GUILTY! I have a problem ruining paint brushes

Paint brushes are expensive! I have ruined a huge amount of paint brushes.  I have had remorse when I have thrown away a $15 paint brush. I also have $100 Badger tail (no badgers were harmed to make the brush) for my decorative paint, Ouch! So now I have found my solution (literally).   I used to use solvents like denatured alcohol and laquer thinner to clean things, but those are harmful and never do the best job, usually soaking into your skin if you are not careful. The harsher chemicals also dry out the brushes.  I am sure you are asking yourself: Why do you not just wash your brushes.  I do, but sometimes I am so tired and just forget about everything when I walk in the door, or a brush slips out somewhere and voila, I have another goopy brush.

Solution: Krud Kutter is about $14 for 1 gallon at Home Depot and it is an amazing product (I am not being paid to endorse their product).  Even better it is non-toxic and biodegradable.

Instructions: In a disposable container (disposable ziploc container) or something that you are willing to part with because little bits of paint will come off the brushes you are cleaning.  I usually use a small container that I can set my brush in and have all the bristles covered by the solution.  Now wait between 1-3 days.

Each day I take out the brush and take a butter knife to get big chunks of paint off. Slowly it will soften the paint and restore any water-based paint covered paint brush.  AMAZING!  Sometimes I add a little water to the solution if I want to not use so much. I also do multiple brushes.

Problem Solved!

I

P.S.  If you want to not only restore but also condition your brushes, especially good brushes like my Badger brush then use The Master’s Brush Cleaner and Preserver. It conditions and restores my Badger brush to like to condition.

 

Painting That Perfect Line!

I have done huge amounts of painting in my day. Painting so it doesn’t bleed has taken years for me to learn new tricks.  TRICKS? Yep! Nothing is more annoying than when you paint a wall and go to pull the tape and as a result you have bleeding of that color under the tape.  So you get out your little brush and sit there annoyed at the tape and at yourself for being so clumsy. Well we did say PAINT, it is a liquid and it goes into any open space, law of physics! I never did good in Physics in school, but I do know paint.

Recently I was at a clients house and had to paint this fireplace black for a base color under a metallic plaster that was going on top.  The black had to go up against a soft grey (Sherwin Williams: Requisite Grey) wall.  So how do you do that without bleeding under the tape? I use the Painter’s Delicate Blue Tape by 3M.  I know there are other paint companies that I have heard some fantastic things about Frog Tape I understand is great as well.  However, anymore I use DELICATE Painter’s Blue tape because there have been so many times where I took of the painters Blue tape and the wall plaster came off with it (that is the result of poor preparation by the painters because they don’t wipe down walls before priming so dust from drywall never lets the primer “stick.”.  I work in client’s homes for a living doing Decorative Painting, so I have to leave their homes PERFECT!

Here are photos of the wall I had to paint, my paint brush is right next to it.

 

STEPS TO GETTING THAT PERFECT LINE:

1. Tape (no one, not even the best painter’s eye can paint a perfectly straight line).  I use DELICATE 3M Painter’s Blue Tape.  Ace, Lowe’s & Home Depot sell it as well as paint stores.  I try to use the 1 1/2″ blue tape because if your paint roller hits it, then it is wide enough that you don’t hit the wall.

2. Press down tape. There is an invisible layer of wax so that when you press down the tape it seals it.  However, it is never PEFECT so I rely on my own trick in the following steps.

3.  Pull out or purchase ceiling color paint and paint color of wall next to the wall you are painting.  Why?  You need the colors or close to what they used because if they bleed, no big deal because they bleed onto the color already there.

4.  Now Cut in which is where you take your paint (mine is Requisite Grey) and paint in the corner where the tape meets the edge of both walls. The paint might bleed through because no tape is perfect, but that is OK because if it bleeds the same color that is there already, no big deal.  You are sealing the tape with a liquid barrier by letting the paint seal your perfect line.

5. Repeat step 4 with the ceiling color on the top.  You can be sloppy, just get the paint really good into the corner where the two walls meet.

6.  DO NOT PULL THE TAPE

7.  After your paint has dried, then you are ready to paint your darker color.

8.  I cut in or paint all the corners again with my new paint.  The tape is now sealed and ready to take your dark color with NO BLEEDING of paint. (Note: you  might have a few little spots of bleeding, that means you didn’t seal your tape with enough paint.  However, I guarantee it will be so much better than relying on tape only.

TIP: That tape is expensive, to save money I sometimes remove the tape and then use it again by flipping it to the side that isn’t painted on another wall.  It should still have a crisp edge.

9. Paint your wall.

10. After everything is completely dry. Be patient because if the paint isn’t completely dry, then you will be peeling a layer of tape with a layer of paint.   This black wall took 2 coats.

This is a photo of my beautiful crisp line of black next to Requisite Grey. I hope you are impressed.  I am happy that I didn’t have to go back through for hours to do touch up.

Have a beautiful Wednesday People!

Always,

Jen

Oh The Things You Can Rust!

I make fun of my mom all the time, she loves everything OLD and rusted.  She will keep a bucket or anything that is rusted because it is cool (she would be a hoarder if I wasn’t behind her throwing stuff away, jk Mom!)  Over the years I have come to appreciate rust and the look of “Old.”  I guess it would come down to bringing character to an object.  So when you can’t wait for that old bucket to sit outside for 5 years to get the PERFECT look of rust, then what do you do?  You rust it yourself, with great products of course.

On a few of my jobs I have used the rust to get that perfect old weathered look. The product I recommend (I can’t vouch for others, I have only used one) with huge success is the Modern Masters Metal Effects Paint.  Amazing what you can do to make something look old, it is so easy. You can go here for their product information.

How to apply the Metal Effects by Modern Masters: Prime (specific for Metal Effects), 2- 3 coats of Iron Paint, Spray Iron Paint Activator multiple times, then be patient.  Of course, not to patient because it does speed up the rust process by hours, not months.   So a process that would have taken several months or likely years takes only overnight once activated.  RECOMMEND: Good Ventilation and preferably I would not recommend doing it outside.  Also, the activator spray is pretty toxic smelling and if you get it on your skin, or near your mouth (personal experience from doing ceilings) then you will have a chemical metal taste.  I don’t want to imagine how many toxins.  Here is a rusted ceiling, covered with a metallic plaster we completed on one of our jobs. To view more of our work:  www.bellacasafaux.com

 

Do-It-Yourself GARDEN GATE

The most recent thing I did for my own project was a garden gate.  You see I have a toddler, actually his code name: Escape Artist.  We had quite a gap between our kids, he is our fourth.  He is always trying to go outside and explore, which really freaks me out because I love this kid and don’t want him in danger. So instead of just relying on the front door as the ONLY barrier, we decided our little courtyard needed a gate.

Do you know how much gates cost? $300-$500 and that is just the gate, not the hardware to hang it yourself.

Well lets just say it is TOTALLY out of my budget.  As a mom of 5 kids I am constantly juggling finances and I won’t even begin to complain how much it costs to feed 3 teenagers.  Anyway, I have to save money whenever I can and I thought long and hard about this gate.  We need a gate for our Escape Artist, and extra bonus is it will also limit solicitors from getting to my door (I don’t answer my door).

So I made my own garden gate or courtyard gate.  When I started I knew I had a 36″ opening, so I was limited to a 36″ with the gate & sides.  So I went looking for metal pieces I could insert in a frame to make it look like a expensive metal gate.  So I made my own gate, you can make your own garden gate now.  I will tell you how, this baby is STURDY.  Cost for the Gate is $60 for the wood, screws, brackets, decorative metal center.  Add an extra $15-$50 to hang it up, depending on where you are putting it. Extra costs: Paint, if you use spray $15, if you rust then all the products might run $65.  Still, it is cheaper than that $500 gate I had my eye on for 5 seconds.

Where to Buy Modern Masters paints here is their website or it can be purchased on amazon

PROJECT LIST:

1. Metal Accent (shape of a square, or any shape you can attach) in the Home Decor department of Hobby Lobby (I bought mine at Hobby Lobby and it had dimensions:  29″x29″), my opening was 36″ so I had to leave enough room for the wood to surround the metal piece. (pictured above)  I paid 40% off with a coupon, so it was only $26 🙂
2. 2 x 4 wood 10 ft long cedar wood (or any wood)
3. Corner brackets (to help reinforce corners of wood) 8 brackets at $3 for 4
4. 16- 3″ wood screws (to attach corners)

Hardware OPTIONS to hang Your Gate: (My gate is at front entry, so I chose metal sides)

OPTION 1 (more expensive) Hardware to hang your gate: I found this in the metal gate section at Home Depot. *You will need a HAMMER drill to install the poles & lag screws in the ground

2 side poles $20

2 sets of lag screws $14

Metal gate closer & brackets complete package ($25)

 

OPTION 2: If you are attaching the gate in the garden, attach it to 4×4 cemented in ground. This option is cheaper.

TOOLS

Router

Miter Saw

Drill

Hammer Drill (If you need to install gate posts into concrete sidewalk), you can rent these!

Corner brackets (to help reinforce corners of wood)

INSTRUCTIONS PDF:

DIY Metal Rust Gate

I would love to see what you came up with.  I am in the middle of painting and rusting my gate, so photos will be coming soon when Rust transformation is complete!  Just a note: the entire reason I did this project was to keep my toddler from going out front.  It took 20 minutes after I installed it and he climbed over it.  Oh well, I love it anyways and it keeps the dogs from running out the door.  Another added bonus is my traffic of solicitors has reduced. Still need to paint all the metal pieces, but I got it up!

Have a Great Day

Always,

Jen