We are slowly accomplishing this project of re-purposing rooms.The laundry is now on the second floor in the newly re-done bathroom, which is next to the other bathroom that was also re-done.
That leaves the place in the mudroom to be fixed up, where the washer and dryer were.
A friend suggested a bench, and it just so happened that Craigslist had the exact one I needed. This post is not about that, so I will give you this one sneak peek:
If you want to see how it was before, this post will remind you, and also give a more realistic view of the green, which for some reason looks weird here to me, which is no good because it is the best green ever.
Anyway, I am here to clear up mysteries about spray painting.
Painting in general is something that can be made very, very complicated. And if you are me, just dealing with brushes alone is enough to prevent me from painting things. So while yes, you can achieve the nice painted finish without the spray, I would like to offer some reasons to pay the premium (in money and in possible lung collapse but more on that below).
First, when the job is small, you are not going to save money on buying a container of paint. That's because brushes are expensive (especially ones for non-latex paint, which this is). It's true: per gallon, paint in spray cans is dear. However, your container of cost-effective enamel paint will be mostly wasted. I think we all know what happens to that two thirds of a can of paint… it dries out and you have to chuck it.
If you need to paint something big, by all means, go the brush route. But for little things, spraying is the way to go.
Second, I am brush-averse. I hate having to deal with a brush between coats (tip: wrap it in plastic wrap — don't clean until the very end!). I hate the clean-up, no matter how long it is postponed — even for latex paint. I detest not knowing where to put a brush when I need to answer my phone. Spray painting eliminates all that.
So, as promised, here you have a view of how I do this job in my own super-professional way.
Basically, you want to have a surface of cardboard — not newspaper! Newspaper gets glued to any object being painted. Please, for the love of all that is doing a job with a minimum of fuss, don't use newspaper.
If this object to be painted was a table or something more vertical, I would set up cardboard behind it as well, and probably prop the cardboard against my trash barrel.
You want it at a good height and in the light. This is my well known Garage of Death, which yes, has a vine growing into it at this moment (the Trumpet Vine of Voracious Activity). It's a country garage, not a suburban one. That means, it's the kind of which your four-year-old might exclaim, “Mama! Did you know that some people put CARS in their garage??”
Yes, honey, I've heard tell…
Well, my garage is a fine place to do this painting. You could also do it outside — I painted a crib out on the driveway.
Important tip #1:
Shake the can! The directions say to shake for a least a minute. You have no concept of how long a minute is when you are shaking! It's an eternity. Watch a video on your phone so that you actually shake for that long. And shake whenever you pause your spraying.
Important tip #2:
You need to commit yourself to light coats and many of them.
I don't know if you can see in the photo above, but the white of the bracket is still visible (it might look like glare because this is a hard thing to photograph when you are also doing it). You want to train yourself to stop at that point and do a little chore or read a chapter of a book so that the paint can dry.
If you try to cover all at once, you will get drips. Just work for a light coat from a good distance. I set things up near each other so that I'm not wasting much paint. Just go along with a sweeping motion, trying to get the coverage started but not finished.
I probably had three or four sessions of spraying, in between each I did such things as pull the laundry off the line, start supper, answer emails, and give the dog water. Each coat took about 15 minutes to set up.
The screws just need a spray on their heads. Poke them right into the cardboard so they stand up.
I did not end up using that excellent nozzle, which saves your hand for many types of cans. The one I chose happened to have the kind of cap that won't accept the trigger thingie.
(The jury is still out on the actual color. We shall see. It looks astonishingly lurid here and maybe also in real life.)
You can see that as I neared the end of the project, I took the screws away so that the threads wouldn't get gummed up with paint. The cardboard testifies to my sweeping motion. I didn't spray at each bracket — I just went back and forth. I turned the whole cardboard to get different angles. That glare is in real life, because spray paint is (usually) shiny. Make sure you examine the object from all angles.
With regular painting, you do a coat and then you do a second one. With spray painting, you do multiple coats, all quite light.
Use a mask (I didn't, even though I have masks, but I did hold my breath. I figure that it's a good way to prevent myself from over-spraying at any point). And don't wear flip-flops. The spray is in the air. It settles down and you end up with lightly coated feet. Trust me.
I rarely sand.
I don't prime.
If there is a drip, wipe it away, let it dry, see if it needs to be sanded a little. Re-coat.
It's alkyd (non-latex) paint, so it's durable.
I think that is all — I can answer any questions in the comments. It's really easy to spray paint stuff! I have lots of things here that I've spray painted over the years — I really recommend it!
Anel says
Yay – at last!
😀
Thank you, auntie Leila
Mary Ellen Barrett says
“the Trumpet Vine of Voracious Activity”, I love it. Thanks for sharing. I love spray painting to make old things new again.
Donna L. says
Thank you for the glimpse of how you do this!
I simply adore your “garage of death”–I think it looks more like a *garage of hopes and dreams and projects*–how lucky you are to have a place to paint!
Love your very careful and precise explanations–even down to the paint spray on one’s feet!
Donna L. says
An aside–why have the beautiful quilt shapes that accompany one’s name changed colors? I miss my beautiful crimson one—wah!
Julie says
Seriously helpful. Great post.
Mrs. B. says
A few years ago, at the beginning of our homeschooling adventure, I got a very ugly table for free on craigslist as our “school table”. I spray painted it in a beautiful ivory color, but I did it VERY badly! Not just drips, but very uneven color, with big, shiny spots here and there, and duller areas in between. I was so disappointed that I kept it covered with one of those plastic outdoor tablecloths… I guess I needed your Tip #2!!
I would like to paint my tiny laundry/furnace/water heater room, but just the idea of taping and working around all those pipes in a place where I can barely turn around without hitting some piece of machinery… oh the headache! And of course, no windows… The idea that there can be any room in a house that can do without windows is perverse.
I had a friend who once very proudly revealed to me how she had put her washer and dryer upstairs – on the same floor where practically all dirty clothes were and where most of the clean laundry would have to be put away! She was positively brimming with simple joy. I think this even surpasses the cleverness of shelves in a closet, and I wish I could do laundry upstairs too! Bravo, Leila!
Katherine says
I’ve never lived in a house with more than one story, but I would be scared to put a laundry room on the second floor. It seems like a good idea, but my washing machine has leaked too many times and I can imagine the ceiling damage! What I think is a better idea are laundry chutes.
Leila says
Katherine, there is a drainage tray under the washer that pipes to the utility sink below.
Here’s a problem with laundry chutes, which I have lived with in the past: the “dirty laundry” smell comes right up into your closet (where the chute is usually placed, I think). That was unexpected and not great!
Amelia says
My laundry room is upstairs and I love it. It saves me so much work, and on such a routine task, that adds up to a major difference! Apparently such a thing is quite common here in the south – I’m native to the midwest myself and was used to laundry rooms in the basement.
Amelia says
Actually, Leila, if you see this, I’m curious: Do you still plan to hang a lot of laundry outside on the line? Part of why I haven’t started doing this is my upstairs laundry room and having to haul around that much more.
Well, I suppose the bigger problem may be my heavily shaded, steeper-than-a-staircase backyard of awkwardness. Hanging laundry in the front yard could work but feels so inappropriate to me. I love the idea of using a line, I just can’t see a way to swing the practicalities.
Leila says
Amelia, this was the one downside to moving the laundry room that I could foresee. However, I can manage the basket down the back stairs and into the kitchen (you can see in my drawing there what the route would be — the stairs empty out behind the fireplace, which I go around to get to the mudroom and out the door).
Here in New England we don’t have a long outdoor drying season.
If I didn’t have a HUGE maple right outside the laundry room window, precluding any sun access, I would definitely try to rig up a line from the window! In my old house I had a line that wasn’t out a window, but it was off my back porch landing. I stood in one place and the line, which was connected to the far garage corner, was what moved on a trolley. I loved it!! So little hauling required, once I had the basket on the landing. And there, my laundry was in the basement, so I did carry the basket up the stairs to the back landing (and dreamed of having the machines in the mudroom, lol).
Leila says
Mrs B: Can you paint everything, pipes included? It can make a small space seem bigger, and why not? That way you just have to cover the machines?
Laura says
It also helps to start with something dingy, then if you ruin it, it’s no big deal. An attitude of “Well, it can’t look much worse,” helped me learn this skill. I started with outdoor plastic planters that were bleached by the sun. They looked awful and I was going to throw them away. I spray painted them a marigold color and they’ve lasted another 3 years. Being my first project, they have drips, but you can’t really tell. Once you have the thin coat technique down, it’s really easy. I even spray painted our brass fireplace surround a cast iron black using high heat spray paint. The brass was horrible looking-previous owners did not remove all of the plastic coating and it melted on. It looks brand new for less than $10.
Victoria says
I’ve totally done projects like that. Most recently the table I put my potted plants on. I meant to paint it 7 years ago when I bought it at a yard sale. I figured…at this point, even a shoddy paint job is better than no paint job and will give me a few more years of planter table. It looks much nicer now. 🙂
Also, when I spray paint, I often end up with lightly coated arms. I think it’s because I do it in the open air and the breeze swirls it back toward me no matter where I stand.
Assuming you don’t have a dedicated project space, another benefit of spray paint over brushes and a can is that it’s way easier to put a single spray can out of reach of little ones than all the paraphernalia that comes with the other method. It can be frustrating to take it all out just to put it back after you’ve used your precious 30-minute window of project time. I’m working on refinishing a dresser (almost done!) and as much as I love this project, it has been a bit rough climbing up and down to reach high shelves while pregnant (I’m finishing it with polycrylic, which is less toxic than polyurethane AND doing it outdoors, so not to worry about fumes!).
Christine says
An additional tip for the screws after installation that I learned from the painters who did our house and the hardware for the garage: they used the spray paint on a q-tip to get into the screw top for uniform color after screwing them into the door. It looks great!
Leila says
Christine, that’s a good idea for inevitable touchups on those screws!
Katherine says
I got a little woozy once from spray painting even though I was painting in a well ventilated area. I figured a creative activity where everyone in the area had to wear masks was something to avoid. So, now I only spray paint if I absolutely have to (like repainting wicker chairs). I like the Zen of using a brush anyway. I pop my brushes or rollers in plastic bags in between painting sessions. If it’s going to be a long hiatus, I put the bags in the freezer. Chalk paint has become my new best friend. I use it as a primer on many items. A little can goes a long way.
Catherine says
Thanks for the practical tips, Auntie Leilia! I’ve wondered about them often in seeing all the lovely things you’ve spray painted.
One question. When spraying something double-sided, where you need to paint one side, then lean that side on something to paint the other side (like a shelf to a bookcase), is 15 minutes enough to let the paint dry before leaning it, or should I wait longer?
Leila says
Catherine, thanks!
Well, just wait for the one side to dry — even if it’s not finished. Keep rotating, because that light coat dries quickly and keeping the object “moving” helps you resist the sort of obsessive over-spraying that leads to boo-boos. Just keep turning it. You get adept at knowing when it’s dry (which does vary according to conditions) and at propping it on the very edge so as to minimize contact.
So think of it as that you are not going to lay the shelf flat on the painted side, maximizing contact with your newly painted surface; you are going to prop it on edge and try to walk around it as much as possible. Always use the smallest surface for propping if you can!
When you do it, you will see. Just have plenty of cardboard and things you don’t care about (like saw horses, old benches, and big trash cans haha) for propping!