Hello! This post is one that I’ve wanted to do for some time. If you know me, I’m always painting. Off the top of my head, I can list 10 different paints or primers that I’ve bought in the last 4 months. And I still have 3 more rooms to paint!!! So here are my favorite paint tools that I have discovered and continually make painting an easier, cleaner and quicker process! If you want to be even quicker try wallpaper. If you’re in the Toronto area, check out the Mississauga Benjamin Moore store for some design ideas.
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PAINT CONTAINERS
HANDy Paint Pail // There is a rubber hand strap won’t let it come off your hand. The magnet near the top keeps the widest of paint brushes attached to inside of the pail without letting the brush go into the paint – ideal for when you need your other hand free to move something or go up and down a ladder. Make sure to buy a pack of the plastic liners. They make clean up a snap!
I loved the HANDy Paint Pail so much that I bought the HANDy Pro Pail and liners. You can use shorter rollers with this pail. True story, I bought the HANDy Roller Cup before I knew the Pro Pail existed. I didn’t like the handle, or that it didn’t have the magnetic strip, or that the bottom wasn’t flat all the way around.
I have metal paint trays and plastic paint trays. Personally, I think the plastic trays are much easier to clean up. I’ve got my eye on this 11″ plastic tray. If you prefer to use liners on trays, these are what I use.
BRUSHES
Purdy Paint Brushes. They are top notch quality. And if you are painting something in semi-gloss, high gloss, or painting furniture – you want to use nice brushes. Believe me, you will see a difference. If you take care of them, they will last a really long time.
Zibra Triangle and Corner Brush. When I did my hall closet in emerald green paint, this was the only brush I used. The triangle shape makes corners a dream. I never realized how much the shape of the brush will determine how the paint is distributed.
Zibra Square Moulding and Trim Brush. I did the front of my interior doors (and ALL of the moulding) with this brush. You can’t tell in the photo, but it really is a square shape and it’s angled. I did my baseboards in my hallway with this brush. The bristles are pretty bound, but still soft enough that you get a pretty smooth line if you’re a person who likes to skip the pre-paint taping process!
MISCELLANEOUS PAINT APPLICATORS
SHUR-Line Edger. These are a dream for doing the top of the wall at the ceiling. It has a place were you can screw in an extension pole and get those really HIGH places where you have vaulted ceilings. The trick to using one is to drop it bristle side down into a filled paint tray. Let it stay for one second and then pull it out. You want to get an even amount of paint on the entire surface. Too much and it will run. Too little, and you’ll have to go over it again.
The refill packs are pretty inexpensive, so I tend to just toss the used ones since they have probably had paint on them for a couple days if I was doing two coats on a full room.
These are my go-to rollers and roller frame for walls. If it’s something that I want to have a really nice finish, I use these rollers.
KEEPING IT CLEAN
These simple yellow rims click onto your gallon of paint and give you a clean pour without the mess of paint running down the side of the can or getting into the rim. They’re less than $1!
For less than $3, this last minute pick up when I was buying paint has become a fast favorite. I take off the lid of a gallon of paint and pop this silicone lid on and keep it on until the paint job is done. I’ve left it on for weeks when I was doing my interior doors and I could only do one side of the doors each day. They are air tight and spill proof. Bonus, you’ll never get paint gunked up in the rim of the paint can ever again!
Razor blades are a must to get paint off of windows.
Drop clothes to cover flooring and furniture.
Always keep a pile of clean damp and dry rags nearby for spills. I don’t buy new rags. I use cut up t-shirts or socks.
PREPARATION
Have nail holes in your walls? Or you’re like me and put a curtain rod up without anchors and then then the curtain rod started coming out (pulling the drywall with it)??? You’ll need these: wall spackle, a putty knife and a sanding block (both fine and medium grade. Whoever invented spackle that turned pink to white is genius.
I like this painter’s tape because it’s multi-purpose and works on different surfaces.
OTHER
Maybe I’m lazy, but I will stick a paint tray filled with paint in a trash bag and tie it shut so that I don’t have to clean it up until I put on the next coat.
I wrap plastic Saran Wrap around rollers (airtight) overnight. I use sandwich baggies for brushes and rubber-band around the handle so no air gets in.
What are your tried and true favorite paint tools? I’d love to hear about them! I’m always looking for new tools. If you like this post, you’ll love these:
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