Noticed how I used to DIY paint jobs vs. now after that one time in my kitchen

Tbh I used to just slap on a coat of primer and call it a day. But after painting my kitchen cabinets last spring, I realized I was skipping the sanding and cleaning steps completely. That backsplash area looked rough after 6 months with chips and peeling everywhere. Now I spend a full hour just prepping the surface before any paint touches it. Has anyone else totally changed their painting routine after a failed project?

3 comments

3 Comments

julia54919d ago

Oh man, I was totally that person too. Thought primer was optional and sanding was overkill. Did my bathroom vanity two years ago and it looked great for maybe a month. Then the paint started bubbling up around the sink. Total nightmare to fix. Now I'm religious about cleaning with TSP and using a tack cloth before anything else.

nora11019d ago

Total nightmare to fix" is right... I still have flashbacks to my kitchen cabinet job where I skipped sanding and thought "eh, it'll be fine." It peeled so bad within weeks I had to strip everything down to bare wood. Lesson learned the hard way, man. Now I'm that person who spends three days prepping for a one-day paint job. Tack cloths are honestly my new best friend, I buy them in bulk and use way too many.

reesel5019d ago

My roommate learned this the hard way when she painted her bathroom trim without even wiping the dust off first. It was peeling within two weeks and she had to sand it all off down to the primer. Now I keep a spray bottle of denatured alcohol in my kit for surface prep before every job. That stuff cuts through grease and grime way better than soap and water ever will. The real trick nobody talks about is checking your humidity levels too, I ruined a whole dresser painting on a muggy summer day and it never cured right.