Wall paint on EVERYTHING... but the walls

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MrsStark

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Hi Everyone!

I'm being a bit facetious in the title, but it's still pretty accurate..

The previous homeowners not only picked out the most atrocious wall colors I've ever seen, but also in my opinion, the wrong paint type for the job, and got it EVERYWHERE. For the most part I've gotten the several year old dried paint out of the carpets, but the baseboards/trim is another story.

Were wanting to paint all the wood surfaces in the pictures white, which is essentially all the baseboards/trim throughout the house. But this gives me the feeling that any imperfections, like dings and nicks, in the surfaces are going to be incredibly visible if I don't take care of them now.

1? What's the best method to remove the massive amounts of paint splatters that will still leave the
wood in good shape to paint?


2? Are there any recommended paint preparation steps I should take before tackling this house-wide
paint job?


3? Would it be worthwhile to fill in the imperfections like I'm thinking since we're wanting to go
white?

My hopes are that this will be a flawless undertaking, that will leave me with smooth brushmark-less white trim, but I have a gut feeling that I'm going to be left with the complete opposite.

Thank you for any help and advice!!


Office - Baseboard.JPGOffice - Window Sill.JPGLiving - Lower Left Bay Window.JPGBathroom - Cabinets 02.JPG
 
Wealth is in the eye of the beholder.

Proper preparation =.
You'll need to familiarize yourself with 0000 steelwool, 220 grit sandpaper and angular sash tools.
The drywall repairs have already been discussed.
 
Pick one small room or one closet even as a starting point to learn about your home and to home your skills where they will be least noticeable.


Most of the time trim like you have is very easy to remove, work on and then put back up. Painting up to carpet isn’t that much fun and resurfacing drywall is a lot easier to do if the trim isn’t in place. Trim is also not that expensive and yours is dated and changing it to something new is not out of the question. It is about a DIY level 4 from 1-10 IMO.


Plan on spending most of your time on prep work and the least on painting. That happens to be just the opposite of what the last owner did.


Clearly understand what your expectations are in advance and then work to that end. For example in a kids bedroom you want it to look nice, but you might not care if the trim is dated or there are a few signs of wear and tear as there are going to be more. Where the living room you might want to spend a few 100 extra and make it a show place.


You might be afraid to rip out and replace / repair the trim in a whole house but doing it inside one closet might not be as scary and by the time you see how that goes you will feel ok about doing a small bedroom.
 
If your just going to paint over that old stained and sealed trim all the woodwork is going to have to be sanded anyway.
Only need to sand it enough to get a flat surface, all the old paint does not need to come off.
Once sanded your going to have to use a bonding primer and two coats of paint.
Just my personal opinion but I'm not a fan of ranch style molding, (makes it look dated to the 70's) and I'm really not fond of having to paint trim buried in carpet.
If it was mine I'd be removing all that old baseboard trim, buying new primed colonial baseboard, light sanding with 220 grit paper, pre painting it two coats of semigloss, then cutting and installing it.
Once installed fill the nail holes with Fast N Final and touch up paint.
Far easier than trying to fight cutting in at the wall and carpet three times.
 
That's funny Bud, you and I where thinking and typing the same thing at the same time!
 
I've been round and round on this one topic many times with homeowners mostly in older homes.
EG: There's about 10 layers of poorly painted trim, it's all dinged and dented, you know there's going to be old lead paint to deal with and they want to keep it because it's "original".
"It's 1 X 4 pine and painted, nothing special about it)
"Can't you just fill in the low spots and sand it."
Sure can if your willing to pay me by the hour and take twice as long to do a simple job and not have it come out as nice as replacing with new.
I've had the pleasure believe it or not dealing with two realtors that sometimes buy houses that have been on the market far to long for a lower price.
First thing they do is tell me to remove and replace all the old flat panel laun doors, any plywood cabinet doors, get rid of the ranch molding.
House sells in a few weeks for far more than the cost to do it.
 
@joecaption


I hear ya. My first house about 40 years ago was a 120 year old farm house. It was made modern in the 60’s by the owners with light fixtures that looked like Star Trek and drop ceilings, shag carpet and the whole deal. My goal was to make and keep it original. Under the carpet was poor pine floors that were heavily patched. I wasted a lot of time and effort thinking I could sand them into things of beauty. The trim had fifty layers of paint and God only knows how much lead I sucked in stripping them with a heat gun, only to find out they were made out of every kind of wood the farmer had on his land. After taking off twenty layers of wallpaper I find the lath and plaster 50% gone and in keeping it original I re-plastered half the house. In the end new floors went in over the old ones, the trim was repainted and the walls and ceilings didn’t look as good as if I striped them rewired correctly, insulated and drywalled them.


This last 150 year old house we did was just the similar but different. Ripped up the carpets and found chestnut floors. The window trim somehow made it 150 years and no one painted them but they had heavy varnish over beautiful dark hardwood. The plaster wasn’t to bad and it was much simpler and better to cover the ceilings with .5” drywall.


My suggestion to most people is to do it period correct inside the house. If it had real hardwood replace it with the same or better millwork. Outside I can’t see using original materials that will be hard to maintain. Windows need to be modern energy efficient. Insulation is a must. Etc etc.


There is a mixture of modern stuff with the correct look and feel. I tell people if you want it original then we need to put a outhouse in and get rid of the bathrooms.
 

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