Paint It White

Cutting in on crown molding is hard.

That's why I switched to a new painting methodology. (I really should make a reference material section of this weblog).  Paint the crown sloppy as hell.  Cut in on the ceiling. Cut in on the walls.  It is about 100x easier to cut on a flat service then along the complex profile of a piece of molding.

To make your woodwork look good, you better sand the s*** out of it.  I kept my baseboard, and I'm about 99% positive its covered in lead paint.  So I just knocked down the high spots with a 5-in-1 tool.

Even though I despise busy work, I do stick to the plan.  Being diligent about sanding, vacuuming, and cleaning the paint surfaces with a tack cloth pays dividends.  Considering how much I loathe painting: its time to do this right and do it once.  Proper set up is paramount.

Crack kills, but I gotta clean these baseboards in order to get good paint adherence.

I don't know why, but I use Windex exclusively for this task with an old towel.  Somehow I have got it in my mind that Windex is my best cleaning agent.  I guess it dries fast.  My aim is to get this part of the job done as fast as possible.

Disheveled and haggard from days and days of painting.  This picture looks like a 'cry for help'

Let's just get to the results:

Notice the semi-gloss paint overlapping sloppily onto the walls.  But who cares.  We will take our time and cut in over that carefully with the wall paint.  End result: time is saved.

Same sloppy style applies to the baseboards

You can really see the overlap in this photo, particularly on the right hand side of the door trim.

The trouble area is starting to clean up well. Custom plinths.

View into hallway.

Before

After

Crown looks good. Period.

The painting never ends.  This completes step 9 and 10 of the 13 step program.  Serenity now.