Ask Danny | Ep. 3: Answers on All Things Painting

Audrey J. Powers
Split image of Danny Lipford and Tracey Amadio
In this episode of “Ask Danny,” Tracey Amadio provides her guidelines and methods for portray.


In Episode 3 of “Ask Danny,” painting specialist Tracey Amadio shares her strategies and methods for getting the ideal paint position. 


Tracey Amadio of Porch Daydreamer
Tracey Amadio, a.k.a. the “Queen of Painting Everything” is passionate about painting! (Courtesy Tracey Amadio)

About Tracey Amadio

Tracey Amadio is passionate about portray. She uses expertise from her house improvement job to educate Diy jobs, residence design, and portray procedures on her web site Porchdaydreamer.com.

Tracey’s enthusiasts have topped her the “The Queen of Portray Everything” because there’s absolutely nothing she won’t paint!

Her superpower of coloration memory and lengthy historical past of shade development examination is mixed to come across the excellent paint hues for you.

Her mission is to consider the soreness out of painting and decorating with her quick-to-fully grasp tutorials.

Tracey was named a 2021 Much better Properties & Gardens Stylemaker and her do the job has been featured in HGTV, Greater Residences & Gardens, Great Housekeeping, Nation Dwelling, Condominium Therapy and additional.


Open paint cans of white, blue and green on a wood background
Color pigments, additives, resins and carriers decide the rate of paint. (annastories)

Paint Rates

Why is some paint a great deal more high priced than other models and sorts?

Tracey: Rate matters… to a position.

Numerous owners only focus on the paint shade and don’t assume about what’s blended in with the color pigments. Resins, additives and carriers — like drinking water and oil — are important elements that will make paint more high-priced. 

Higher-top quality pigments and resins will make the expense go up, but you are going to have greater protection. The middle price point is the ideal possibility to pick out. 

Bear in mind: Good quality notion is dictated by the human being who’s utilizing the paint. A experienced may possibly want a thinner paint mainly because they’ll be working with a sprayer, but a home owner ordinarily wants a thicker paint simply because they’ll be covering a wall with another colour or painting a piece of furnishings. 

Shelling out a minor excess on that greater paint is likely to give you an less difficult application and much less brush strokes. Also, the paint will dry to a improved, additional long lasting finish.


Hands holding up a sample of paint color swatches against a wall of paint swatches
Buying a paint shade can be too much to handle. Obtain an object to commence your shade palette and do the job from there. (Feverpitched, Getty Visuals)

Finding a Colour

Can you give some advice on how to pick a paint coloration?

Tracey: When choosing a paint shade, start out with the colour you want to base your palette all over. It could be a piece of cloth, a rug, a plate, anything at all that assists you hone on to the shade you want.

Get it to the retail outlet with you to pick out the right paint. Also base it on the amount of money of mild in the space, if it a darker too select a  lighter paint coloration and sop forth.

I have a cost-free information you can download. 6 easy measures to selecting a paint coloration.

Also, take into account the lights in the home you’re painting. If you have a darkish place, lighter paint, if you have a light-weight place, you can go with a darker paint coloration, a mid-price paint is going to be very best for most individuals.  

Immediately after you have an strategy of what color you want, get a foam board and paint it with samples so you can transfer it around the space to see if it will do the job for you. 

Choose your time determining before you decide a color. See how the coloration samples appear at diverse moments of the working day. 


Hand painting wall trim with a paintbrush
A satin or semi-gloss sheen is most effective for trim and molding. (JodiJacobson, Getty Illustrations or photos Signature)

Picking out Sheen

What are the distinctive types of sheen, and how need to you pick 1? 

Tracey: I applied to operate at a paint desk, and I would frequently see the “deer in headlights” appear when I asked what sheen a particular person needed. 

Sheen issues! It is basically more important than colour. 

There are 5 sorts of sheen: flat, eggshell, satin, semi-gloss and significant-gloss. To figure out what sheen you have to have, think about the place or challenge you’re painting.

If you’re portray a ceiling, you want a reduced-reflective paint to conceal any imperfections, specifically in
which the joints match up. A flat sheen is very best for this. 

For walls, you want a increased sheen, like eggshell. Cooking splatters and accidental spills come about, so you want a end that is washer-friendly. 

When you scrub a flat paint, it burnishes it and would make it shiny. Flat paint is wonderful for touchups but not for higher-targeted traffic regions in which you need to have scrutability and sturdiness.

The greater the sheen, the more challenging the paint will be when it dries. I commonly proposed satin, at bare minimum, or semi-gloss for trim and molding. These sheens are nevertheless wipable but they’re additional tough, so they’ll stand up to scuffing and jarring. 

I never advise a substantial-gloss paint. The additional reflective a paint is, the extra flaws it’s likely to display. It’s also challenging to apply, so I would go away that to a professional.


Paint brush swiping deep blue paint over faded blue paint on a wood wall
Exterior and inside paint cannot be interchanged. Normally paint the outdoors of your residence with a paint rated for out of doors use. (Susie Hedberg, Getty Pictures)

Exterior Painting

What temperature is ideal for painting a home’s exterior?

Tracey: Most of the time, exterior paint just can’t be utilized in temperatures less than 55-50 degrees Fahrenheit. You want to paint exterior when there is lower humidity and the temperature is average — amongst 55-75 levels Fahrenheit. 

Paint has a lot of drinking water in it, so the extra water in the air, the for a longer period time it will consider the paint to dry. Allow your self a few sunny times, if achievable, for the paint to dry.

When portray your home’s exterior, only use paint that is rated for exterior use. Mainly because exterior paint has to deal with temperature changes at the time it is dry, it is fortified with specific resins and pigments for exclusive toughness. It can extend and deal to a diploma that inside paint cannot.

The very best paint for exterior use is acrylic latex. I steer obvious of oil paints for the exterior. Oil paint is not quick to clean, and if you’re applying a white oil paint, it will yellow over time since of the oil in it. 

Now, there is oil-enriched enamel paint that is h2o-dependent, so it’s simple to clean up with soap and h2o like acrylic latex. This paint has oil molecules suspended within it, and as it dries, those molecules activate to act like oil paint. The close end result is a surface that’s hard and resilient with all the rewards and versatility of latex paint. 


Black and green plastic outdoor furniture around a fire pit
Refresh plastic outside household furniture with a new coat of paint. (Jonathan Cooper/Pexels)

Painting Plastic

How do you paint plastic outdoor home furnishings?

Tracey: I choose a dual strategy to portray plastic home furnishings. Utilize a bonding primer spray very first, then go over it with a normal spraypaint. 


Paint droplets on a beige carpet
(travellinglight, Getty Visuals)

Even Experts Make Blunders

Tracey: Even even though I’m a paint qualified, I occasionally go on the net to see what other folks in the portray world are accomplishing. 

About a calendar year ago, I determined to paint my stair risers, which had been stained and closely polyurethaned. 

A single blogger proposed liquid sandpaper, and I considered that could help you save me a phase. I taped off the risers, utilized the liquid sandpaper and then painted on leading of that.

When the paint was even now damp, I pulled the tape off at a 90-degree angle. A entire piece of movie peeled suitable off the stair riser, and the whole occupation was ruined! 

I learned a hard lesson: Believe in my intestine and go with what will work. Use a deglosser, then use a bonding primer, then use the paint.

My paint has stayed place and is vacuum-cleaner proof as well!


Power sander sanding a wood board
Sand away any imperfections right before portray wooden. (3 Echoes Content Studio)

Tracey’s Guidelines

  • Hardly ever dismiss good floor preparation. If you do, the paint will come off. Get the surface pleasant and clean and sand any failing locations.
  • Use stain-blocking bonding primer if painting around a stain. If you never, the stain will increase up to the area and build shade inconsistencies.
  • Fork out consideration to the re-coat time. A ton of folks imagine dry time and recoat time are the exact same. Usually, recoat time is longer than dry time. If you don’t wait around the correct total of time advised by the manufacturer, the paint will stick to alone and never ever entirely dry. You finish up with seriously tacky, sticky paint that’s practically difficult to resolve.  

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