glossy white result make us happy. The things we do for love.

Psst- In family news, here’s what we did for the Fourth of July and here’s how we spent our sixth anniversary.

Comments

  2. Tandra@LittleHousesBigDogs says

    Everything looks fabulous! How does the teal match up to the slate though? I was just thinking a front entry rug with some black in it? I know that’s not particularly your style but considering how light everything is, and the black door hardware and an ebonized staircase, a front entry rug with a little black in it might look good? Oooh darn! Now I have that song stuck in my head!

    Reply

  3. Stephanie says

    I’ve been following your blog since your first home and I have never commented but I have to say….when you purchased this house that trim made me gasp aloud. I’m pretty sure I said something nerdy like, ‘oh Sherry, you ambitious girl!’ Lol Well done guys, it’s looking great. Just an old fashioned Internet *high five* :-)

    Reply

  4. Sarah E. says

    Sometimes I almost want to by a house with dark/colored trim just to paint it bright white and feel the amazing transformation! I painted our baseboards and doors bright white from a dingy/dirty white color and even that made a difference… but nothing like this! I love it! :)

    Reply

  5. Sophie says

    Wow, it’s looking great! So much fresher already.
    In the ‘after pictures’ I’m just itching to ORB-ify that light fixture!

    Reply

  6. charlotte m. says

    It looks so much brighter and lighter. I can’t understand why anyone would want it any other way. I knew it was dark, but the after pics, even with the yellowed walls looks amazing!

    Reply

  9. Marcia Hooker says

    Are you going to switch out the brass hanging light in the foyer? That too will make a big difference …love your blog…????

    Reply

  10. Eilene says

    I think if your home could talk it would thank you for the makeover! It’s great for us to see how paint can really change the look and feel of a space. There’s hope!!!

    Reply

  11. Rachel says

    The full post isn’t showing up in my reader. Did you guys make a change or is it fall out from switching over to feedly from Google?

    Reply

  12. Julie @ Living on the Ledge says

    Ummm…thanks a lot for getting that catchy little number stuck in my head on Monday morning. On a friendlier note, it looks awesome, guys!!! I’m curious, when you saw the house for the first time, was it fully decorated? Were all the decorations blue, too? Did smurfs live there?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      This house was actually vacant for almost a year when it was put up for sale, so other than a small table or rug in a few places it was empty.

      xo
      s

  13. Heather says

    LOVE LOVE LOVE it. It’s such a great space and already looks a million times better.

    Don’t count the paint sprayer out for ceilings. We rolled most of the house, but we have a few rooms that were empty, and the walls hadn’t been painted yet, so we sprayed. Holy crap, it took no time at ALL and they look amazing!

    Reply

  15. Ashley S says

    I am loving this transformation. I am no longer afraid to buy a house with scary trim and wallpaper because it seems so quick (tedious but quick) to fix.

    Reply

  16. Kim says

    I’m excited to hear of the adventures of the paint sprayer. I’m debating purchasing one to re-do our cabinets in the kitchen. I’d obviously need to practice on some other projects first, but do you think it gives a finish that would hold up on cabinets? I have someone who will spray them for me, but he charges $30 per door (and we have just under 30 doors) and I’d love to learn to do it myself…plus getting to buy a sprayer would be super exciting…

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Oh yes, the pros use paint sprayers for cabinets and it’s amazing – so it would be perfect if you could get one and practice until it’s mastered.

      xo
      s

    • Kim says

      Ok, printing this out. Passing it to my hubby with the note “See, Sherry from YHL says I need to buy a sprayer. AND, practice on lots of things.” BAHAHAHAHA…Yay!!!

    • Heather says

      We have one that my husband used for our cabinets, and they turned out AH-MAZING! They’re so smooth and professional looking, and 4 months later they still look phenomenal (which doesn’t sound like much, but we were in a rush and didn’t let the paint cure all the way, so I’m really, really happy about that!

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Ahh, adding an update now. No idea why it’s doing that but we didnt change anything on our end. We think it’s a huge glitch and it might be the embedded Blue video. Boo!

      xo
      s

  18. Peggy says

    Y’all are making some major progress! I love white woodwork!
    Did y’all consider removing the chair rail? I had it all over my house, and took it all out. I feel like it really opened things up. Although yours is much nicer quality than mine was.
    It looks like you’re planning to keep the slate floors. Are you planning to replace the grout or just clean it? I heard recently about something that you can paint on old grout to change the color and it also makes it like epoxy grout that never has to be sealed.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We like the idea of working with the chair rail once it’s white and the walls are a nice color, so here’s hoping that can happen. As for the slate, it’s damaged in a few areas so we’re hoping to save it and clean it/repair it. Will keep you posted!

      xo
      s

  19. Bethany Cox says

    First of all THANK YOU for sharing that song since its pretty much perfect. that was hilarious. I cant wait to see it when you paint the walls too. It is already looking 100x better.

    Reply

  20. Katie Barber says

    Last fall I painted our foyer and it was a huge undertaking also! We have an older home and while it wasn’t blue trim, it was a lovely dusty rose/pink color. Not attractive. The
    walls were “white” but looked extremely dingy and not fresh. Similar to yours, we had crown molding, chair rail, and baseboards to deal with, as well as three doors and two other doorways. SO. MUCH. PINK. The trim took three coats to get it to a beautiful glossy white and the walls took two coats to become “pecan sandie” – a really pretty neutral tan. It was tons of work but totally worth it when you can walk in the door and be greeted by a beautiful foyer! Next to tackle? The seven pink doors and trim in the upstairs hallway :(

    Reply

  22. JAN says

    What is the world were the previous owners thinking painting all the trim blue! I know you will get it painted into shape though. Can’t wait to see the colors you choose for your house.

    Reply

  23. Brandyn says

    My mom is getting her house ready to sell and she is just dreading repainting the trim (it has yellowed considerably over time). She was wondering about the sprayer since yours doesn’t look like there’s much over spray and she’s already planning to repaint the walls. Her only concern is really the floors and furniture. From your explanation it sounds like there’s a bit more overspray than the pictures show – is that an accurate statement?

    Also the entry looks so much better! You’re making me wish for white woodwork.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I would remove all furniture from the room and tape off the floor completely. It’s like spray paint so it’s aerated (everything will get coated with a fine dust if you don’t clear out the room). Our friend Katie does rooms this way after taping off though and it works (in our case the foyer had 7 doorways leading into other rooms/floors that we had to protect so it seemed like way too much work to block all of those off).

      xo
      s

  26. Janine says

    I was watching the movie Weird Science last night, and I was super surprised to see that Wyatt’s house in the movie has blue trim and doors. The dining room also has a corner cabinet like your dining room does, also painted a very similar shade of blue. The house has a blue slate floor in the front hall just like yours.

    (Yanno, I’d really like to watch a movie once JUST FOR THE MOVIE instead of actually watching the interior design. Surely there’s therapy for this?)

    I as thinking that this blue trim/slate floor/wallpaper everywhere thing is a 1980s interpretation of a colonial “look”. Either way, I’m sure your interior design work is going to cause us all to redefine our terms. (Mwuuuhahahahaha my FAVOURITE line from that movie!)

    Reply

  27. Jess says

    Awe-some! We have a few more spots that the trim needs done, and I just haven’t built myself up to do it yet.

    Reply

  29. Karen says

    I’m both comforted and nauseated by this post. :-) While we don’t have blue trim in our home, we DO have orangey-fake n bake-tan oak trim everywhere. Blech. We’ve been trying to figure out an easy way to get rid of it…and this post makes me realize: there is no easy, there is only just doing it. So, I’m comforted to know we’re not missing the boat on some fab new process, and nauseated thinking about how much trim we need to paint. Do you have any tips on painting the baseboards? The baseboards and the window trim…those plague me. Not sure where to stop on the windows, and the baseboards seem problematic (or really, just time consuming) because we would need to tape it all off to protect our flooring. Thanks for nudging me into reality. Happy de-blueing!

    Reply

  31. Lil says

    I’m curious to know what’s next? Are you going to knock out those stairs (I noticed there is still blue trim against the wall) and paint the foyer so you have one room that’s “done”, or will you continue painting blue trim, since you’re having so much fun?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I think we want to paint the back of the door and the foyer walls – gotta build up some momentum to deal with more blue trim (both on the stairs and in other rooms).

      xo
      s

    • KathyG says

      I was surprised you didn’t start the blue trim eradication with your office? Or do you not spend much time there yet?

    • YoungHouseLove says

      John tends to use the office more (we only have a desk for one person) while I use the kitchen table or even the living room couch. I think every room has so much that has yet to be done that we’re a ways off from any of them feeling relaxing. Haha!

      xo
      s

  32. susanne says

    Off topic….thanks for doing the legwork for us and our beautiful old fir floors. Despite refinishing them when we moved in 3 years ago, high traffic and a labrador have taken a toll….They have been looking a bit dull, despite Bona. Tried Rejuvenate, and we are thrilled! They look great…thanks!

    Reply

  33. Shannon says

    What a difference! I can’t wait to get all our trim painted. While it’s not blue, the diningroom and kitchen have lots of the orangey colored beaded board and trim, and the rest of the house that actually has trim is all different shades of wood stain lol. So far all I’ve done is primed the trim in the master bedroom and bathroom. :\ So I feel ya on how long it’s going to take!

    Reply

  34. Ethne @ Wom-Mom says

    So much better! Practically jumping up and down to see what color you pick for the walls! I still might get you a wee blue goose to memorialize the ’80’s blue trim. Ha.

    Reply

  35. Nicole says

    What a difference and a sense of accomplishment! Is the light in the foyer going to get the ORB treatment or you have something new in mind?

    Reply

  36. Olivia says

    Oh my goodness, hallway areas with multiple doorways take sooooooooo long to re-paint, and yet someone can easily walk through without realizing how much effort went into it. It’s looking so much better now – congrats on surviving your first de-blueing episode!

    Reply

  37. Chelsea says

    Wow, I’ve heard that song a million times and never seen the video until now. I don’t think I’ve been missing a whole lot! LOL The hallway looks so much airier now. Even the blue door looks like it belongs in there now without “everything he sees is blue”. Are you planning on keeping it blue on the interior or painting it another color (sorry if you mentioned that in the post and I just missed it)?

    Reply

  38. Terran says

    I may have missed this in another post but how do you take care of your paint brushes? Like cleaning, re-using etc. We are in the middle of painting and brushes can get expensive!

    PS – loving all the white trim it really gives the house an updated and fresh look!

    Reply

    • Elizabeth says

      If you’re mid-project and have to stop you can wrap the brushes (and rollers) in tinfoil and put them in the fridge until you pick it back up. I know this works for latex paint, but not sure about oil-based.

  39. Lisa says

    Looks great! Even the ‘yellowed’ walls look good ha. Maybe a pale yellow paint? Seems to nicely offset the slate floor, adding more warmth and cutting the blue tones nicely. Any idea what wall color you’re going to go with?

    Reply

  40. Michele from IL says

    I have pickled/whitewashed trim/doors/cabinets throughout my entire house. I’ve started painting it bit by bit but it’s BORING! Now with your inspirational pics (at least I don’t have to cover BLUE!) and that catchy song (which I will forever now associate with painting trim) I’m re-energized to get busy on it again and get it all painted white! I love your transformations….they keep me motivated to keep going in my remodeling efforts! :)

    Reply

  41. Peggy Lund says

    Wow, this house really is perfect for the before-and-afters. Looks great already. And about the song…yes I remember it! It came strong and died quickly as I remember. ha ha

    Reply

  42. Shellie says

    I have a question- how do you decide something needs 2 coats of primer? If primer isn’t supposed to give full coverage, its just to make paint grab- what makes you decide to do a second coat?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      It’s often a call of “do I want to use more paint or more primer, since more primer can add up to better paint coverage and save you a coat of that on the back end. For us, primer is cheaper than paint, so we did 2 and 2 instead of 1 and 3.

      xo
      s

  43. Jennie says

    I was looking through old pictures the other day and noticed the house I grew up in had almost the same color trim. I totally forgot about it until I saw the pictures…must have been the cool color to have back in the day. I’m debating painting our off-white trim bright white so loving all these tips!

    Reply

  45. meghan says

    So is it actually possible to re-grout tile? I didn’t know you could do that. Our tile in our kitchen needs some major help. I actually like the slate a lot, but can see how the grout needs a good brightening. It’s amazing what a difference that white trim makes! Love this house. Can’t wait to see more progress.

    Reply

    • meghan says

      oh, and wanted to add that as soon as i saw the fixture in the foyer, i thought “that would look amazing sprayed in ORB!” funny, i hadn’t really noticed it before.

    • Jen W says

      We regrouted tile in our bathroom, both on the countertops and the floor. It’s definitely possible, and worth the work. Our countertop was grungy white grout (poor choice, huh!?!) that needed refreshing. We used a dremel and the grout attachment to make the grout spaces deeper to hold the new grout, and then went at it with the plain old regular grout. The floor’s grout was not really flush with the level of the tiles, so sweeping and mopping just left everything behind in the cracks. We filled these grout spaces with epoxy grout, carefully following the manufacturer’s suggestions. I think, given the chance (hopefully never) to do the counters again, I’d do epoxy there, too. It’s supposed to last basically forever, so for 2-3x the price initially, it is basically maintenance free… such an improvement over the nasty white grout left behind!

  47. Beth G says

    Holy cow! That looks a million times better! I’m most impresses with how much more gray the tile reads now without all the blue surrounding it – does that affect your plans to replace it, now that its been neutralized (to an extent)?

    Reply

  48. Krystal C. says

    I’m surprised no one has let you in on this secret yet… For colors like blue that are hard to cover with primer, use a grey tinted
    primer (no more than 2oz. of color in the primer or you will compromise the formula). This will make your life SO much easier! And white goes over it like a dream. I hope this helps and saves you from painter’s elbow! Looking good so far!

    Reply

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