I Interrupt This Parenting Blog to Tell You How Much Painting Sucks

With a few extra days off, my husband decided to paint my son's room. We're might possibly be the worst painters in the world. I mean, I've never painted anything. And my husband has painted walls he didn't really care about.

So give us a cheap roller, a 3-year-old who can actually paint but does so in the same spot over and over, and a lot of "green grasshopper" paint, you get a very long day.

LONG.

And I wasn't even painting.

I admit that it's pretty exciting to own your own home and have walls to paint cool colors like "green grasshopper." And I can understand why people paint.

But the process of painting is a bit tedious. Or at least, the process of watching someone paint is tedious.

So, I'm curious. Is there a better roller brand we should be using? Is there a specific technique that we should be using but are not? Clearly, we need help!

Comments

[jodifur]

we are hiring someone.

[ImpostorMom]

I hate, hate, HATE painting but I'm actually quite good at it. Probably because I've done what seems like a million rooms.

The best thing to do it cut in first, meaning go around the edges first. If you aren't experienced, you should tape first but try not to get anything on the tape because if you get too much on there it will pull the paint off the wall when you pull the tape off.

Then roll, and sadly the better the roller the better the turnout. That means you have to spend a little more money on the roller to get better coverage.

I'm a big believer in priming now too. I used to never prime until my tiny bedroom soaked up 5 freaking gallons of red paint. Now I always prime, usually with Kilz. Might want to find something else though with the littles in the house. Kilz smells pretty bad.

[denise]

Purdy rollers. Available at either Lowes or Home depot, three pack contractors special. The best. Well, according to my husband who has painted every room in our house. Um mm, three times. Hello my name is Denise and I am serial re decorator.

[Jill]

I second ImposterMom. Good quality brushes don't frizz or lose bristles. Good quality rollers make the job easy. Always do the trim first using a brush at a slight angle around all corners, edges and obstacles. Then make M and W shapes on top of each other with your roller. There are good paint tapes that don't stick at all, but they too cost extra.

Good luck!

[Erin]

Upshots is the best thing ever created for painting. It is paint that sprays directly up onto the ceiling to cover up all the times you accidentally rolled up there too.

[Bill]

I don't know about rollers (I've had good luck with cheap ones), but definitely get tools for doing the edges, corners, etc. And Kilz is stellar for covering everything.