Get Ready

Welcome home landing crew  - this is episode lucky number 42  and I definitely have the answers to life, the universe, and everything - right here. How’s your day going? It is sunny and hot here in Brooklyn New York and I am hiding away in my air conditioned apartment with an ice cold seltzer, and thinking about you. And your DIY projects and more specifically all the seemingly small things you can do to keep your DIY & home upgrade projects running smoothly from start to finish. Snag free is where you want to be! Whatever you’re tackling - whether its a giant extreme home makeover style overhaul or you just want to make some minor tweaks  that will  end up having a major impact on how you feel about your space. If you’re like me I have a bunch of art that I want to hang that has just been leaning against a wall for a little too long, gotta get on that. BUT time and time again where projects either rocket into the stratosphere of success or potentially fail to launch is all in the preparation work. 

The corporate office buzz phrase “setting yourself up for success”  gets tossed around all the time a little too often, but  it’s over used because it’s true -the success of any project really is about plotting out everything that happens before the end result. It’s all the behind the scenes stuff - everything in between those before and after pictures. It’s the stuff you don’t take pictures of. Just like putting together a play, someone has to write the script, design the costumes, execute the lighting, set up the blocking, and then there are dress rehearsals galore- all before the magic of that opening night performance actually goes down.

I know for myself, I can get impatience with all the set up stuff - I just want the project to be done and dusted, and I get irritated when I feel like DIY projects are calling for too many fussy extra steps that I don’t see the value in -  but I’ve learned - both from working with clients and doing projects for my own home, that set up and prep work is not only what provides that big reveal ta-da moment,  but it’s also what keeps your new bookshelf from falling off the wall in the middle of the night. So we are going to walk through some of the most common things I see get left out of DIY projects that WILL have a major impact in the success and longevity of your next fearless DIY adventure.

One of the most common things people use to give their space a new look and feel is paint - whether it’s painting the walls, ceilings, furniture, or even the hardware on your bathroom cabinets - paint is affordable and who doesn’t love to dream up a new color for an item, especially once you realized you’re sick of the existing color, or it doesn’t go with your new coffee table. It can cause real obsession once you decide an items main contribution is providing pure eye agony to the space. So painting is an awesome way to make a big impact. I’ve done this in commercial projects too, especially when the client looking for cost saving strategies  - I’ve refinished all the bright brass in a lobby to sleek graphite. I’ve sent every filing cabinet in a two floor office off to be electro statically coated in gray to cover up the mix & match of 5 different colors from when two different branches combined. It makes a big difference, and if it saves something from going in the trash, it’s making you an Eco-Hero in world of interior design at the same time. Bravo!

As fun as it can be to watch videos of flower pots being spray painted and magically changing colors in a matter of video seconds - there are some essential prep steps that must happen if you want to love your paint project next year or frankly even next week.

Primer is the stuff you put on a surface that you’re painting before the paint right? And I see a lot of primer skipping or sometimes in the store you’ll see like paint with primer mixed in. air quotes. And I just want to go through what primer really is, why we use it, when you have to use it vs when you don’t have to use it.

More than anything, primer is a chemical conduit. It helps the surface that you’re painting better grip and adhere to the paint itself. Now a really good question would be why doesn’t the paint just adhere to the material that it is supposed to adhere to. Well let’s have a quick chemistry lesson, don’t fall asleep on me here - or do you actually, maybe you’ll still get the info via osmosis. Paint is a vehicle for pigment aka color and most paints are formulated to go on multiple surfaces and materials, so you might get a furniture paint that’s good for wood and plastic laminate, or even metal - because it’s really about the color and the finish of the paint. Finish is referring to whether its matte, glossy, eggshell, satin. You know that drill. It’s not soooo much about the adherence to whatever is being painted. There is certainly some consideration, but if it was the main focus of the paint- adding those components or chemicals would say probably quadruple the amount of paint bases available that you would have to select from, which would be confusing to consumers and it could affect the way the pigment looks - certain chemical reactions can cause oxidation and deterioration over time. So, you really want to keep the pigment as pure as possible.  

I’m trying to think of like a good common knowledge analogy for why these two things must be separate without getting too much into the chemistry of it I think that maybe a good analogy is like underwear. When I hear people make the case that primer should be incorporated into paint I have the same reaction as if someone was like well why aren’t your undergarments sewn into your clothes?

Because that sounds really silly, right?

I guess sometimes there are like exercise tops that have bras incorporated into them but they’re kind of annoying to get on and off and then you know that the elastic in one will wear out before the elastic in the other one does.

Typically, you want those under garments to be separate from clothing because they’re really performing separate functions. if you have one pair of underwear that you really like you might wanna wear it with different pairs of pants or if you have a pair pants that you really like you’re gonna want to wear it multiple days will be able to switch out your underwear. 

Primer is the exact same concept. It serves a different function then paint and you can use the same primer with different paints and you can use different primers with the same paint so potentially you can put the same paint on lots of different materials but then they would have different primers on them so, they would look the same but the chemical adherence would be correct for each material. Whew I hope I didn’t loose you with that analogy, I get it primers are really annoying but its important. I promise.

Primers are completely a must use in many instances  like when you are painting a piece of furniture. There are specific primers for metal, plastic laminate, and wood. If you don’t prime these surfaces - for plastic laminate and metal , because these surfaces are particularly smooth, the paint can have trouble really adhering and pool up in areas, and the finished painted surface may not look very smooth. For wood, depending on the species and existing finish, wood can be extremely pourous and you’ll notice your paint isn’t going very far because it’s all be absorbed into the wood - primer prevents that from happening and provides a smooth, ready to paint surface.

However, if you’re painting drywall like the walls or ceilings in your home there’s  a 99% chance that there’s already paint on your wall. And in that case the main reason you would use a primer is if there’s a darker color paint or like a bright color - some thing with a lot of pigment in it and you’re going with a lighter paint. So if you’ve got maybe a dark gray or even a really saturated color like a bright green in that case the primer isn’t really providing anything chemically, but it’s lightening the the wall so that the new color will take fewer coats. You could also use your actual paint as a primer in this instance but it’s can end up needing like two extra coats depending on the condition so I would recommend priming. If you’re painting a light colored wall another light color, you can skip the primer - hooray!

Another thing I see people skip on with painting projects is the use of drop clothes. Drop clothes are available in canvas or plastic and are huge sheets that protect flooring and furniture in the room while you’re painting. And I can’t see a plastic drop cloth without thinking of the tv show Dexter or the first episode of Twin Peaks, but they 100% are not intended for murder. 

Now, I have gone into painting projects thinking I will just be really careful, and not get any paint anywhere except the walls, right?? Somehow, I always end up with paint on my clothes, paint on the floor, and if it’s a really crazy day, paint on the furniture. The use of drop clothes gives you the wiggle room to be a little messy and not have to worry about scrubbing the floors later - it’s basically like using tin foil to line your sheet pans when you cook. It makes clean up SO easy.

I am a really big fan of using water or chalk based paints for my projects, but sometimes there are certain projects that call for the use of spray paint or oil based paints, and honestly either way - you want to make sure you have really excellent ventilation in whatever room you’re painting in. This can be as easy as bringing your project outside or in the garage with the door up - for us city dwellers it can be a little more tricky, but try opening the windows and gathering all the fans you have and turning them on high. And absolutely no spray paint indoors, unless you have one of those giant ventilated air booth specifically for spray painting. And the drop cloth rule applies double for spray painting - that stuff can really fly way farther than you think. Including your nose and mouth so please wear a mask, and clothes that are meant getting dirty.

Another thing that might seem like it doesn’t matter but actually makes a huge difference is if you are painting furniture like a dresser or anything that can be disassembled in any way - if you disassemble it, paint it, let all the paint completely dry based on what the paint says its cure time it, then reassemble the piece, you will have much better results. I often see people just diving in and painting something completely assembled but this can result in doors and drawers that get sealed shut by the paint. You can even get pooling of paint in the little cracks and crevices between parts and pieces and then you’ll be scrapping at it with an exacto knife and it’s not fun.

And on that note - there are two steps for paints to go from their liquid state to their solid state. Each step should have an approximate time listed out on the paint can, so there’s one time for drying to the touch and another time for the paint to fully cure. This is so important because when an item is dry to the touch, it’s usually okay to pick and move but it isn’t okay to put all your books or dishes on because they will leave an imprint unless the paint is fully cured. One very interesting thing is that latex wall paint actually has a curing time of 30 days, even though it dries to the touch in under and hour, but that’s one of the many reasons why latex wall paint should never be used to paint furniture because you will likely put something on top of your painted piece and it will cause discoloration and disrupt the finish of the paint and it is such a heartbreak.

Switching topics completely - one of the best investments I ever made in my career was buying a super wide, 35 foot measuring tape. I remember having various key chain sized tapes that I never seemed to feel comfortable using and then I got a real tutorial from a drapery installer. Measuring tapes that are skinny are extremely difficult to control - the wider the tape, the more rigid it is, which allows you to stabilize it  and bend it at a 90 degree angle for  for support when measuring things like ceiling heights and long distances. I will link some helpful videos in the show notes to this because it’s something you gotta see. 

Measuring is one of those things that I just can’t recommend enough, and there’s that old carpenter saying measure twice cut once, I’m more of a measure three times kind of person, I like to be 100% sure of what I’m working with. But where this can get tricky is knowing what to measure and when. It’s very dependent on the project you have, but you should understand the three main dimensions of any item you are bringing into your space - that’s length, width and height. It can be very helpful to mark out the dimensions of a new item with blue painters tape on the floor, to be sure you understand the foot print. This is helpful even when you are just ordering something new rather than taking on a full project. 

A major component of many home projects involves hanging things from the wall - floating shelves, anchoring tall bookcases, artwork, mirrors - and if you’re sick of trying to make 5 command hooks hold up a piece of artwork - it’s time to get comfortable using your wall to support all of your awesome projects. One thing I use all the time when I’m hanging something that is particularly heavy is a stud finder. This little device gets skimmed horizontally across your wall and gives a beep when it passes a stud. You can mark the location of your stud and drill into it anywhere vertically. The studs are the structure behind the dry wall and they can support heavy items like oversized mirrors and shelves. Using stud finder also provides endless opportunities for dad jokes. But one thing that can be limiting about using a stud is they are typically 16” apart, so there might not be a stud exactly where you want to hang something - especially if you are trying to get something centered over your sofa or lined up with another object in the room. 

This is were anchors come in super handy. Drywall  itself really can’t hold more than a typical 8x10 picture frame, so if you want anything larger, you’ll need to add a little support to help disperse the weight. There are tons of drywall anchor options - some are self drilling, some are super small, some are giant. The most common ones look like extra big plastic screws, and you’ll be able to select the one that’s right for you based on the weight of the object you’re hanging. You drill the anchor into the wall and then drill a screw into the anchor. This can be done anywhere in your drywall that isn’t in front of a stud, and can support up to around 50 lbs. 

If your home is prewar ie built before 1945, there’s a possibility that the wall you want to drill into isn’t drywall at all but is actually plaster. Plaster walls will crumble if you hammer a nail into them, so you’ll need to get specific anchors for plaster any time you hang something up, even if it’s as a light as polaroid. If you’re not sure what your walls are made of, you can find an inconspicuous spot and put a thumbtack into the wall. Drywall is soft and will be pretty easy to get the tack in, plaster is harder and crumbly and you’ll likely struggle to get the tack in the wall fully.

What are you favorite prep activities for home projects? You can message me on instagram at softlandpodcast or write a review on apple podcasts and let me know. Until next time, be excellent to yourself, stay grounded, and start that project you’ve been putting off! I’ll talk to you in the next episode.