Alright landlords, after a tenant moves out of your property, how often do you end up doing some painting? Maybe not a full paint, but at least some touch-up painting. As a handyman, I see it a lot, and I'm talking nearly almost all move-outs.
In my experience with landlords smarter than I, the landlord will have us paint the entire interior with the most popular color of white paint, in semi-gloss.
Why the most popular color of white? Because it is likely to be around for a long time, so matching it should be easy. For the last several years, a very popular flavor of white paint has been swiss coffee. All major paint manufacturers have their version of swiss coffee, although it will have a different name.
Why semi-gloss paint? Because it is easy to wipe clean (which saves the landlord money over a re-paint), and it is easier to blend in when you do have to touch it up. Typically builders paint the entire house with flat paint (because it is slightly cheaper), with the exception of the wet areas (kitchen, laundry, bathrooms).
This seems to be a good strategy for not only landlords, but owner-occupied residences as well, particularly if you have small kids.
A nice finishing touch in a room is the paint. A big complaint that I hear from do-it-yourselfers is that when they are painting the wall one color and the baseboard a different color, the paint line between them is poor. You've probably seen them...due to the texture on the wall and the roughness of the baseboard, the paint is not very crisp.
What we want is a perfect line between the baseboard and the wall. This is easy to do with a thin bead of caulking and some tape. Use a tube of paintable caulking loaded in a caulking gun and squeeze a consistent bead of caulking along the top edge of the baseboard. The smaller the bead the better, as you don't want a big glob of caulking to paint. Take your finger and, starting in a corner, smooth the bead out along the entire perimeter of the room. If you lift your finger mid-baseboard, the paint will show it, so make one long continuous sweep. When you are done smoothing, let it completely dry.
Getting a perfect line between 2 colors of paint requires that you first paint one surface, let it dry, then paint the other. Which ever you choose to do first, paint beyond where you want the line to fall. For example, if you paint the baseboard first, paint a little of the wall too. Then, use blue painters tape, and in one continuous piece, cover the area you do not want to get the second color of paint on. The edge of the tape must fall on the caulking, so that both colors end up on the caulking. This is crucial because the smooth caulking will allow you to pull the tape and leave a perfect line.
Matching paint is tough. Two weeks ago I wrote about matching exterior paint for stucco. Well, more often I find myself having to match interior paint for a drywall repair, or just freshening dirty walls. You can have a perfect drywall patch and poor matching paint and the wall patch will look terrible. You can have a mediocre drywall patch and perfect paint, and the result is very nice. So how do you get a good paint match?
Most homeowners don't know how to color paint, which is why they make computers to do this for us. As long as the machine has been properly calibrated, the quarter-size sample you bring in can be matched. If you don't have a piece of broken drywall (that has the correct paint on it) laying around from your drywall patch, here is a little trick. You can go to an inconspicuous area, like a closet or down low on the wall, and cut out a paint sample. Now when I say cut out, I'm taking about making a shallow cut in the drywall just deep enough to peel off the paint and the top layer of drywall paper. Do this by using a utility knife and cutting about 1/16" deep into the drywall. This will cut through the paint, texture, and top layer of drywall paper. Make a cut about 1 ½" square...this will be big enough for the computer to match. Then take the blade and lift the corner of the cut and gently peel it off.
So you will have another small drywall blemish to fix and texture, but at least the paint should be a very good match. Here is some information on repairing drywall.
Doing some touch-up painting on the exterior of the house can be challenging. For the most part, a monkey is capable of holding a brush, sticking it in a paint bucket, and dabbing it on a wall. Not that I want to compare myself to a monkey, but let's just say it's not rocket science. So whether you've had some water damage, a stucco patch, or just plain want to freshen up the appearance of a stucco wall, a good paint match is a must.
Short of imitating Picasso and mixing your own colors, you will need to bring a sample of the paint to a paint store or home center. They can take your sample and have it computer matched to get it very close IF the machine is properly calibrated. They will need a sample about the size of a quarter or larger.
Don't try to chip out a piece of stucco for this as the light will hit the rough surface and give the machine fits. Instead, walk around the exterior of your house and remove a metal surface that has been painted the same color. A box cover, such as a cable TV cover, that has been painted will work great. These will be low to the ground and will remove with a couple of screws. Another choice, although larger and heavier, is the cover to the electrical panel. I would use this as a last resort though because of it's size, and because I don't want circuit breakers exposed to the elements, or the neighbors, any more than I have to. The paint store can mix a color and then dab a little on the box cover to see how close it is...and make any adjustments.
Even if you have an original container of the paint, you can get the paint codes from it and it will match exactly right? Not usually. Over time the paint will degrade, the sun will bleach the surface, or maybe it's just that the paint Gods are frowning on your project. It will typically take a patient paint store employee to get a good color match.
Painting is a great way to spruce up a room. Even painting just the baseboards can make a great change to a room. Just painting them a different color or sheen can really add some sparkle...and it's relatively cheap. There is always a little apprehension when painting around carpeting. How do you paint the entire height of the baseboard without getting paint on the carpet?
There are several ways to protect the carpet as you paint...drop cloths, plastic, paper etc. The trouble comes when the carpet meets the baseboard. You can use a large putty knife or broad knife and push the carpet down to get access to the bottom of the baseboard, but when you remove the knife the carpet tends to settle back to the baseboard and get paint on it anyway. If you try this, know that you must wipe off the putty knife after each time. It tends to accumulate paint and you will get paint on the carpet anyway.
So the best solution is to keep the carpet away from the wet baseboards until they dry. You can use 2 inch masking tape and run a strip loosely along where the carpet and baseboard meet. I say loosely because you want to let the edge of the tape touch (but not stick to) the baseboard about a half-inch up on the baseboard. You will take a putty knife and push the tape in between the carpet and baseboard and then pull the other side of the tape towards the middle of the room. Then secure the tape to the carpet by pushing it down onto the carpet. The finished product will leave a "V" shape as the carpet is pulled away from the baseboard via the tape. Just remove it after the paint is dry.