In my previous post, I reported that the results of my painting endeavours was less than ideal. I couldn’t understand why the new paint was shinier that my old paint. I figured it out pretty quick. I had been fooled by the finish schedule that was provided to me by the developer. When I bought my apartment, I was given a manual for it. In it, it contained what’s a called a finish schedule which tells you what materials were used in decorating your home. That includes what kind of paint was used. In the finish schedule, it clearly stated the sheen was eggshell latex out of the many sheens you can choose from.
Eggshell is the second to last shiniest of sheens. I just assumed that’s what actually was on my walls because they don’t reflect much light at all. It turns out what they most likely used on my walls, despite what the finish schedule says, was a flat or matte sheen. A flat sheen is the least shiny of sheens and doesn’t reflect a lot of light at all. Had I known a bit more about painting, I would have been more diligent about matching the sheen as well as the colour, which was the only thing I was concerned about when I bought the paint. I just went with what the finish schedule told me. It was wrong of me to trust a piece of paper when I should have done a reality check on my own walls.
I called the paint store to figure out my options. Obviously, I’ll need to buy more paint but this time in a matte or flat finish. The good news is I was told that I don’t have to remove the old paint. I can just paint right over it without any primer. It might be helpful to sand some of the existing paint down to remove the sheen so that the new paint might not require more than one coat.
It does suck I have to redo the paint again but it’s been a learning experience for sure. I’ll also go much faster this time around since I’ve already done it once before. Let this be a painting lesson to you!
Painting is brutal my friend. The worst argument Alana and I have ever had was about painting. For our sanity we have made a decision to always hire professionals from this point forward. Good luck.
I hear ya on the brutal part. Had I known at the beginning the difficulties I would have, I wouldn’t have hesitated to get a pro to come paint. It would have been way less effort, stress, and time.
Erwin, I’m sorry I wasn’t there to help you buy and apply paint. In my college days I had a job painting houses and could have helped. In fact I could have been “the help” and you could stand around with your bathrobe open, brandy snifter in hand, telling me what to paint.