Goodbye city, Hello suburbs!: Painting 101- Trim and Wainscoting

The one class I hated in college was psych 101, it's kind-of how I feel about painting. You know you have to do it because ~~you want to graduate~~ your want your kitchen to look fabulous!

Painting Trim and Wainscoting, this is what I learned along the way. I hope it helps you go from a freshman painter to Senior painter status.

Here are my painterly tips:

# 1: buy GREAT sand paper or use a a sanding block even better for you if you have a dremel. Dremels can make the sanding process less painful.

# two: buy quality paint

Like Benjamin Moore, Sherwin Williams or Pittsburgh. I used Benjamin Moore, can't you see it under the drips of paint?

# 3: buy the proper tools.

A thick napped roller 1/2 inch or more has the best paint coverage.
A painter recommended paint brush for cutting with.
Painters tape (yes the blue stuff).
Spackle, I used Dirdex spakle it goes on pink but dries white, genius
Chalk for wood trim. If you are painting wainscoting you need to chalk between the wall and the wood, it creates a smooth edge and it looks like a professional painted it (remember the goal is to make the paint job look like a professional did it).

#4: act like you have nothing but time to spackle and paint. Or just take your time. I probably spackled at least 1000 holes (yes, you read that right) then I sanded them. It was not fun, but I kept up with it.

As I painted, I found unspackled holes and I had to spackle while I painted. That was the worst part. At least I knew it was dry when it turned white!

There were also these times when I would paint and I would come back to paint a second time and there was a drip. I apparently am not perfect, but I tell you I must have looked over where I painted 10 times to see if there were drips and there were NONE until the next day! What's up with that? And guess what?

I brought out the dremel sanded it and repainted it. Remember a professional would not have drip marks.

I used my foam roller as much as I could and used my paint brush for the corners. I had to paint two coats of primer and two coats of paint on both my island and my wainscoting. I really learned some patience.

Anyway, ALL that hard work and patience paid off. My island went from this.....