Walls, ceilings, trim
Interior Painting in Trumbull and Fairfield County, CT
Flawless wall finishes that transform every room, painted to a written process that names the primer, the finish coats and the enamel on the trim.
Chapter 01
What raking light finds on a wall that was rushed
Low afternoon light across a freshly painted wall is unforgiving. It catches roller stipple, sanding marks left under the primer, and the faint seam where trim meets drywall if that joint was never floated flat. None of it shows under the bright, even light in a paint store. It shows in a living room at five o'clock, which is exactly when a homeowner in Trumbull or anywhere else in Fairfield County notices it for the first time.
Nail holes in casings and baseboards behave the same way. Paint alone will not hide a hole, only filler and sanding will, and a joint that opens between two pieces of trim tends to widen again within a season if it was caulked instead of floated and filled first. F&F Painting's written interior process treats each of these as a named step, not an afterthought, before a single finish coat goes on.
Bathroom finished by F&F Painting with white beadboard wainscot and soft grey-green walls
The process, coat by coat
F&F starts every interior job with one coat of Fresh Start Benjamin Moore latex primer on all walls and ceilings, then moves into fine preparation, using spotlights to identify imperfections that ordinary room light hides, and large voids where trim meets drywall are lightly spaced and floated for a clean, straight line. Nail holes and joints in casings, crowns, baseboards, wainscoting, specialty trims and cabinetry are filled with wood filler and Bondo as specified for that room.
Two finish coats follow, in environmentally responsible Benjamin Moore Regal Flat or Sherwin-Williams paint on walls and ceilings, with every surface inspected, sanded and wiped clean between coats. Trims, cabinetry and millwork get their own step: sanded with fine-grit sandpaper, then given one Benjamin Moore Oil Enamel Underbody coat. The area is cleaned of dust before finish coats begin, and on the day those finish coats start, trims, cabinetry and millwork are wiped down with denatured alcohol to clear surface dust one more time.
All trims are caulked, and any imperfection found between coats is sanded and corrected before the next one goes on. It is a long list to put in writing, and F&F publishes all of it.
Chapter 03
Protecting the rest of the house while it happens
Before any of that work begins, floors are papered, windows are taped and tile and stone surfaces are covered. Finished millwork, decorative hardware and plumbing fixtures are protected too, so nothing already finished in the house takes an accidental splash or scrape. The written process closes each day the same way: Daily clean-up and removal of all debris.
Francisco and Doris Tinajero, who have run F&F Painting out of Trumbull since 2007, say they make every effort to minimize disruption to a family's time at home while a crew is working. Call (203) 583-0119 to talk through what an interior job at your house in Fairfield County would look like before anything gets scheduled.
F&F Painting. Fully licensed and insured. Call (203) 583-0119.
The full process
Twelve steps, written down
F&F's written interior process runs from the first coat of primer to the daily clean-up, and it is laid out here in three stages.
Prep
- One coat of Fresh Start Benjamin Moore latex primer
- Spotlight prep and floated trim-to-drywall joints
- Wood filler and Bondo on nail holes and joints
Coats
- Two finish coats, Regal Flat or Sherwin-Williams
- Every surface sanded and wiped between coats
- Fine-grit sanding on trims, cabinetry and millwork
- One Benjamin Moore Oil Enamel Underbody coat
- Full dust clean before finish coats begin
- Denatured alcohol wipe the day finish coats start
- Caulking of all trims
Protection
- Floors papered, windows taped, tile and stone covered
- Millwork, hardware and plumbing fixtures protected
Want the same process on your kitchen cabinets? See cabinet painting, or read about the family behind the crew on the about page. Ready to schedule? Send the details through contact.