We weren’t planning on starting the nursery until after the new year, but here we are–painting the crib. I feel excited and sad at the same time. Especially when I watch old videos of Greta jumping around in her crib, like this one from 19 months:<
Oh squeeze that girl!!! So, about the crib–it’s so special to me because it was hers. I feel so sappy about so many of her things now as we have started prepping for another girl. And part of me doesn’t want to change a thing about the crib, but the bigger part of me that can only see gnaw marks all over knew that something needed to be done. Greta chewed her crib up and we had no clue about crib chew guards until it was too late. You can kind of see the pristine condition of the crib in its “before” state and the chewed up after below.
But, in case you need further proof, here’s what we were working with:
So, I swallowed my sentimental pride and got to work. Wagner sent us their newest paint sprayer, the Flexio 590 to try and we thought this was the perfect project to put it to the test. We have been around the paint sprayer block, and haven’t been thrilled with the options out there. Every one clogged or had so much overspray or didn’t seem worth the clean-up. As we shared on Instagram–this one was an entirely different story. We were surprised. Really, really pleasantly surprised. Cribs are kind of notoriously a pain-in-the-butt to paint. There are so many angles and crevices and prep, but our process went smoothly and pretty quick and turned out beautifully. Here’s what we used:
Maybe the most intimidating part about painting a crib is the idea of sanding everything down–so many edges! We skipped the sanding and picked up this TSP no-rinse substitute. It promises to prep previous painted, wallpapered, glossy, fresh, etc. surfaces for a new coat of paint or finishing without sanding. We followed the instructions on the back and just diluted it in some warm water and then washed the whole crib down with the mixture and then followed up with a towel to dry it off. No rinsing needed–on to painting!
When we painted our kitchen base cabinets navy blue in our last house, we used Benjamin Moore’s Aura line and really, really loved the finish and durability–not to mention the fact it was low-voc and had a good primer built in. We decided to use it again for the crib and went with “Simply White” in a satin finish.
One thing that we struggled with using other paint sprayers is the thinning required so it wouldn’t clog. And even when we felt like we thinned it more than enough eyeballing it, it still sometimes clogged. The Flexio590 boasts that no thinning is required for most paints, but comes with a handy thinning tool that measures exactly how much to thin if it is required (10% usually). Aura paint shouldn’t be watered down, and it probably didn’t need to be thinned with the Flexio, but since we were working in the garage in colder temperatures, we thinned the paint 10% according to the handy guide using Floetrol. Floetrol is great for helping paint in really hot or colder temperatures, helps eliminate brushstrokes when using a brush, and is great for thinning paint in a sprayer, too. It basically slows down drying times a little bit.
When it came time to actually use the sprayer, we used the detail attachment since we were working with so many small slats and were so impressed with how exact it was with hardly any overspray. There are several settings that adjust the power, from something with a lot of detail like a picket fence (or, hey! a crib!) to an entire house. We stuck between 1 and 3 throughout the whole project.
Worked like a charm.
We did 3-4 coats letting each dry in between over the course of two days. During the waiting periods, we just used painters tape to attach saran wrap to the front of the paint sprayer nozzle and it still never skipped a beat.
The finish is smooth and satiny. We really couldn’t be happier with the crib and the paint sprayer. We’re believers again. This one is good.
After we tried out the paint sprayer, fell in love and felt confident in recommending it, we heard that so many of you love the Flexio590 as well, or were pining for one for Christmas–we contacted Wagner to see if we could get one more to giveaway. Surprise! They said yee-esssss!!! You can enter to win the Flexio590 using the Rafflecopter widget below.
Happy Weekend. Any projects on your end?
This post was sponsored by Wagner. In addition to compensation, we were sent the Flexio590, but were not obligated to write a positive review or post regarding it.Â
I hope nobody actually tried this.
I came across this blog post a while ago as I’ve been experimenting with my Flexio 890 that has exactly the same spray gun–I previously commented on the dozens of tests and poor results. I revisited this post to see what paint had been used and I picked some up. For kicks, I just tried exactly what they describe here, despite my skepticism, since I had already tried scores of other mixes plus what they describe here is contrary to anything Wagner suggests. More specifically:
1) Benjamin Moore Aura is a pretty thick paint and 10% Floetrol described will not thin it sufficiently for the Flexio detail spray gun. I tried 2 oz. Floetrol in the 20 oz. Flexio paint cup and it was far too thick to spray. It was splattery as I expected. The 890 that I have has a more powerful turbine than the 590 described but it still couldn’t properly atomize the paint into a spray.
2) Per the Flexio manual and speaking to Wagner support, paint MUST be thinned for the detail gun. Two problems: First, Floetrol isn’t a thinner, it only changes the viscosity of paint, extends drying time, and helps paint to level out from brush strokes or roller texture (and theoretically any spray texture). It can keep your sprayer’s tip from clogging and aid in sprayer clean up (it does). For spraying, Floetrol is primarily targeted to airless sprayers that handle nearly all paints with no trouble, but it doesn’t thin the paint enough for this particular gun. The second problem is that C&J correctly say that Aura can’t be thinned with water. So, this mix really isn’t a good option for the Flexio. (It brushes well, however.) Also, Aura’s directions specifically mention using an airless sprayer.
3) Since they mention their spray gun setting, I tried several settings with the spray gun and none worked (since this paint mixture is too thick). Wagner suggests using higher air flow with thicker paints (typical for all sprayers, like high water pressure through a nozzle turns water to mist), but that is not what is described in the post. They say they used lower settings according to the 590’s dial suggestions. Either way, no setting on my Flexio sprayed this mix well, it’s just too thick. Rough splattery textures were the results, only the size of the splatters changed.
4) I spoke with Wagner support and they confirmed everything I mentioned here regarding thinning, Floetrol,and air flow settings as well as everything that I had tried in my unsuccessful attempts at getting furniture quality finishes. They could offer no further suggestions beyond what I had tried.
5) Do bear in mind this is a sponsored blog. They are compensated and get these products for free from manufacturers. It’s stated in the fine print, and they say they aren’t obligated to post positive reviews, but it’s worth being street smart and being skeptical up front. That’s why I tried this myself before you do. You can make up your own mind.
So I really don’t know what is happening in this blog. I have the same spray gun and paint mix and it doesn’t work (I knew it wouldn’t when I saw how thick Aura is and that you can’t thin it). At least Aura brushes well, so I can get on with painting my trim pieces and finish my project while my Flexio goes back in the box.
Thank you for posting
How in the world did you get that finish, especially with only 10% Floetrol? I’ve spent the last two days spraying dozens of scrap trim pieces with my Flexio 890 and am getting terrible results. I’ve tried every setting and various thinning ratios. I just tried Floetrol and it was the worst yet, like spraying glue. I really, really want to know how you did this.
this looks like an awesome tool for painting. I may have to invest in this product. I paint almost every other day but with hand painting, as I create my art work that I sell. I am about to tackle a bigger painting project though and paint my concrete patio area a with a stenciled stone look that requires spraying it on and this item sure beats using spray cans. great review, thanks about alerting us to this companys products
[…] Wagner Flexio 590: I’ve sung its praises before when we painted our crib and cabinets and I will again and again. We’ve tried several other paint sprayers with […]
[…] in trying out another one of their paint sprayers. Since we used (and loved!) their Flexio 590 when we painted Faye’s crib a year ago, we were definitely on board and thought this would be the perfect project to give their power […]