Tag: DIY’ers

Primers for Small Projects
August 19, 2020As we move into the start of fall, there is still ample to tackle painting projects you might not have gotten to during the summer months before the winter and holiday season begins. Small projects that, including furniture repainting or refreshing, can be completed in as little as a day or a weekend – but can still make a big difference in the look and feel of your space.
Do you need to prime when painting a small piece of furniture? Our answer is emphatically yes! But do you need entire gallon of primer to get the job done? Most likely the answer there is no. KILZ® Brand offers a family of hardworking primers suitable for all types of painting projects large and small, indoor and outdoor. Trusted by pros for over 40 years, KILZ® Original Interior Primer is available in a convenient aerosol formula, ideal for small painting projects and spot priming interior surfaces.
If you’ve never used an aerosol primer before, we have a few tips to get you started! Similar to priming a wall or set of cabinets, when using an aerosol primer you’ll want to be sure the surface is clean and free of dust. For glossy surfaces, we recommend scuff sanding the surface before priming to ensure maximum adhesion. When using an aerosol primer, wearing eye protection is advised, as well as covering adjacent areas to protect from any primer overspray. For best results, you’ll want to use the aerosol primer at room temperature.
Once your area and surface are prepped, shake the primer can vigorously for one minute after the mixing ball begins to rattle, and shake often during use. Hold the can upright, moving from side-to-side while spraying lightly and evenly about 12″ from area being painted. We recommend 2-3 thin coats to produce the best results. Dry time for most of our aerosol primers is about one hour, and then you’re ready to paint!
If you don’t want the odor of an aerosol primer, we suggest KILZ Original Low-Odor Interior Aerosol Primer. Formulated with the same stainblocking performance as KILZ Original, it features fast odor dissipation technology which means no lingering odor†. Ideal for use in dining areas, small apartments and other areas which are sensitive to high odor levels.
For furniture pieces that might be exposed to the elements on your porch or patio, KILZ Original Interior | Exterior Aerosol Primer is a great choice. We used this primer as the first step in repainting a thrift-store furniture find, meant to be used as an outdoor dining chair. Another reason to use aerosol primers is when covering intricate and detailed surfaces, like the back of this chair. Not only did the aerosol primer work to seal the surface, but it made priming the scalloped details a breeze!
Looking for more small project priming and painting tips? Check out our recent post on using KILZ Chalk Style paint to upcycle furniture.
Always remember to refer to our website kilz.com or product back labels for additional information on which primer is right for your project and detailed instructions on how to apply our products.



Three Primers for Exterior Projects
August 11, 2020Priming before painting is an important step for nearly every painting project, and we’ve covered quite a few different project types here on The Perfect Finish – including priming when changing wall colors, priming before painting kitchen cabinets, and even priming in moisture prone rooms in your home. Now in the heat of summer, it’s time to talk about an area of the home we haven’t often covered – the outside!
Just as important as proper prep for your indoor painting projects, priming is a critical prep step for outdoor projects. From painting your front door, to the entire exterior of your house, or even a garden fence, KILZ has a primer made for the job. KILZ® Original Primer has been trusted by pros for over 40 years and the KILZ Original lineup includes a primer formulated for outdoor projects. KILZ® Original Interior | Exterior Primer is an all-weather sealer with excellent adhesion to even the toughest to paint surfaces like masonry or bare, porous wood. When using this primer on outdoor brick, stucco or plaster, it’s important to note that the masonry surfaces should be clean, dry and cured for at least 90 days.
KILZ 2® All-Purpose Primer is another product formulated for both interior and exterior use. This water-based sealer and stain blocker would be an excellent choice for painting your front door or garden fence. Just remember this tip from the pros, if the surface you are painting is unpainted, exterior wood that has been exposed to sun and/or moisture longer then 2-4 weeks prior to painting – be sure to clean and sand it before priming. On new masonry surfaces, KILZ 2 All-Purpose can be used once the surfaces has cured for at least 30 days.
Our third pick for exterior projects is KILZ 3® Premium Primer. This fast drying, water-based primer provides excellent adhesion and a mildew resistant coating, making it ideal for exterior surfaces prone to moisture. It can be used for both interior and exterior projects and has a thicker, high-hiding formula great for blocking stains. If you live in a humid environment, KILZ 3 Premium Primer is a great choice for your outdoor painting projects.
What exterior projects will you tackle this summer?
Always remember to refer to our website kilz.com or product back labels for additional information on which primer is right for your project and detailed instructions on how to apply our products.



Chalk Style Paint Accent Furniture
June 1, 2020Upcycling accent furniture pieces with paint is a fun and easy DIY project that can be completed in as a little as a day. From bookshelves to small tables and chairs, a coat of paint can instantly give new life to thrift store furniture find. And if that one piece of furniture doesn’t fit your new color scheme, paint it!
One of our favorite paints for small furniture projects is KILZ® Chalk Style Paint. It adds history and character to any piece, goes on thick for excellent hide and requires very little surface preparation. Depending on the furniture piece, you might want to lightly sand it prior to painting; and always ensure your surface is clean and free of dust before you paint.
If picking up a paint brush isn’t your style, KILZ Chalk Spray Paint is another great choice for painting accent furniture. Ideal for small indoor and outdoor project, KILZ Chalk Spray Paint delivers a premium matte finish with enhanced adhesion. Available in six beautiful colors, including two of our favorite blue hues – Authentic Navy and Blue Juniper.
To enhance durability of your chalk style paint project, we recommend sealing the surface afterward with KILZ Clear Sealing Wax. Or for a more antique look, seal with KILZ Dark Sealing Wax.



Tips for Painting Walls and Cabinets
June 1, 2020Painting your walls or cabinets is an easy and low-cost way to update any room in your house, and most painting projects can be completed in just one weekend. Equally as important as choosing the right paint color is ensuring you prime first with the right primer. Without priming before painting, you risk poor paint adhesion and previous colors or stains seeping through and ruining your new paint color.
Using the right primer ensures that your topcoat color will appear on the walls as you expected it to. If you’re painting over a darker colored wall with a new lighter shade, KILZ 3® Premium Primer works to block previous dark paint colors from seeping through and changing the look of your new paint. When painting over a light color with a new darker hue, it’s still equally important to prime first. KILZ 2® All-Purpose primer is a great choice for light to dark color changes. And if your walls have tough or exceptionally dark stains or damage from smoke or water, KILZ® Original Primer and KILZ Restoration are both formulated to block severe stains.
Priming before painting ensures your paint color pops!
What if you’re painting cabinets, do you need to prime? If you want excellent paint adhesion and for your colors to appear in their truest hue – the answer is yes! Primer also makes your paint job durable, and that is especially important in high-traffic areas like kitchens. You often find cabinets in kitchens, bathrooms and laundry rooms, and these areas of the home are subject to fluctuating temperatures and humidity levels that can make paint peel. For these spaces, a primer like KILZ Mold & Mildew dries with a mildew resistant primer finish that helps protect and extend the life of your paint.
When painting cabinets, priming first ensures excellent adhesion and truer color from your topcoat.
While priming before painting can seem like an extra step, it’s a vital part of the painting process!
Always remember to refer to our website kilz.com or product back labels for additional information on which primer is right for your project and detailed instructions on how to apply our products.



Top Primers for Kitchen Projects
May 1, 2020The key ingredient to a successful kitchen painting project is the right primer. KILZ® makes a family of hardworking primers for use on a variety of surfaces and substrates, and for best results it’s essential to choose a primer that’s specifically formulated for your type of project. Today we’re talking all about kitchens and the top primers for kitchen cabinets and walls.
One fundamental benefit of most primers is that they make your paint job more durable. Kitchens are typically high-traffic areas and are often exposed to fluctuating temperatures, which can have an impact on the life of your paint job. Using KILZ® 3 Premium Primer before you paint, a product known for its exceptional adhesion and durability, can help ensure your paint job lasts.
When painting your kitchen cabinets and walls, it’s important to keep in mind that kitchens can often be exposed to high humidity and moisture. These factors can negatively impact your painted surfaces if they’re not properly primed first. Using KILZ® Kitchen & Bath Primer on both cabinets and walls creates a mildew resistant primer film, and also offers excellent adhesion to most interior surfaces.
Now that you’ve found the right primer for your kitchen renovation, it’s time to start cooking up color ideas! For a look at our favorite calming and energizing paint colors, check out this recent post.
Always remember to refer to our website kilz.com or product back labels for additional information on which primer is right for your project and detailed instructions on how to apply our products.



How Primer Affects Paint Color
April 15, 2020Springtime and DIY projects go hand in hand, and this spring season it feels like that sentiment rings truer than ever before. With all of us staying home to practice safe social distancing we have a lot more time on our hands, making it the perfect time to tackling a DIY painting project. But before you paint, don’t forget to prime!
While the paint’s job is all about color, the primer’s job is to prepare the surface for painting and make that color the best it can be. Even with a simple color change where you’re covering an existing lighter color with another color, it wouldn’t be advisable to paint without priming. If you paint without priming first, the end result could be a color that is a slightly different shade that the color you selected. For a simple color change from walls to furniture re-painting projects, KILZ 2® All-Purpose Primer is right for the job.
There are also certain surface types that are extremely porous, including brick and wood. If you paint on these surfaces without priming, there is a good chance the paint will seep into the surface – and that means your color won’t be as vibrant or true as you were expecting. When you’re looking to seal porous surfaces, KILZ® 1 Standard Primer and KILZ 2 All-Purpose are both great primer choices.
And it goes without saying that when painting over a darker color with a new, fresh-as-spring lighter shade, you definitely want to prime first. Otherwise shades like deep red will show through and change the tone of the new paint color you selected. If you’re going from a darker to a lighter color in your DIY painting project, KILZ® 3 Premium Primer has a thick, high-hide formula that is up to the task.
Prime first for dark to light color changes!
In all of these cases, priming before painting lessens the number of topcoats required – saving you time and ensuring your finished DIY project is the color you desired!
Always remember to refer to our website kilz.com or product back labels for additional information on which primer is right for your project and detailed instructions on how to apply our products.



Odor Blocking Primers for Fresh as Spring Painting Projects
March 16, 2020Spring brings new beginnings and is often the perfect time to tackle a painting project you’ve been putting off. If you have a room renovation project that includes the added challenge of ridding the space of stale smells or bad odors, KILZ® Primers can help. From pet odor to the lingering smell of smoke (even long after the smoker is gone!), unpleasant odors can get stuck in your home and seem near impossible to remove.
Odor may penetrate fresh paint, so simply repainting the walls will likely leave you with a still smelly space. For a room that looks and smells as fresh spring, we recommend priming before painting. Priming provides a barrier that prevents odor from penetrating fresh paint and KILZ offers several primers with the ability to block medium to severe odors. So which primer is right for your project?
If you’re looking for a heavy-duty odor blocking primer, KILZ® Original primer is a great choice. Trusted by pros for over 40 years, it has excellent sealing properties and can block heavy odors and stains.
Working on a project outdoors? KILZ® Original Interior | Exterior primer offers the heavy-duty power of KILZ Original in an all-weather formula with excellent adhesion to both interior and exterior surfaces.
For spaces or areas that might be sensitive to solvent odors, KILZ® Original Low Odor is an interior oil-based stain and odor blocking primer that puts off less odor than typical oil-based primers.
Looking for a water-based primer? KILZ Restoration® is a new generation water-based primer, sealer and stain blocker that offers the performance of traditional oil and shellac-based primers. It tackles tough stains and seals persistent pet, food and smoke odors. It can also be used to block odors from subfloor when replacing carpet or wood flooring.
If your next painting project includes tackling lingering odors, you can breathe easy knowing that KILZ primers can help you get the job done.
Always remember to refer to our website kilz.com or product back labels for additional information on which primer is right for your project and detailed instructions on how to apply our products.
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