Painting Large Surfaces

By Alan Noel

When painting using only a brush, the first stroke of the loaded brush will deposit a fair amount of paint depending on how hard you press on the brush. Thus, the next pass will deposit less paint and the next less and so on, until the brush has to be loaded again. When painting a large surface in this manner, it is virtually impossible to apply an even coat across the entire surface.

Achieving a smooth and even coat of paint on a large surface such as a chest of drawers, kitchen cabinets, paneling or a project that you built can be very hard to do using the traditional paint brush and a bucket of paint. Whenever I paint large areas I tend to approach the project as if I were painting a wall, using tools such as a roller, paint tray and a couple of brushes used for cutting in the corners.

The way to achieve a smooth surface is to roll out the entire surface with a roller and then "dry brush" the surface again very gently with a dry brush. The brush will pick up a very small amount of paint and eliminate the pattern of the roller, leaving a very thin, even coat that when dry will appear as though the surface had been sprayed.

Painting tips:

Plan on applying two coats.

When dry brushing, be very gentle and move as fast as you can. The object is to remove the roller marks while leaving behind as much paint as possible.

On larger surfaces use at least a 4-inch dry brush and on smaller surfaces, a 2-inch brush.

On objects such as raised panel doors, paint the areas that aren't accessible with a roller first, then roll out and dry brush.

If the "Shabby Chic" look is what you are after, wait until the paint is dry and then wipe off the areas that you want to look worn with a rag soaked with denatured alcohol. This will simply melt the paint away leaving a very natural worn look. Sanding the paint off looks fake and cheesy!