We don't want to start any huge projects before Christmas because we'll be hosting a bunch of gatherings in the next few weeks and the last thing we want is our guests to be walking into a construction zone. They half expect it from us, but we'll just say that's part of our present to them. Ha! Even still, there are quite a bit of small and quick things that are on our list. Painting the stairwell, possibly replacing that light, giving our dining room table a makeover (poor thing is so beat up!) and our interior doors.
^^I spy Faye Faye! The walls and trim are freshly painted, which made our doors stick out like a yellowed thumb. Painting doors is one of my least favorite things to paint. 1. The walls above kitchen cabinets (my back! my neck!) 2. ceilings 3. doors!! We recently painted all of the doors in Greta's room and the guest room with a brush and it was quite time consuming. Fortunately, Wagner Spray Tech reached out to us months ago to see if we'd be interested 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 house sprayer, the Flexio 890, a go.
We took the 4 interior doors upstairs out to the garage and gave them a thorough wipe down with some soap and water. The dust that settles onto those tiny ledges is astounding really. Once the doors were wiped down and dried we started painting. I used the same paint for the doors as I did for all the trim--off the shelf Clark+Kensington Designer White in semi-gloss. I only had half a gallon left so I was prepared to run to the store, but we made it!
I love a paint sprayer that doesn't guzzle paint and is quiet with little overspray. Really love it. We have had bad experiences with other paint sprayers guzzling paint or spitting it out at thee worst times, and we never have had any of that with either Flexio sprayers.
Here you can see the drastic difference between the fresh white going over the yellowed doors. It only took one coat, or about 10 minutes (!!), on one side. Total time saver. We let things dry for a good 5 hours before flipping the doors over to paint the other side so we didn't risk nicks.
I don't have true before and afters because we just couldn't bring ourselves to putting our pitted and scratched hardware back on, what looked like, our brand new doors.
So, we ordered new knobs and we're still waiting semi-patiently for them to get here.
Clean white doors feel good with our without hardware. And you know? Painting doors is not a horrible job anymore. We'll end on this picture for all of you that like playing "I spy." Yes, the shelves are finally reloaded. Haha. And I think that is a Greta sock under the bench. And that mess in the mirror is just real life, you know. I did not intend for this to be a two part project post, but since I am shooting our house tour video for later this week, I needed to get this half of the project up. Can't wait to get and share our hardware pick soon!
This post is in partnership with Wagner SprayTech. We were gifted the Flexio 890 (would be a great gift for anyone! wink wink), and every word is ours. Thank you for supporting the companies that support us!
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How much did you thin the paint with the Flexio 890?
Thanks
You don't need to thin it at all!
Wow that looks great! My husband and I just bought a house and we tried borrowing my parents paint sprayer but theirs clogged up :( Now we're in the market for a new one so I'll have to check this one out!
Thanks for the tips! I have been wanting a sprayer for years...this may be the project that makes us finally pull the trigger. Yes, it is sooooo time consuming. The doors were painted in our heated garage, so I have no idea why they are acting wonky. We used all the same hinges and knobs. Frustrating!
I love when my projects coincide with others! Did you have any trouble rehanging them? We are in the midst of rolling our previous wood doors to black. Between the finish showing every roll and speck of dust - we may be going white (and my husband may be filing for divorce:-). And if the paint issues weren't enough, they are not going back on quite right. Ugh. Any advice is greatly appreciated!
Do you have a paint sprayer? It would go so much faster! And interesting about the doors not going back on quite right. Did you update your hinges? Do they match the old shape exactly. Or, if the doors were hanging out in the garage, they might need a day to acclimate back to your homes' temperature.
Which of the 2 wagner sprayers would you recommend purchasing? We aren't the avid DIYers that you all are, but have a need for a sprayer to help in painting some furniture.
And did you use oil based paint or latex paint when you painted Faye's crib? A crib is one of the things we need to use the sprayer for!
Latex. Check out this post for the step by step: https://chrislovesjulia.com/2013/12/the-easiest-way-to-paint-crib-giveaway.html
For furniture, I'd go with the Flexio 590. It's super portable and great for those tight details. We used it to spray our cabinets and Faye's crib. Couldn't say one bad thing about it.
Is that a peep hole on the nursery door?
Yes! Funny, huh. It was there when we bought the house.
So fresh!
My boyfriend and I are moving into a fixer-upper and EVERYTHING in this two-story home will need painting -- walls, doors, ceilings, you name it :)
As the whole place will be empty (we are replacing floors/baseboards, etc.), would a paint sprayer work everywhere? Or are there benefits to brushing? I want this place to look fabulous, so if extra hours doing everything by hand are needed, bring it on.
Brushing and rolling are faster ONLY if you have a fully furnished house. We sprayed my last studio for this exact reason. The carpet was going and the room was empty. Spraying is definitely faster if you don't have to worry about floors and furnishings. Tape off the windows and enjoy the fastest paint job of your life.
This is probably covered in pasts posts or ya know..google or somewhere, but can you use a sprayer for walls as well? I have so much painting to do. SO MUCH. At 22 weeks pregnant those paint rollers or hours of brushing isn't exactly calling my name!
Oh my gosh, YES! We actually sprayed my studio in our last house. We were tearing up the carpet anyway so didn't have to protect it. Just taped off the window and went to town. So fast. It's my favorite.
Good call on ditching the shiny brass doorknobs! Did you consider any other colors before choosing black hardware? A brushed gold similar to the mirror and hooks in the entryway would've have looked really nice.
We considered it all! I suppose that's for another post, but the hardware isn't just for this little nook. It's for every door in the house. I'm excited to share our favorites and what we decided on.
I notice you painted the doors in the garage. I have some doors I'd like to paint but was thinking the garage might be too cold for painting now that Michigan winter has started. But Utah must be similar temperatures. Is painting in a cold space not an issue for drying/curing? Thanks!
We put a little space heater in the garage for this project, but if you don't have one of those, putting some Floetrol paint additive (we picked up some at Ace for our crib painting project last year since it was so cold!) is designed to help paint cure in cold temperatures.
Oops, forgot to ask: could you have used the other sprayer for this job? Why brush paint Greta's instead of spray? I'm such a paint novice - so many questions!
Good question! When we were painting the doors in Greta's room and the guest room, our friends were painting their cabinets and we let them borrow our 590 sprayer. Or we would have!
What a difference! It's such a basic change that freshened and (almost) completed the whole area. Inspiring me to get moving and touch up my walls like I've been meaning to for months.
PS I didn't comment on the sponsored post debate from a few weeks ago, but have to say, this is what sponsored blog content should look like! As you say in the disclaimer, it's a partnership - you and the company worked together to complete this ordinary home project. Keep 'em like this please :)
Thank you! This is the direction we are headed with sponsorships. Working with companies that naturally fit into our projects and give us complete freedom over how we use products. It feels like us.