Painting, wallpapering, etc

[warpus]

To answer all your questions without quoting:

I used a roller and tried to do straight lines of paint across, with a bit of overlap each time. But that was tough! I basically had to often double back and roll around so that the texture absorbed the paint properly. I overlapped a decent around to spread the paint around. And after like 30% of the ceiling was done, I thought to myself: "Maybe I'm using too much paint?", because more paint was gone from the tin than I anticipated. So I tried to cut down on the paint a bit (but not a ton). Maybe that was my mistake? The part where I started looks a lot better, the problem parts are all a bit further down the ceiling.

I don't have enough paint left for a full second coat (and this paint was supposed to last for 2 rooms!), but yeah, I think the spots might be not enough paint in some spots? It's hard to say. I love the new colour, it's a brilliant sort of white that almost shines, but it's not annoyingly white. It's perfect. The colour underneath was a bit more off-white, I don't think it's been painted in like 30 years. So I'm hoping that this is all this is - not enough paint used in some parts.

What I'm worried about is that I'm now going to apply a fresh coat over the problem parts.. and that it's going to lead to new lines appearing, because some spots are now going to have more paint than others. Is that a possibility? I will try to spread the paint our so that there are no "edge lines" with extra paint. Will try to smooth it all out, and hope for the best.

I will have to buy more of this paint for the other room now.. but damn! Ceiling painting can be a nuisance. At least the textured pattern is fine! I ran my fingers over it before deciding if I need a seal or not, and it seems rock solid, so I didn't get one. And that seems to have been the right call, as none of the texture came off as I was painting.

 

[Gori the Grey]

What I'm worried about is that I'm now going to apply a fresh coat over the problem parts.. and that it's going to lead to new lines appearing, because some spots are now going to have more paint than others. Is that a possibility?

I myself don't think you have to worry terribly much about this. In retrospect, we maybe should have encouraged you to use a primer as you first coat. Now your first coat is your primer coat. Your second coat will be smoother. In two respects. It will go on more smoothly, and it will be more visually even. Ceilings (or walls) that haven't been painted for a long time can drink in a lot of paint on a first coat. Less on the second. If you have 40% of your can, I bet that would be enough for the second coat.

Wait until others confirm what I say; you're getting advice from a lot of us.

 

[Aiken_Drumn]

tried to do straight lines of paint across, with a bit of overlap each time.

Yeah this is the issue boss. Wants to be randomised with a roller. Don't be scared of going up, down, left, right and slowly working across.

The overlap received double the paint each time so made the stripes

 

[Gori the Grey]

Aiken gives you good advice. Find the videos that show you the "M" (or W) method of applying paint:

 

[Core Imposter]

There is some critical mass of pigment you have to apply to cover the surface without lines, shadows, bleeds and whatnot and you simply haven't gotten there yet. The second coat will take less paint. Paint in zigzags or whatever, if the first coat is dry there should be no danger of pulling the texture off at this point. When you are done it will look like you knew what you were doing.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Using a brush over the lines will not leave new lines.

 

[warpus]

Yeah this is the issue boss. Wants to be randomised with a roller. Don't be scared of going up, down, left, right and slowly working across.

The overlap received double the paint each time so made the stripes

That's sort of what I ended up doing more and more as I was painting. I should have been doing more of it.

The ceiling is DONE. Remainder of paint was enough for a second coat. It's not PERFECT, but I think some of what I'm seeing might be shadows, as opposed to paint imperfections. It's tough to say. The window isn't covered at all and gets a lot of sun, and we have removed the curtains. When I stand by the door (opposite side of the room), the lines look a lot better than after the first coat.. but I can still see them. I also see a couple other imperfections from another corner of the room (where my reading chair will be). But not many and that's with the window wide open, with zero curtain cover. With the window wide open and lots of sun shining I see two spots that could be improved a bit. But like I said, it's better than after the first coat.

I got my roommate and my mom to hold a curtain over the window, and I walked around the room. I couldn't see any of the lines or imperfections. That convinced me to announce the ceiling painting as being DONE instead of opting for a third coat. The sun is usually beating down from that side of the house and so the blackout curtains will usually be covering the window. I had heating/cooling issues in my house and so a part of the remedy was to buy blackout curtains for all the windows that get the most sun action. That has helped keep the house cooler in the summer.. So.. in the summer at least, the curtains will be shut and the ceiling will seem perfect. In the winter, who knows. I usually keep the curtains shut out of habit. So that will probably be the deal going forward. But fudge it, let's move on, this ceiling painting business was giving me headaches. Time to move on with the project, we washed the window, filled the holes in the wall with gunk/whatever that stuff is, cleaned some walls for tomorrow's wall painting plans, and did a couple more things.

I am not looking forward to painting the ceiling in the other room AT ALL. But it will have to be done.

 

[Gori the Grey]

Wait until it is completely dry before making any judgments.

Also, no one looks at ceilings. Even if any imperfections remain, you will be the only person who ever notices them.

 

[Cutlass]

Painting a ceiling is hard. It's physically strenuous, and it's just difficult to do well. Don't be afraid to use a full gallon of paint on a modest sized room. If the old ceiling is yellowish, there might have been a smoker living there at one time, and that can take a primer to cover before the paint. But even over 30 years just the stuff in the air will yellow a paint, including cooking smoke. Or bits of smoke on the air when the windows were open. It's natural.

 

[warpus]

Wait until it is completely dry before making any judgments.

Also, no one looks at ceilings. Even if any imperfections remain, you will be the only person who ever notices them.

I think it's dry now, but I will take another look tomorrow. And you're right, I hardly ever look at ceilings, but.. the thing is.. now that I know about the lines, if they were visible with the curtains closed, I would always *know* that they are there.. I don't know if I have OCD tendecies or what, it feels related, I don't want to self-diagnose either.. but either way.. if the lines were there, I they would always bug me forever. This room is being built as a library, a place where I can relax and read, the paint will be a relaxing light blue, I will be surrounded by my books and maps on the walls, I wouldn't want the ceiling to distract from this purpose. And it seems that it won't, so I'm happy with the outcome.. although "painting ceilings" is now something I will never want to do again lol.. aside from that second room.. which I'm not looking for

Painting a ceiling is hard. It's physically strenuous, and it's just difficult to do well. Don't be afraid to use a full gallon of paint on a modest sized room. If the old ceiling is yellowish, there might have been a smoker living there at one time, and that can take a primer to cover before the paint. But even over 30 years just the stuff in the air will yellow a paint, including cooking smoke. Or bits of smoke on the air when the windows were open. It's natural.

Yep, the ceiling was quite dirty overall. But the paint was at least more uniform than it is now. The dirtyness didn't bug me because it wasn't uniform, aside from splotches, but the fact that I was responsible for the new coats of paint.. and that they had noticeable patterns to them.. that would just be like somebody poking my soul with a pointy stick each time I set foot in that room. Now I'm convinced that this will not be a problem, having seen the ceiling with the curtains shut.. so I'm happy overall.. but I was pretty worried for a while..

 

[Core Imposter]

Good job. And remember, don't let perfect be the enemy of the good.

 

[warpus]

We did it!!

Seems like I should throw a library warming party or something. And you are all invited

 

[Aiken_Drumn]

Add Julian May, The Many Coloured Lands to the Library and I'll be there in a jiffy!

 

[warpus]

Walls in the library painted mellow blue, a great success! Turns out this only needed one coat of paint. Brilliant! It needs a couple touchups by the ceiling, but after we realized that only one coat was needed, we painted the inside of the closet blue too. There's a shelf/storage unit going in there that will block 95% of the inside closet walls from view, but we figured.. might as well paint all of them and give those walls a fresh coat, they haven't been painted since the house was built I think.

The window has also been thoroughly cleaned, thanks to my amazing mom. We took the window out and she went to town on it. It's now super clean. I also picked out the chandelier for the room, although I am now googling if I can find the lightbulbs cheaper somewhere (all 8 of them) and if I anybody else is selling the chandelier. Also bought new outlet cover thingies, a new lightswitch, and have looked at a new vent cover. Might start installing the floor sometime this week, depending on how things go. Overall things are progressing well. Once the floor work begins, I can move all the floor panels to the library and continue work on cleaning up and prepping the office for the ceiling painting part of the project. which as we all know is my favourite of all time

 

[Birdjaguar]

We took the window out and she went to town on it.

She doesn't drive?