ECONOGAL

Painting Secrets written by Brian Santos is a must have book for the Do It Yourself crowd. Santos, also known as The Wall Wizard has multiple DIY books on the market. You can also find his videos on the Internet. Additionally, he gives demonstrations across the country.

Painting Secrets

The self-help guide Painting Secrets spends the first 75 pages prepping for the actual paint job. The tips in this first part of the book include an excellent section on color selection. Santos does an outstanding job of explaining variations in color. Furthermore, he gives good tips on choosing colors that will work best for you.

Then Painting Secrets begins divulging its many tips to ensure the project is a success. Included in this long section on prepping a room for painting are methods for stripping wallpaper. Santos shares his secret recipe for wallpaper stripping. He also includes a dry method for removing vinyl wallpaper. His methods result in a quicker process.

Santos goes into great detail on how to repair walls before painting. He covers everything from small cracks to large holes in the sheet rock. Also, tips are provided for working with plaster. Perhaps the best part of this section are the many tricks of the trade shared. But I also liked the information on needed tools.

Painting 101

Santos shares his professional painting skills in a thorough manner. He begins by teaching the reader about the many types and grades of paint. Then he moves onto the best tools for the paint and the job. Also presented is detailed instruction on how to measure and estimate the amount of paint needed.

Each tool described receives a description of use or uses. The Wizard includes warnings and quizzes throughout the book. Many are tied to the proper use of the tools needed for the job.

Then, the book turns to the actual job of painting. There is a right and wrong way to paint. This section discusses loading paint onto the various tools as well as how to lay the paint onto the surfaces. The recommendation for painting an entire room is to have two people on the job.

Finally, Painting Secrets covers paint effects. Included in this section are decorative finishes such as faux and ragging. Santos shares his Wall wizard Glaze recipe along with tons of tricks and warnings. The techniques are divided into positive and negatives depending on whether you are adding or subtracting a top layer.

I highly recommend this book and am fortunate enough to have discovered it in my local library. This title along with similar titles are easily found online or in bookstores if your library doesn’t have a copy. Painting Secrets is just the book a DIY needs to get the project done right.