Kitchen Painting Syracuse New York

Donigan Painting- Syracuse New York
315-313-3254

For those of you who find painting your kitchen a daunting task here are some helpful tips to minimize common problems for the diy'er.  Picking the color and buying supplies is the easier part of the many steps to get it done right so it looks amazing and will last for years adding to your most valuable assets roi.

First, do not buy cheap materials.  Sure you can go to the discount depot and buy brushes, a nap, roller frame, painting pan, tape etc but ultimately it will cost you time because the cheaper stuff, although easier on your budget, does not provide good coverage-often breaks.  The old saying you get what you pay for applies here.  If you want to get the best coverage for your buck go at least middle of the road on your supplies and buy them from a reputable store whether it's a big box or a paint store you will get a higher quality product that will save you a huge headache and a lot of time running back and forth to get what you need to now fix mistakes from cheap equipment-materials.  Buy a good angle sash 2.5 brush, a cut can, roller frame, 3/8 nap, roller pan/inserts,  blue tape, a drop cloth, plastic to cover furniture, a five, wall spackle for nail holes, sand paper, painters caulk, caulk gun, rags, an extension pole, a step ladder, flat head screwdriver. 

Typically when painting a kitchen people prefer a paint with a bit of a shine-luster.  Keep this in mind when you are choosing paint.  Sheens range from flat-matte-eggshell-velvet-satin-semigloss-gloss.  Depending on how  shiny you'd like it and the degree to which you want to be able to clean it these will factor into your choice.  Next how much paint will you need for your room?   A gallon of paint covers about 300 square feet.  Once you know your rooms dimensions to be painted you will arrive at your square foot number.  Next will it be a light color or dark color?  Depending on what you choose your kitchen repaint may need 2-4 coats of paint to cover correctly.  This means you may need to apply a primer coat or two to achieve the desired finish and buy more than just finish paint. Beyond the walls will you be painting the ceiling, molding, doors?  If so plan on buying more paint to suit your taste.  In a kitchen some customers like flat bright white on their ceilings and others like a semi-gloss.  That's up to you.  With molding and doors due to their constant use-traffic you want a highly durable paint other than what you are putting on your walls.  For these it's recommended you use an enamel.  Enamels setup harder than your latex wall paint and provide a surface coat that will take a beating and clean right up. 

So now you have everything you need.  Let's start with the process:

1.  Remove all switch-outlet plates, curtains, hardware, screws, nails
2.  Remove all your keep sakes and kitchen counter clutter
3.  Center your furniture in the room so you can move around easily
4.  Cover your furniture with plastic
5.  Tape out and cover counter tops, cabinets, lights, door knobs, appliances
6.  Fill nail holes and caulk cracks in molding
7.  Repair any dings-dents-scratches
8.  Sand all surfaces to be painted so the paint adheres correctly
9.  Wipe down and thoroughly clean the sanded surfaces
10.  Cut in your ceiling and apply two coats of finish paint
11.  Cut in your walls and apply two-four coats of finish paint depending on color choice
12.  Allow 24 hours for paint to properly dry and setup
13.  Tape out walls along molding
14.  Apply two coats of enamel to molding-doors allowing for 3 hours dry time between applications
15.  Remove tape and plastic
16.  Replace furniture
17.  Reinstall hardware, covers
18.  Clean area

These are some basic steps for a top notch paint job that will last for years.  Keep in mind rolling the paint on, for the inexperienced, causes what we call ropes or lines from the roller on the wall.  When you are finished applying the paint on an area you need to back roll/blend what you just painted to achieve a perfect complexion.  Be careful of runs-sags-drips-splatter as you go.  Depending on your color choice you may have to cut in more than once.  Although it may seem daunting to paint your kitchen following these procedures and buying right will cut out half of the headache that goes with new territory or a revisited past time of doing it yourself.

Bill Donigan
Donigan Painting
224 Ross Park
Syracuse, NY 13208
315-313-3254
doniganpaintingco@gmail.com
http://doniganpainting.webstarts.com/