5 Tips to Help With Touch-Up Painting

Posted on July 27, 2012August 6, 2019

I received a question in my email the other day regarding touching up some paint on a wall. The question was a good one and I thought I’d spell out a few simple tips here that will help make your next touch-up job go a little easier.

1. MAKE SURE IT’S THE RIGHT COLOR

It happens often: you paint the walls a certain color and then pick up another gallon of paint in a slightly darker color. It looks great. Until 2 years later when you grab that darker color by accident and use it to touch up spots on your lighter walls. Suddenly a quick touch-up project becomes a repaint. If you’ve worked with multiple shades of similar colors, never assume that the gallon you grabbed is the right color. Always test a sample in an inconspicuous spot before proceeding!

2. EVEN IF YOU’RE “SURE” IT’S THE RIGHT COLOR, CHECK IT

What I mean is this: even if you never used multiple shades as described above and you’re absolutely, 100% positive that you are holding the can of the paint you originally used on your walls, you should still check that color. Yes, it was originally the right color, but things have changed. The paint on your walls typically darkens and deepens over time. And even in the most immaculate households, it can sometimes get a little dirty. What that all adds up to is that the paint on your walls may no longer match the paint in that original can. So don’t do what so many folks do and touch up 27 silver-dollar-sized spots on your wall only to find out the next morning that every single one of them is lighter than the wall paint. Instead, sample a small area first, allowing the paint to dry down adequately, before you begin touching up.

3. IF THE PAINT’S TOO LIGHT, FIND A SWITCH PLATE

This tip is pretty self-explanatory but sometimes folks don’t realize just how many options are truly open to them. If you check your color before touching up and discover that it’s too light–don’t panic. All you need to do is look for something in your room that has your wall color on it. This can be a switchplate, a piece of trim, a picture frame or anything along these lines. If you can’t find anything like that, another option is to simply cut a small, shallow hole in your drywall and remove a quarter-sized sample. Take this sample and bring it to RepcoLite and we’ll custom match a color for you so you can accomplish your project.

4. PAINT CORNER TO CORNER IF POSSIBLE

OK, once you have your color figured out, it’s time to actually do the work. And the ideal way to do any touch up is to look for an obvious breaking point in a room and paint a larger section. What I mean is this: ideally, don’t touch up 25 quarter-sized spots on your walls. Rather, paint that one wall corner to corner with your new color. Or paint from your built in cabinet to the doorway. Basically, look for a breaking point and paint a larger section. This will help your new paint blend in visually much better and makes the whole process of touching up much easier.

5. APPLY SMALL AMOUNTS OF PAINT USING THE ORIGINAL APPLICATION TOOL!

Sometimes, you just don’t want to paint corner to corner. Sometimes you simply want to do the little touch-ups. When that’s the case, here’s the best way to tackle it: First, make sure you use the application tool you used to originally applied the paint. If you brushed the paint onto the surface originally, then use a brush to do your touch-ups. If you rolled the paint onto your walls, then use a small roller of similar nap to do your touch-ups. And, when you’re doing these, use small amounts of paint and put some care and effort into feathering them out.

Touching up our walls doesn’t need to be complicated. But it does take a little effort to do it well. If you follow these tips, you should have no problem pulling it off!

3 Ways to Compromise With Your Kids about Paint Colors

Posted on May 29, 2012August 6, 2019

Once upon a time, probably about 6 years ago or so, my wife and I walked with our kids to the Zeeland Bakery. Caleb (who was 5 at the time) waited outside with me while my wife and the other kids sauntered into the shop and ordered various donuts and cookies and different types of bread. (It’s always a huge undertaking whenever we go to the bakery).

Anyway, while Caleb and I were waiting outside, a lady walked by with a 1-year-old boy in a stroller. I smiled at the lady and Caleb smiled at the lady and he even went so far as to say “Hello.” I was proud that the little guy was so polite. And it was this pride which eventually led to my downfall.

See, as the lady was walking away, but while she was still within earshot, I thought I’d demonstrate how polite and kind my little guy was. So I said, loud enough for the lady to hear, “Wasn’t that a nice little boy?”

Oh, it was a question that he should have been able to hit out of the park. It was an easy one. A no-brainer. All he had to say was “Yes Dad, that boy seemed very nice, indeed.” Had he said that, the lady would have thought I was a super parent because I’d raised such a wonderfully polite little lad. In fact, I figured there was always the off chance that she’d turn her stroller around, shake my hand and ask my advice as to how to raise her own child.

Yes, my mind was brimming with the possibilities and the glory when Caleb spoke up. He raised his little voice to match my raised voice and suddenly, as is always the case when this kind of thing happens, the entire world quit moving. Suddenly, there were no cars–no road noise. The shop doors quit opening and closing. The clocks that had been ticking ceased their workings for a few split seconds. Even the birds and the wind and the airplanes and the fountains went silent. A whisper at one end of Main Street would have been audible at the other. And it was into this utter and complete silence that Caleb bellowed his answer, informing me, the lady, her poor, poor child and everybody else within earshot that, “No,” he didn’t think that kid was all that much. “In fact,” he went on to say, “the kid was actually kind of ugly. His ears were big and his nose was all turned up and his eyes were squinty. Like a rat.” As if this wasn’t bad enough, Caleb ended by informing me (and all of Zeeland) that he had only said “hello” to the kid because “he felt sorry for him.”

Well, I just stared at him in horror and disbelief as he continued to rattle off all sorts of uncomplimentary descriptions that reverberated off the buildings and up and down the silent streets. Silent, that is, except for the wildly squeaking wheels of the lady’s stroller as she pushed her child rapidly away from that horrible father and his nasty little son….

I mention this little episode partly as penance but also because it’s the perfect example of how kids think and act. If you ask for a child’s opinion, you’re going to get it. They’ll typically tell you exactly what they think. Problem is, while they’re usually honest, they don’t always exercise the best judgment.

In an earlier article (which you can read HERE), I suggested that it’s important to involve your kids in the process of decorating their rooms. You should let them pick the colors, ask them what they like and what they hope to see in their rooms. However, when you do that, you’re going to have to be ready for some crazy answers from time to time. In fact, when you ask an 8-year-old what colors he’d like on his walls, don’t plan on hearing him say “Oh, a nice medium-beige with an earthy brown would do just lovely.” No, get ready for black and orange (halloween colors). Or bright blue and red and yellow (Superman colors).

So, with that said, if you do decide to let them help you decorate their own rooms (which I still believe to be a great idea), you better have a method in mind as to how to incorporate their ideas without completely abandoning the overall look of the room. You both need to be happy with the outcome. And that means compromise. Here are 3 tips:

1. PICK AN ACCENT WALL

When your kids choose the brightest yellows and oranges, the flashiest greens and blues, a great compromise is to paint one of the walls–an accent wall–with one of those bright, flashy colors. Have them settle on which color they like best and see if you can’t work that into a small wall–a wall with a window or a door.

Now, in most cases, when you paint an accent wall, you’d pick the focal point of the room to do this with. In this case, however . . . well, not so much. If you’re trying to minimize the effect of the color, then picking the focal point of the room is the last thing you want to do. Just pick a small wall–a wall that’s not the first thing you see when you walk into the room–and see if you can’t put their color there. They’ll be happy, feeling proud when they see their bright wall and you’ll be happy because the room doesn’t glow like the face of the sun.

2. PICK MUTED VERSIONS OF THEIR COLOR

Another great compromise that sometimes works in the paint store is to steer kids toward more muted versions of their colors. If they love bright reds and yellows, maybe throw out some options like a rusty red or terracotta and a more muted yellow. Sometimes they’ll see these new colors and be completely willing to compromise. Again, with this type of scenario, both of you can potentially reach a mutually happy outcome.

3. ACCESSORIZE, ACCESSORIZE, ACCESSORIZE

Perhaps the best way of working wild, crazy colors into a decorating scheme is to bring those colors in with accessories. If your kids want to see black and orange or some other funky combination of colors on their walls, but you can’t bring yourself to do it, then offer this: coat the walls with a nice neutral color and then bring in accessories that fit your child’s desired color scheme. Bring in lampshades with bright colors, find art prints with the colors, switchplates and any number of other accessories that will serve to fill the room with the chosen colors without overloading the walls and driving you crazy.

The bottom line is this: when you bring your kids into the decorating picture, you’ve got to be ready to compromise. Don’t let them decide everything when you hate what they’re coming up with. Likewise, don’t decide everything yourself when they hate what you’re coming up with. You both have to be happy with the outcome for this little project to work. If you hate the room, you’re always going to feel irritated when you walk past it. If they hate the room, don’t worry, they’ll find a way to let you know about it.

So work together, have fun, and compromise!

Let Them Help: Decorating With Your Kids’ Input!

Posted on May 12, 2012August 6, 2019

Every now and then I hit upon something that I know is a good idea. And, though this doesn’t happen very often, this is one of those times. There’s no way around it: decorating your kids’ rooms with their help is a great opportunity for you and for them. Oh, I know there are lots of little bugs in the idea and potential complications–but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s a good thing to do.

Taking a room that was decorated with younger kids in mind and turning it into “hip, way cool pad” is a great way to let your kids know that YOU know that they’re growing up. Taking down the wallpaper borders of stuffed bears and turtles and replacing it with something more age-appropriate will make your kids feel important. And involving them in that process, seeking their input and listening to their suggestions will make them feel that they are on the path to growing up–they’re actually an active force in the creation of their new room.

Surprise Makeovers are Cool on TV, But Not So Much In Real Life

If you still need convincing that it’s a good idea to involve your kids in the process, then think about it this way: on TV, surprise makeovers are cool. They really are. But that’s because we don’t normally watch the recipient of the new room beyond their initial reaction. We see them when they first whip off a blindfold and stand blinking and squinting in the bright lights as they try to take in their new surroundings. Everybody’s happy and giggly and the show ends. We don’t see the couple standing there 12 hours later, now that the cameras and energetic TV personalities are gone, staring at the new walls and wondering what happened and how anybody ever thought that bright orange was a good look.

Your kids feel the same way about their room as you would about your home. Their room is their space–their world away from the world, especially as they get older. Just as you wouldn’t likely appreciate it if your husband or your neighbor just dropped by one afternoon and repainted your living room in colors of their choosing, neither will your kids necessarily be receptive to the changes you bring about one day while they’re off at school. Your vision for their room isn’t necessarily their vision for the room. You’ve got to make it your goal to discover a mutually acceptable vision.

Involve Them, But Remember Their Limitations

To that end, involve them in every aspect of the process. Take them to the store and let them look at colors. Let them flip through wallpaper books and mural books. Let them explore the world of Faux Painting. However, make sure that you keep the outings short and sweet–no marathon shopping trips that will frustrate and wear your kids out. Remember that their attention spans are not like yours–keeping the trips to a limited amount of time will make sure both of you enjoy the outings. And don’t forget to think bigger than just a trip to the paint store or the furniture store: try to tie your decorating trips in with a nice dinner out or something like that.

Taking the kids to the paint store and listening to their suggestions and then taking them out to dinner will be one of those special moments kids remember. If you treat their opinions as valid options and listen to their thoughts and take the time to discuss things with them over dinner, they will start to feel like an intricate part in the decision process. And trust me, I may have young kids and I may not have had much experience in the world of psychology, but I know this is a good thing. You don’t have to be a genius to see that by involving your kids in something so small as decorating their rooms, you’re basically telling them that their opinions matter and that you value their thoughts.

What If . . ?

Alright, now you’re probably thinking that I’m living in a world where everything is puppy dogs and lollipops. Sure it sounds good to involve the kids in the decorating process, but what’s going to happen when they pick out Sponge-Bob Yellow and Bright Red for their walls? We’ll cover that in the next post.

3 Paint Storage Methods that Don’t Work!

Posted on May 7, 2012August 6, 2019

Have you ever noticed that when you’re sick, everybody is suddenly a doctor. Everyone has an opinion and a cure for what ails you. And while some of the cures are very common–chicken soup cures, we could call them–others are anything but.

For example, one older gentleman I know–who will remain nameless–uses Vicks VapoRub whenever he has a cold.

Now, you may say: “What’s so strange about that? Many folks use Vicks VapoRub when they’ve got a cold.”

And of course, you’re right. Many folks do. But the older gentleman I know uses it (and has recommended that I use it) in a very unusual manner: He eats it. By the spoonful.

Yes. Whenever he’s sick or feels that “under-the-weather” feeling starting up, he heads straight to the medicine cabinet with a teaspoon and downs a spoonful of Vicks VapoRub–that greasy, Crisco-ish paste. Somehow he swallows it down and, “almost instantly” (he says) the soothing Vicks vapors make him feel better.

Needless to say, I’ve never tried it. Nor do I recommend that anyone else ever try this. Yes, my friend is 80+ years old, but I certainly do NOT attribute that age to eating Vicks. I believe he’s achieved a fine old age in spite of Vicks.

At any rate, when you’re sick, everybody comes out of the woodwork with suggestions and recommendations to make you feel better. Some make sense, others are of the “eat-a-spoonful-of-Vicks” variety.

Well, the same thing happens whenever you paint: There are tons of different tips and tricks people recommend for everything from opening the lid to applying the paint to storing it on your shelves. Today I want to focus on several common methods recommended for paint storage but which, in fact, actually do more harm than good.

Pound Some Nails in the Rim!

The first method I want to debunk is the Pound Some Nail Holes in the Rim Method. Now, technically, this isn’t a paint storage tip. It’s actually a painting application tip, but I’m including it here because it can radically affect your ability to store paint when you finish the job.

Now, the point of the method is to pound nail holes in the rim of your paint can so that all the paint that collects there as you paint, actually drips and drains back into the can. Oh, it sounds like a great idea and many, many folks (me included at one point) have tried it.

However, the problem with the method is this: those holes (as well as the process by which they’re created in the rim), can actually damage the rim of the paint can, dramatically reducing the ability of that rim to create a good seal with the lid. That’s just a fancy and long way of saying: pound holes in the rim of your can and you’ll find that you can’t seal the can very well later. Oh, the lid may go on and may look tight, but you’ll often find, when you open it later, that the seal was very poor and your paint has dried out significantly.

So, all that to say: don’t pound nail holes in the rim. Instead, simply keep that rim clean of paint. Or, if you happen to get paint into it, clean that paint out before trying to affix the lid.

Store the Can Upside Down!

The second method I’d like to address is the common Store the Paint Can Upside Down method. The theory behind this concept is that air will leak in through the lid. If you turn the can upside down, the air will not be able to sneak in and therefore, your paint will stay good longer.

The problem with this theory is that often, the bigger problem in a can–the reason paint can dry out so often in a closed container–isn’t so much that the air is leaking in. It’s because the air’s already in the can when you close it.

If you’ve got a half-full gallon of paint and you pound the lid on and store it–upside down or rightside up–the air that fills up that empty half of the can will start drying the paint that remains. If you leave the can rightside up, this air will cause a thick coating to form on the surface of the paint and on the exposed sides of the can. If you turn the can upside down, the same thing will happen, only on the bottom.

This is frustrating enough when the can is rightside up, but at least that way, the skin is on the surface of the paint and you can see it and easily remove it before you do any stirring or shaking of the paint. However, if you stored the paint can upside down, the skin forms on the bottom side of the can. All the clumpy stuff, the junk, the bad, unusable paint is at the bottom of the can where you can’t see it when you open it up.

At first, you’ll turn the can over, pop the lid, see good paint and think your “upside-down storage” method worked. But when you drop a stick in and start stirring (and break up and spread the clumped paint all through the good paint) you’ll realize the flaw inherent in the system. Unfortunately, by then, it’s not very easy to get the clumped, dried paint out of the good paint without straining it.

So, we recommend simply storing the paint can rightside up, but taking precautions (as we wrote about here) to make sure the can is as full as possible before storage.

Use Plastic Wrap!

The third storage recommendation that is often tossed around is the Place Some Plastic Wrap in the Gallon and then Pound the Lid on method. This is supposed to create an extra seal between the rim and the lid and prevent air from seaping into the can.

That’s the idea anyway, but unfortunately this method usually fails because most often the plastic, rather than augmenting the natural seal between lid and rim actually compromises that seal. With the plastic in there, the lid can’t seal as tightly as it could without the plastic and the result is air leaking into the container.

You’re much better off to do as we recommended above and simply clean the excess paint out of the rim before pounding the lid on. That way you won’t need the plastic at all.

And there you go: 3 different methods recommended on the internet and home improvement shows that just don’t work all that well. For my money, avoid these crazy solutions (and of course, avoid the earlier solution regarding eating a spoonful of Vicks) and stick to the ideas we recommended here!

4 Simple Tips for Perfect Paint Storage

Posted on April 30, 2012August 6, 2019

The search for the perfect method to properly store paint is one of those Holy Grail-type quests in the painting world. Everybody everywhere has an idea (or two) as to the best ways to ensure that your paint doesn’t dry out in the can as it sits on your shelf.

Some people argue that the ideal thing to do is to store your can upside down–because it will prevent air from seeping in. Others claim that the best thing to do is to lay a sheet of plastic wrap over the opening before pounding the lid on: this will provide an extra seal, again preventing air from seeping in. Some folks pour water into their paint before they store it, others coat the rim with vasoline, others vacuum seal the can little plastic bags.

The ideas are endless, but really, most of them either don’t work or simply aren’t necessary. (We’ll deal with some of these methods and discuss why they don’t work and should be avoided in a later blog entry).

For now, instead of focusing on all the novelty ideas out there, here are 4 tips–solid, reality-based tips–that will help you make sure that the paint you store today will still be ready to use in a few years.

1. Transfer your paint to a smaller container you can fill to the top.

If your paint gallon or quart is half full or less, don’t just pop the lid on and store it that way–it will dry out quickly. Instead, move it to a smaller, sealable container that you can fill to the top. This will keep it in liquid form much, much longer. A variety of different containers will work in these situations–the key is that you’re able to fill the container AND that it will seal well.

2. Keep the rim of your container free from built-up paint.

Many people use the rim of their can as a “wipe off” point for their brush. As a result, paint accumulates in the rim and can often be dried and hardened by the time you’re ready to put the lid back on.

Avoid this by using a pour spout (available for less than $1 at any RepcoLite store) and working out of a secondary container (this is important for other reasons as well–see here). This way you can keep the rim of your paint can clean and free of paint.

When you’re finished painting, take a couple extra minutes, before storing your paint on your shelf, to wash and clean out the rim so that your lid can achieve a good, tight seal. If there’s paint in the rim you can’t clean out because it has hardened, use a rag and some hot water.

A relatively bored-looking Thor.

3. When putting the lid on your container, use restraint!

You may have the power, the rage, the enthusiasm of Thor (see inset and then imagine more power, more rage, and more enthusiasm), but please, don’t use those superpowers when pounding on the lid. It will only result in sorrow, misery and a bad seal that will cause your paint to dry out prematurely.

See, pounding the lid on with extreme force (some might say ‘brutality’) never works. We’ve all done this. We’ve all thought “if I just hit it hard enough, it will go on.” Well, it doesn’t. It just bends the can, warps the lid and prevents the can from ever sealing well again.

So use restraint. If you follow Step 2 and keep the rim clean and free from paint, you should be able to tap the lid gently on with a small rubber mallet.

4. Store your paint in an area that is not subjected to extreme temperature changes.

This rules out most of our Michigan garages. Once latex paint freezes and thaws, it’s usually unusable–so find a good storage place in an area with controlled temperatures. (Think basement or lower level storage area!)

Do these things, take these precautions and you’ll find that 5 years from now, when you need to do a couple touch-ups, your paint is still usable and in perfect shape.

The Vile Showerhead (or, Finding the Dread-Free Life)

Posted on January 5, 2012August 6, 2019

I’m a “dreader”. That’s not a word–I know that. But that doesn’t change the truth: I dread things. On a regular basis.

For example, I re-decorated my bathroom about a year ago. I put wood planking on the walls, hung some wallpaper, stained and varnished new trim, installed a new (bowed) shower rod and new curtain and finally, to finish the whole thing off, I installed a new shower head.

Which was the biggest mistake I made.

See, right after installing it, my wife marched right in, closed the door and proceeded to take a 45-minute shower. When she was done, the kids all marched through, one after the other.

When the shower marathon ended that day, I opened the bathroom door and it was as if a cloud had localized in that tiny room. I literally couldn’t see the other side through the steam. The little ceiling fan was working overtime, but there was no way it could keep up.

“Fortunately,” I thought, trying to wave away the steam, “this is something that won’t happen everyday. Once the ‘newness’ of the shower head wears off, we’ll go back to having to fight the kids to take baths.”

Nope. Not a chance. Every single day since the installation of that vile shower head, our bathroom is engulfed in steam. Shower after shower, hour after hour: steam, steam, steam.

Well, that went on for a long time and then the inevitable happened: the mold started growing around the edges of the ceiling. The wallpaper started peeling and curling up on all the seams. My beautiful bathroom had gone from a place of despair to a place of beauty and then back again to a place of despair all in about 6 months time. It was depressing to say the least.

And that’s where the “dreading” comes in. Everyday, I’d look at the ceiling and see the mold or the wallpaper and see the peeling and I’d dread the “fix-up” job that was to come.

I dreaded it because it seemed like such a big job: fixing the mold, fixing the paper, repainting the ceiling. I’d just gone through some of this work and now, thanks to that dumb shower head, I had an even bigger mess to fix.

And so I stared at it for a long time. I thought about it. I tried to ignore it. But most of all I dreaded it.

Until finally I got so sick of being depressed and frustrated about it that I actually fixed it.

I took a week and on a Monday night, I sprayed the mold with a bleach solution and scrubbed the ceiling. That took me exactly 17 minutes.

Two nights later I came back with more bleach–no scrubbing this time, just the bleach on the mold. That took about 7 minutes.

On Friday night I went around the room and primed all the previously moldy spots with ProFlo Alkyd primer and then I re-pasted all the peeling paper. That night’s work took about 15 minutes.

Finally on Saturday, I got ready to paint the ceiling and finish the job. I was ready for a big, painstaking job (I hate painting ceilings) but I was surprised to find that the whole thing took about an hour from the time I opened the can of paint to the time I put the paint back on the shelf in the workroom.

In the end, I realized that the job I’d dreaded for the last 6 months or more had taken me less than two total hours to fix. In my mind, I’d exaggerated and inflated and imagined the work to be 10x worse than it was. I imagined the mess, the problems to be 10x less fixable than they were. I imagined the pain to be 10x greater than it was.

I’d spent 6 months feeling bad and frustrated and almost (in a sad and pathetic way) depressed about a room that took me less than 2 hours to fix.

So how does this apply to you? Well, I can’t speak for you, but I’ve talked to many folks in the paint store at RepcoLite who feel the same way I was feeling. They’re frustrated about the seemingly endless amounts of work needed in their homes. They look at the jobs and the work to be done and assume that they’re worse than they really are. And so they do what I did: they put them off and they stew on them, thinking about them and mulling them over in their minds for months until the jobs seem even bigger and more horrible. In short, we dread them and waste our time worrying about them and frowning over them.

But what we really should be doing is “doing” them. The jobs aren’t as bad as we think. They’ll go smoother. They’ll go more quickly. They won’t be as painful. And best of all, once we’re done, you’ll notice what I noticed: a real sense of relief and freedom from the work that had been hanging over my head.

So, bottom line: If you’ve got a project that’s creating that feeling of dread, jump into it. Get it accomplished. And then kick back and enjoy the dread-free life…