Now We Paint...
It's week 4 of the ORC and it's finally time to add some color to the built ins. I'm definitely taking a risk by not going with my go to Black (SW Tricorn Black) or White (SW Alabaster or Pure White). Instead, I'd like the office to be a little more moody and going with a teal/green jewel tone. Of course I will still be adding black and gold accents but I think this deep color will make the built ins warmer and more Mid-Century. Before I go at it with some paint there are some key planning and prepping elements that need to happen. (See color inspo below):
Planning + Prepping
Because I am planning on using my new Home Right Super Finish Max paint sprayer that means a lot more prep work needs to go into the built ins. If you are using a paint roller you only really need to tape the exterior boundaries like where the trim meets with walls, ceiling, and floor. But because I'm using a sprayer I need to use some tarps and wide masking tape to cover all the areas any overspray may touch.
That seems like a lot of work right? Why not just use a paint roller? Well the paint sprayer gives a more uniform coverage and I think looks more professional on certain projects. Of course if you don't use the sprayer correctly or don't do any prep work it's not going to look good either way.
Here's a quick checklist of how to prep for paint spraying:
1. Take off cabinet doors
2. Tape / mask the inside of the cabinets (I chose to do this because the insides would rarely be seen and I didn't want to worry about paint chipping because of the constant use)
3. Tape / mask ceiling (cover at least 3-6 feet)
4. Tape / mask walls (cover at least 3-6 feet)
5. Tape / mask floors (cover at least 3-6 feet)
6. Tape off any electrical work
Priming
Because I want to make sure the wood grain is mostly covered a primer is 100% necessary. I used Zinsser Bullseye1-2-3 Water Based Primer. The primer is a much thicker coat than normal paint so in order to use the sprayer it had to be thinned out. (I have a full tutorial and review of the paint sprayer coming to the blog soon)
You'll see below I probably could have benefited from 2 coats of the primer but instead I did multiple coats of paint. I just think some of the wood imperfections and grain could have been covered more if I did this.
Keep everything taped up because we are going to go back over the primer with the paint sprayer.
Painting
After priming and before painting some sanding is involved to get a smoother finish. Make sure you use a higher grit sand paper (almost finish quality ~220) and not anything super coarse or it will remove your primer completely.
Once the sanding is complete wipe down the built ins and get rid of any dust. If you paint over this you won't get smooth coverage.
Make sure when you're using your sprayer you are doing light even coats. Too thick of a coat will cause runs and uneven coverage. Go side to side and keep your sprayer the same distance away from the built ins or whatever you are painting.
This is the coverage after just 1 coat. I did 2 full coats with some touch up spots after sanding a few problem areas.
After finishing the 2nd coat of paint it's time to take the masking tape off! The best is when those crisp paint lines are revealed! Very relieved and thankful to not see any overspray either! That's what good prep work will lead to.
Sealing
As I much as I wish we were done after painting we're not. Next comes sanding again... then re-hanging the cabinet doors, THEN finally sealing. Because these built ins are in a real working office, not just for looks, there's going to be a lot of use out of them. That means we need to seal them to prevent chips and scratches. I used a satin finish sealer on the cabinet doors, the shelves, and the cabinet topper. I wasn't thrilled with the sealer I used so I'm not going to recommend it here. The finish was too shiny to be satin and the smell was awful. What I've used in the past and had good results with are the MinWax products.
Again, sand with a finishing grade of grit to not remove the paint just buff out the roughness. After sanding wipe everything down again before applying the sealer. I tried to use the sealer in the paint sprayer but I wouldn't recommend it. It was super runny and the coverage looked terrible. I used a normal staining paint brush afterwards and it looked much better.
(Final paint / stain sneak peak featuring my sweet baby, Easton)
Next Steps
We're going to add some gorgeous gold hardware to the cabinet doors and finally hook up those lights!
Join me back here next week for the ORC Week 5 update!
(Visit the rest of the ORC's designers for this event: www.oneroomchallenge.com/orc-blog)