It's that time again! Welcome to 10 Paint Secrets Part Three! You can catch up on Part One and Part Two if you missed them earlier this year. For part three, I'm sharing a few of my own trusty paint tips as well as a few new tips that were sent to me by readers (that I eventually tested and out loved). Enjoy! #1. How to spray paint glass One of my favorite budget decorating ideas is to buy glass vases at the thrift store and spray paint them to mimic ceramic. It's cheap, looks great, and can update just about any sort of thrift store vase. To paint glassware, wipe the entire thing with isopropyl alcohol about 10 minutes before you spray paint it. I use this high gloss white spray paint (affiliate link) and with just a few light coats, it turns out super shiny, almost like white ceramic. I wouldn't recommend washing it in the dishwasher, but if handled carefully, it should last for awhile. Here's an example...I spray painted a glass vase I picked up for $1, and used it on the blue dresser. #2. Use a dollar store shower curtain as a dropcloth. After painting more than 20 pieces of thrift store furniture, I've gone through way too many expensive drop cloths. And then I figured out that dollar store shower curtains make a totally decent drop cloth. And they cost a dollar. Pick up a few and say goodbye to the days of spending $30 on a canvas drop cloth that won't even fit in the washer. #3. Put your paintbrush in the fridge. This is a tip that a reader sent me. And it's genius. Basically, when you are done painting for the day, just put your paintbrush in a ziploc bag and store it in the fridge. The paint doesn't dry on your brush for up to a week, and you save tons of time not having to wash the paint out of your paintbrush. I painted an entire house by myself before learning this. WHY. #4. The oil versus latex test When painting over existing paint, it's super important to know if the old paint is latex or oil. If you don't know, you can figure it out with this simple test. Just rub a cotton ball soaked in rubbing alcohol over the painted surface. If some of the paint comes off onto the cotton ball, the surface is latex. If not, the surface has been painted with an oil based paint. If it is oil based, make sure to use oil based primer before starting. See my tips on oil vs. latex paint here. #5. The cardboard box trick Use a cardboard box to prevent overspray when spray painting small items. It's simple and it works. And Jesse thanks the reader who suggested this to me, since our yard no longer looks like it's been graffitied. #6. Use tacks to elevate small objects when spray painting. Use tacks to prop up small items when spray painting so that the paint can fully cover it. This works especially great for frames, which is something I frequently spray paint. #7. Repair dents on old furniture with wood filler to create a smooth paint finish. Just fill in any dents with wood filler and once it's dry, sand it smooth with some fine grit sand paper. It's easy to do, and will make your paint job look professional. You can see some wood filler in action here. #8. How to paint the door and NOT the hinges. I've painted 15 doors in this house, and I swear by this tip. Instead of removing the doors before I paint them, I just cover up all of my hinges with painter's tape, then use an exacto knife to remove the excess. Then I can paint the doors while they are still attached to the frame, and I don't get paint all over the hinges. It's a total timesaver. #9. The easiest way to gold leaf. Remember when I silver leafed that entire desk and it was a total nightmare (even though it turned out kinda awesome)? Well, since then I've been searching for an easier alternative and I finally found it...Liquid Leaf (affiliate link). It almost looks like the real thing. And although that jar looks tiny, a little goes a really long way. You can see an example of when I used some Liquid Leaf to make art here. #10. Get rid of brushstrokes forever. This is my favorite tip and totally changed the way I paint. To get rid of brushstrokes, just add a little Floetrol (affiliate link) to your latex paint. It's seriously as easy as that. CAN I GET AN AMEN. That's all for today! Thanks for sharing all of your great tips with me. And thanks for being here. To see part one of this series, go here, or for part two, go here. Follow my blog with Subscribe to LiveLoveDIY with email! Enter your email address:
