Halfway through painting my living room I hit exactly 100 brush strokes on one wall - and it made me think about prep vs. finish work

I was rolling paint on my living room walls last Saturday and got curious about how many brush strokes it took for the cut-in work around the ceiling. I counted exactly 100 on one 8-foot wall before I finished the trim. It got me wondering - do you guys focus more on getting the prep work perfect so the painting goes fast, or do you think spending extra time on the finish makes the biggest difference? For me, that 100 strokes showed just how much of the job is detail work even when you think you're done. What's your take on where to put your energy?

3 comments

3 Comments

stella223d ago

Had a friend who skipped the prep work on his kitchen cabinets. Just slapped paint right on top of the old greasy finish. Looked fine for about three weeks, then the paint started peeling off in sheets like a sunburn. He ended up having to sand everything down twice and use a heavy-duty degreaser before he could even start over. Took him longer to fix it than if he'd just cleaned and primed right the first time. That 100 brush strokes you counted is basically the price of doing it right the first time instead of paying later.

wader713d ago

Bet your friend learned the hard way that grease repels paint like oil repels water.

ramirez.vera10h ago

Wait seriously it peeled off in SHEETS? Like whole sections just falling off the cabinet doors? That's wild, I would have lost my mind if that happened to me after all that work.