I want to paint my sons room. We've been hesitant because we've been afraid of how it might look after painting then be sorry we did it. Anyway, I saw a sale on a Wagner Fast Plus Power Roller. Are these things good? What's the best method to paint a wall these days? This is our first house, 3 years old, and we've never painted a wall.
I got one of those when we built our new house. I used it to paint the red dining room. It worked great. Then.. I was supposed to clean it. I did everything the manual said. Then... I tried another color. Khaki hallway. The second color was completely screwed, and the unit clogged and distributed the paint funny. For me, it was basically a single-application tool. I've read reviews that say the same thing. I would just go with the old traditional, but get a helping hand. Two people is even better than the machine. Now, you said this is your son's room. Have you thought about doing it two-tone with 1/4 of the wall one color like a wainscotting and the rest another color? You could also do something interesting with a stencil, or stripes. If you stencil , say xs and os, you could alternate color schemes against the base color. So, blue x on khaki wall, vs khaki o on blue wall. You might consider an accent wall, somthing different than the other 3. You can really do a lot of things with just painter's tape and imagination. It's not so hard.
Yeah, we really haven't settled on any particular idea. We've bought a couple of magazines and are trying to come up with a theme. He's only 10 months old so he doesn't get much say in the matter.
The important thing with painting is to do all the prep work. Cover everything with plastic sheeting. Tape it to the floor. Get painter's tape and tape off the baseboards and window trim and mouldings. When you paint, apply the paint with a roller in a Z pattern. Wipe the roller off on the tray or better, buy a roller grill and 5 gallon bucket to wipe the excess paint off your roller after you get some from the tray. "Ballroom blue" is a nice color at Lowe's in the Valspar American Traditions line. It's bright but relaxing. The complementary shades are great if your sponge, stripe or otherwise finish an accent wall. The complementary hues are darker blue tending to purple, ("dusk") and dark purple-blue ("midnight"). If you sponge some of the middle and dark on the light base, it makes a nice pattern that's abstract but pleasing. To sponge, you just get a set of small sea sponges, take one, and dip the paint on the dry surface and lightly spot apply in a curved pattern. The size of the holes in the sponge (and pressure applied) will determine the amount of paint to the wall. You can practice on a piece of primered sheetrock you purchase or get scrap from a construction site.
Just forget the tray and use a 5 gallon bucket and grill. Easier to apply paint to roller and less chance of spillage.
I've used the wagner power stick which is a roller on the end of a pole that you draw the paint up into then once it is filled you squeeze the trigger to apply more paint to the roller. It works great but clean up is a mess and it never worked right again after that so I'd consider it a one time use product. It is only about $25 bucks if I remember correctly. All the other advised was good. Do all your prep work first.
