What Painters Are Saying Behind Your

I’m a painter, not a mover.

“There’s nothing painters hate more than walking into a room full of stuff,” says Jeff Hester of Hester Painting and Decorating in Chicago, IL. “It means valuable painting time gets wasted while I clear out the space.” Before your painter arrives, empty bookshelves, and take mirrors and art off the walls. You’ll also be doing him a solid by rolling up area rugs that aren’t pinned under heavy furniture. The good news: Your painter is on the hook for moving large pieces into the center of the room and covering them with protective drop cloths.

Keep your dog out of my hair.

It doesn’t matter how well-behaved your Jinxsy is. When the painter comes, dogs—and cats—need to be contained in another room or kept out of the house. At minimum, letting pets wander around means their loose fur can settle on wet walls, or they can track paint splatters from drop cloths through clean rooms, says Robert Hubley, president of Hubley’s Paint & Stain in Long Beach, NJ. Even worse: an accidental spill that puts paint on the floor, not on the walls. So do everyone a favor and keep painters and pets apart.

18 HGTV Magazine

It would have been nice to know the room was dark green before I got here.

“Anything extreme will need one or two coats of primer so the old color doesn’t bleed through,” says Jeff Hester. If your painter doesn’t know the room to be painted is dark or superbright, he not only has to waste time buying primer, “but you’re also adding hours to the job since I have to wait for the primer to dry before I can paint,” Hester says. “That extra time adds to the price we agreed on.” Solution: Always tell the painter the room’s current color and finish when you hire him. And discuss whether you’ll need to order primer ahead of time (hint: Have it tinted to match the new color) or which is the best paint-plus-primer for the job.

The windows were painted shut! That was fun.

Painting a room includes doing the window trim, and windows need to be open so the trim can be painted in its entirety. If yours are stuck, try prying them open before the painter arrives. Slide a putty knife into the cracks, and gently tap it with a rubber mallet or hammer, working your way around the window sash. If that doesn’t work, tell your painter about the problem before he’s scheduled to start so he can account for the necessary time—including scraping, sanding, and priming—and costs that need to be added to the job. “Unsticking windows can be tricky,” says Jeff Amsberry, owner of Amsberry’s Painting in Monroe, WA. “I’d rather know what I’m dealing with before I walk in.”