Post Painting

I wish I could say we got the Goldilocks coat of paint on the cabinets with our third try (you know; too much the first time, not enough the second, just right on the last). Well, that's not exactly the case. Either this Benjamin Moore paint is the best paint out there or the worst; I can't decide! When you get the right coverage, it dries beautifully smooth and hard and glossy. But just a bit much and it runs and sags. Too little and it can't self-level, so it looks like an orange peel.

The problem was compounded because we were spraying the paint. Most pros brush or roll the frames and spray the doors. Because I have so many cabinets and the interiors badly needed painting as well, I decided to spray. On a vertical surface with many angles, there are just too many opportunities for excess paint to build up and drip, as we discovered on the first pass. So we went much lighter on the second coat, almost misting it. But that produced overspray everywhere that dried very rough. My satiny smooth finish was no more! So we changed spray tips and tried again, with only limited success. We ended up having to hand-sand a number of runs and sags, which I will touch up with a brush.

I think spraying the doors and drawers will go much better, as those will be horizontal. There is quite a learning curve to this new top-of-the-line paint, but I think it's worth acquiring!

BM Vellum color in the new ADVANCE product line