Painting Like a Pro

1. Remove all items possible out of the room so you do not have to start and stop painting. If you are unable to move the items out of the room move them to the middle of the room.
2. Cover all flooring and furnishing left in the room. You can cover flooring with red rosin paper, cover items left in the room with plastic or canvas drop cloths.
3. Start by looking at the project area. Look at the walls for areas that need repair work. Areas that have peeling paint, holes, or wall damage. Make all these repairs first making sure to let the repaired areas dry before priming per instructions on the repair product applied.
4. Remove all electrical outlet covers switch plates and door knobs. This will make it a lot faster with out having to mask these. This is also a good time to replace the electrical outlet cover and switch covers. Be careful not to let children in the room with these covers removed. Also do not lock you self in the room because the door handle have been removed (no, I have not had this happen to me.)
5. All repaired areas will need to be primed. If you are changing colors you may need to prime the entire area. Remember that the primer can be tinted toward your top coat color. Just ask us when you are buying your primer. Make sure to let the primer area dry per the instructions on the can do not rush it.
6. Finally the top coat of final color coat. Make sure to have all supplies you need before you start. Have brushes and roller or paint pads for each color this will save you washing applicator during the job. I always start at the top and do all the cut in parts first, the corners, window and door jams and then the walls.
7. Never completely use all the paint in the can. When you used about 1/2 the can of paint add paint from the next can and stir together this will prevent and minor color variations, this is called boxing the paint.
8. I always paint a sample of the paint on a clean paint stir stick and label it as to where this color goes and what sheen it was. This way in the future if I need more of the same color I have a sample and the details.
9. A new program we have here at Mountain Hardware is to be able to put some of your paint in a spray can. We put your exact color in the can so this is what you can use as touch up. It can be water based or oil depending on you paint. If it is water based you can spray this touch up paint inside the house with no odors. This is great for the kids rooms, hallways and doors that always need touch up.

Questions about painting.

How to pick the correct color.

1. If you are looking at bright color (lots for color) chose a lighter shade than the one you picked. Because when you coat all the walls the room will close in. The lighter color will still give you the same feeling but also keep the room from closing in on you.

2. How to match the current color you have on you walls. Just bring in a sample of the color on you wall. It must be 50 piece in size clean and smooth with this we can color match with a computer to match your color. Another idea is to bring in you old can of paint no matter how bas it look we should be able to get a color sample from it. Also we may have you color saved in our color computer if you have bought the paint from us before.

3. If you have a color sample from another paint company or from a magazine, piece of cloth, pillow or what ever we may be able to color match you color for you. If you like we will save the color in our computer with the job description so we can recreate the color for you anytime.