Window Trim

Just when we thought our painting woes were behind us, it came time to paint the knotty pine window trim in the living room and dining room. I can't even tell you how long I put off the task. Give me a roller and I'll paint any room, any time. I'll even trim out the corners and ceilings. But painting multi-layered trim around our four windows in the living room and two in the dining room is not my idea of remodeling fun.

Backtracking for a second...we decided to highlight the archtichtual aspect of the sloped ceiling by painting a geometric shape on the walls that lined-up with our windows using Behr's Dark Ash, the same color we had used to paint the beam that divides the two rooms. Here's the best "before" shot I have of that:


Our plan was to paint the window trim surrounding the windows that same color. I spent one Saturday morning prepping the job, which included taping, removal of the window hardware and filling the holes that are natural to knotty pine. I spent the next Saturday painting. I started off with an oil-based primer, much like I did with the stair risers.

I put on one coat of the Dark Ash and just wasn't feeling it...


Much like the steps, it was just too dark and all blended together. I consulted with Angie and it was quickly decided that we needed to go a few shades lighter, but yet not as light as the wall color. We also needed to step up the sheen. We decided on Gray Area in a Satin Enamel sheen.

Here's what it looked like at the halfway point:


And now we come to this:



Lessons Learned:

Painting the frame around the window itself can seem like a daunting task. For one, you have to be careful not to fill up the channel where the window travels up and down, so that the window will still work properly once you've finished. And then you have to mess with the hardware, which may or may not be easy to remove. Hopefully you don't have to mess with multiple layers of age-old paint and stripping them off. And then, on top of all of that, you have the window glass itself to worry about. Do you tape it? Will the paint come off my window if I accendiently get some on it?

Problem solved with this great tip I found over at 1951 Ranch Redo. When it came time to paint my window frames, I was just about to tape the glass when I remembered reading this at one point. I was sick of taping anyway...so I just jumped right in and painted the frames without worrying about any paint that got on the glass. Using an exacto knife and a razor-blade scraper, the paint easily scrapes off the window. The key to the process is scoring the glass right along the edge of the window before scraping.