April 25, 2024

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Body and Interior

Ask Danny | Ep. 3: Answers on All Things Painting

Split image of Danny Lipford and Tracey Amadio
In this episode of “Ask Danny,” Tracey Amadio features her suggestions and methods for portray.


In Episode 3 of “Ask Danny,” painting expert Tracey Amadio shares her recommendations and methods for getting the excellent paint occupation. 


Tracey Amadio of Porch Daydreamer
Tracey Amadio, a.k.a. the “Queen of Portray Everything” is passionate about painting! (Courtesy Tracey Amadio)

About Tracey Amadio

Tracey Amadio is passionate about painting. She takes advantage of skills from her house enhancement vocation to instruct Do-it-yourself projects, dwelling design, and painting methods on her web site Porchdaydreamer.com.

Tracey’s followers have topped her the “The Queen of Portray Everything” due to the fact there is nothing she won’t paint!

Her superpower of shade memory and extensive heritage of colour craze evaluation is mixed to obtain the perfect paint colours for you.

Her mission is to get the pain out of portray and decorating with her easy-to-recognize tutorials.

Tracey was named a 2021 Better Houses & Gardens Stylemaker and her get the job done has been featured in HGTV, Improved Properties & Gardens, Very good Housekeeping, Place Living, Apartment Therapy and more.


Open paint cans of white, blue and green on a wood background
Colour pigments, additives, resins and carriers determine the value of paint. (annastories)

Paint Prices

Why is some paint a lot extra highly-priced than other manufacturers and sorts?

Tracey: Selling price matters… to a position.

Numerous owners only focus on the paint color and really do not believe about what is blended in with the coloration pigments. Resins, additives and carriers — like water and oil — are critical elements that will make paint additional high priced. 

Increased-high-quality pigments and resins will make the expense go up, but you are going to have better protection. The center price tag point is the most effective alternative to decide on. 

Recall: Top quality perception is dictated by the individual who’s making use of the paint. A specialist may perhaps want a thinner paint since they’ll be working with a sprayer, but a home owner usually wishes a thicker paint for the reason that they’ll be masking a wall with an additional color or painting a piece of furniture. 

Spending a little extra on that greater paint is going to give you an less complicated application and less brush strokes. Also, the paint will dry to a superior, more tough complete.


Hands holding up a sample of paint color swatches against a wall of paint swatches
Choosing a paint coloration can be mind-boggling. Come across an item to start your colour palette and function from there. (Feverpitched, Getty Photographs)

Choosing a Shade

Can you give some steering on how to pick a paint colour?

Tracey: When choosing a paint coloration, start off with the shade you want to foundation your palette all over. It could be a piece of cloth, a rug, a plate, something that will help you hone onto the colour you want.

Acquire it to the keep with you to select the correct paint. Also foundation it on the volume of light-weight in the place, if it a darker much too choose a  lighter paint color and sop forth.

I have a totally free guidebook you can obtain. 6 simple steps to picking a paint coloration.

Also, take into consideration the lights in the area you are painting. If you have a darkish home, lighter paint, if you have a light-weight room, you can go with a darker paint shade, a mid-price paint is going to be ideal for most people.  

Right after you have an concept of what coloration you want, acquire a foam board and paint it with samples so you can transfer it all-around the place to see if it will perform for you. 

Take your time deciding before you decide a coloration. See how the color samples look at distinct situations of the working day. 


Hand painting wall trim with a paintbrush
A satin or semi-gloss sheen is very best for trim and molding. (JodiJacobson, Getty Images Signature)

Deciding upon Sheen

What are the various kinds of sheen, and how should you decide a person? 

Tracey: I used to work at a paint desk, and I would typically see the “deer in headlights” glance when I asked what sheen a human being wanted. 

Sheen issues! It is truly much more vital than colour. 

There are 5 sorts of sheen: flat, eggshell, satin, semi-gloss and large-gloss. To establish what sheen you want, contemplate the home or project you are painting.

If you are painting a ceiling, you want a minimal-reflective paint to hide any imperfections, primarily the place the joints match up. A flat sheen is ideal for this. 

For partitions, you want a bigger sheen, like eggshell. Cooking splatters and accidental spills transpire, so you have to have a complete that is washable. 

When you scrub a flat paint, it burnishes it and helps make it shiny. Flat paint is fantastic for touchups but not for large-targeted traffic regions where by you need scrutability and longevity.

The greater the sheen, the more challenging the paint will be when it dries. I commonly proposed satin, at minimum amount, or semi-gloss for trim and molding. These sheens are however wipable but they’re much more long lasting, so they’ll stand up to scuffing and jarring. 

I never endorse a superior-gloss paint. The additional reflective a paint is, the additional flaws it’s heading to show. It’s also challenging to implement, so I would leave that to a skilled.


Paint brush swiping deep blue paint over faded blue paint on a wood wall
Exterior and inside paint can’t be interchanged. Usually paint the outside of your household with a paint rated for out of doors use. (Susie Hedberg, Getty Images)

Exterior Portray

What temperature is best for portray a home’s exterior?

Tracey: Most of the time, exterior paint just can’t be used in temperatures under 55-50 degrees Fahrenheit. You want to paint outdoors when there’s very low humidity and the temperature is average — amongst 55-75 levels Fahrenheit. 

Paint has a ton of water in it, so the much more drinking water in the air, the longer time it will choose the paint to dry. Let on your own 3 sunny times, if doable, for the paint to dry.

When portray your home’s exterior, only use paint which is rated for exterior use. Simply because exterior paint has to deal with temperature improvements after it’s dry, it’s fortified with particular resins and pigments for particular toughness. It can extend and deal to a degree that interior paint are unable to.

The best paint for exterior use is acrylic latex. I steer obvious of oil paints for the exterior. Oil paint is not easy to clean, and if you’re working with a white oil paint, it will yellow around time mainly because of the oil in it. 

Now, there is oil-enriched enamel paint that is water-based, so it is quick to clean up with soap and water like acrylic latex. This paint has oil molecules suspended within just it, and as it dries, those molecules activate to act like oil paint. The finish consequence is a floor which is really hard and sturdy with all the advantages and adaptability of latex paint. 


Black and green plastic outdoor furniture around a fire pit
Refresh plastic outside furnishings with a new coat of paint. (Jonathan Cooper/Pexels)

Painting Plastic

How do you paint plastic out of doors household furniture?

Tracey: I get a twin method to portray plastic household furniture. Utilize a bonding primer spray initial, then go over it with a standard spraypaint. 


Paint droplets on a beige carpet
(travellinglight, Getty Photos)

Even Specialists Make Blunders

Tracey: Even nevertheless I’m a paint professional, I occasionally go on line to see what other people today in the painting world are performing. 

About a year back, I resolved to paint my stair risers, which ended up stained and closely polyurethaned. 

A person blogger advisable liquid sandpaper, and I imagined that could conserve me a stage. I taped off the risers, used the liquid sandpaper and then painted on top rated of that.

When the paint was nonetheless moist, I pulled the tape off at a 90-degree angle. A whole piece of movie peeled correct off the stair riser, and the whole occupation was ruined! 

I acquired a tough lesson: Rely on my intestine and go with what will work. Use a deglosser, then use a bonding primer, then implement the paint.

My paint has stayed put and is vacuum-cleaner evidence as very well!


Power sander sanding a wood board
Sand away any imperfections before portray wood. (3 Echoes Information Studio)

Tracey’s Recommendations

  • Never ignore appropriate surface preparation. If you do, the paint will appear off. Get the surface area nice and clean up and sand any failing areas.
  • Use stain-blocking bonding primer if painting above a stain. If you never, the stain will rise up to the area and generate colour inconsistencies.
  • Pay back consideration to the re-coat time. A lot of persons assume dry time and recoat time are the identical. Typically, recoat time is more time than dry time. If you really do not wait the appropriate sum of time recommended by the company, the paint will adhere to alone and never totally dry. You close up with definitely tacky, sticky paint that is virtually unattainable to repair.  

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