Some people love it, some people hate it.

Personally, we think a paint job can make or break the entire project. Here are a couple of quick tips we’d love to share to help you start painting like a pro. And don’t forget to stir your paint thoroughly if it’s been sitting for a while!

Brush - Consistent brush finish texture

-Brush WITH the grain of the wood, and in the long direction of the material

-To cut in corners, use a high quality angled brush, press and bend the bristles so only the very tip is in the corner where you are cutting in. As you stroke along with the brush, it will slowly bring the paint onto the tips of the bristles and apply it to the corner.

-Use a handheld paint cup that has a magnet and use a liner - I love these because you can easily carry around a roller and brush while keeping both your brush and roller clean. Makes cleaning up easier with a liner!

-Use the roller to get a lot of paint on the material quickly and then use the brush to get the perfect wood grain-like brush strokes

Rolling - Medium finish

-Use the right roller nap. If you want a smoother finish then you’ll need a smaller nap or even a foam roller

-Make sure you roll out any overlapping lines

-Don’t go too fast or press too hard. Make sure you have enough paint on your roller, but not too much.

Spray Painting - Smoothest finish

-Prep work is everything! More often than not, the prep work for spraying takes way longer than the actual spraying, but if you don’t prep well, your entire paint job will look cheap.

-Ensure your paint is the right consistency

-Use steady, consistent motions

-Take into consideration where the light is coming from. If there are windows in the room then spray horizontally to minimize the number of stroke lines you’ll see when it’s all done.

-Consistent distance from the surface, Don’t fan out at the edges of your material

-Spray all corners and angles first. Spray flat surfaces last

-Patience! You need to go slow and steady. The turtle wins this race.

-Not spraying enough is better than spraying to much. Additional coats are better than having to sand and start over

-Don’t touch the surface if it’s started dripping. You need to wait till it’s dry, then sand it and start over!

-For smaller projects, we’d recommend a battery-powered sprayer. This is literally the best handheld sprayer we’ve ever had. Very easy to use, doesn’t spill, and super easy cleanup!

-For a budget-conscious sprayer, we’d suggest this one.

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Summary

And remember, practice makes perfect! No one actually expects you to get it perfect the first time. You’ll likely need a couple of coats anyways, which is perfect for practice. Good thing the final coat comes last!

Stay tuned for future blog posts that give you master tricks of how to get the perfect Stain finish! Ps. the secret is how you apply it!

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