I have added a section at the very end of this post that deals with problem walls and my solutions. But for now, lets just continue on with our 'normal' walls, shall we?
- a drop cloth
- a nail
- a hammer
- a paint can opener (or flat head screwdriver)
- the Wooster Short Cut brush
- the Handy Cup
- a paint tray
- a tray liner
- a roller cage
- a 10mm roller
Why a nail? The first thing I do when I open a new can of paint is to nail 4 holes in the inside rim. This way, when I pour paint out into the Handy Cup or paint tray, I am not chasing paint around and around the rim. The paint quickly drops down the holes where it belongs!
This picture is after I poured some out, so you can see how the paint no longer pools in the rim. |
The Amazon links are mostly for my US readers. For my Canadian readers, I got my Handy Paint Cup at Walmart and the Wooster Short Cut is available at Home Depot. |
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Here's a little video showing/explaining the tools mentioned above and showing you how I cut in.
For those of you that may not know, PPG is an enormous company with many 'children'. Sico, Porter Paints, Pittsburgh Paints, CIL, and Dulux are just some of PPG's kids. Kent Building Supplies carries Pittsburgh Paints and Sico.
Sico Muse comes in two sheens . . . Soft Matte and Soft Gloss. Soft Matte is a super flat paint . . . the flattest of flat I was told. Soft Gloss is an eggshell sheen. You know how I love flat paint! Naturally, I chose Soft Matte.
Why do I LOVE quality flat paint so much? Whether new or old, our homes' walls will have blemishes in the drywall. It could be from patch jobs showing or crap that got in the wet paint at some point in the past, you name it. Blemishes just happen. The more shine you choose in your paint finish, the more those blemishes will show as the bumps catch and bounce the light bringing attention to itself. Thus, flat paint hides these very well. Sheen choices in paint go in order like this: flat/matte, eggshell/velvet, pearl/satin, and semi-gloss.
In the past, flat paint didn't have a good name as it didn't wash well and showed every little fingerprint and washed spot, etc. However, now we are blessed to be able to purchase flat paint that is scrubbable! This is only possible in the top-of-the-line paint.
Sico says it best, so I quote, "Exclusive TOUCH RESIST TECHNOLOGY™: Exceptional burnish, marring and stain resistance, superior washability and excellent hiding power for outstanding richness and depth to wall colour".
Please note: The paint splotches on the ceiling that you see was from previous paint jobs from before the house became mine. I do plan to repaint my ceiling in the near future. I will also blog about that, of course! :)
Tip alert! If YOU have uneven paint lines between your ceiling and wall from previous paint jobs and don't plan to repaint your ceiling in the near future, it is best to just paint over those with your new paint colour so as not to have lines of different colours up there along the rim. It will be less noticeable to be all the same color. Just brush it off or roll with it. Pun intended! :)
- Nearly covered in one coat.
- After doing 90% of my kitchen (I just have the little space above my cabinets, behind the fridge, and the short wall where my floating shelves are, left to do), I still have 2/3 of the gallon left . . . and that is after 2 full coats of cutting in and rolling on!
- Once dry, it is super soft to touch. It feels somewhere between silk and velvet. Not chalk-board dull like you would expect.
Here is a picture after the first coat, while the paint is still wet. * Please excuse the mess.
- In between coats of paint, I wrap my tools separately and snugly in plastic food wrap. This creates a moisture barrier inside to keep the paint fresh, wet, and ready to go. So thats the roller separately, the brush separately, the Handy Cup separately, and the paint tray separately. If I am not going to do the second coat within an hour or two, then I would only wrap the roller and clean out the rest to start over when I AM ready. I haven't had luck leaving things wrapped longer than that before it begins to scum over and then those lumps will transfer to your painting surface.
- I use the Richard 3-in-1 paint cleaning tool to scrub my paint brush out. I hold it in the sink like a cheese grater, under running water, and rub my brush over it like I would a block of cheese to clean the paint out. I will also use a little wire brush to get the stubborn areas near the top, if required. Cleaning out your brush properly will make it last longer.
- The Richard 3-in-1 paint cleaning tool can also be used to 'scrape' the paint out of your roller back into the can when you are done rolling . . . saving as much paint as possible. (Its called a 3-in-1 but I don't know the third use. LOL)