apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I just clicked on the link to the article and at the top of the page was a box that says "Popular Mechanics. 100 Skills Every Man Should Know." Hello? What century is this?

the quick painter edge painter looks promising, but i would want to see real tests of it since every edging tool i have ever seen is a sham.

i used something kind of like there extendable pole one. it was a just the pool and you could screw on what you wanted. But it had nice thick foam grips on it and you just had to twist it and it would extend out longer, very easy to use.

I've painting my rooms many times, so I was interested in reading what this article had to say. I've yet to see any edger - and I've tried many many kinds - out there that worked. They either didn't get close enough to the edge (e.g., right up the ceiling) or overshot the edge, made weird brush strokes, or were very good at painting a straight line, even when guided.

I will say that I did find the paint stick useful in painting my ceiling and walls in my living room. Unfortunately, the one problem I had was that the roller kept slipping off and it was a beyotch to clean. I ended up tossing it, but maybe I just got a bad version with respect to the crappy roller head.

Pixie:

21st. Welcome.

And of the 12 items featured in the article, I did find the wonder bucket of particular interest. That would be nice not to have to pour paint into a tray, etc.

Those edgers are junk, I have never used one that stood up to the hype.

I've often used the Shur-Line paint edger and have always had good results.

http://paint-and-supplies.hardwarestore.com/47-347-pad-painters/paint-edger-264630.aspx

I've found these things are all complete pieces of crap. The best tool is a steady hand and a fine edging brush to cut in.

The AT mission, and I quote:
"To connect people to the resources they need to improve their homes, WHILE REDUCING THEIR RELIANCE ON STUFF."

We've been doing a lot of painting around our house lately. The lessons?

The plastic pouring rims that snap onto the paint cans rock.

Anything mechanical that applies paint will lose all time advantage when clean-up time is included. Note: if you are painting an entire floor of a house or apartment one color or doing the exterior - then rock on! These are designed for professional painters who have low-paid assistants to clean stuff.

Best tip - buy your brushes at the paint store used by local commercial painters. Ask the salespeople what they recommend as a good brush. Buy that one. An inch wider brush saves a lot of time. Nicer brushes allow you to paint edges without special tools.

"We've been doing a lot of painting around our house lately. The lessons?

The plastic pouring rims that snap onto the paint cans rock."

Hellya - the best 49 cents i've ever spent!

Chris--I agree, but this stuff doesn't go bad or go out of style. I like the pouring lids and edger pictured. At least tools aren't hand-made in Europe and cost zillions of dollars.

Maybe a tool box post--what you really need and what you can skip--would be a good idea.

Hells yeah, thirding the 49-cent plastic snap-on rim. Genius, I tell ya.

I can't count the number of edging tools I've bought and thrown away in disgust.

I recently found a totally amazing and totally worth it new tool, a 6-in-1 glazier knife:

http://www.painterstoolbox.com/finditem.cfm?itemid=2831

The semi-circular cutout is the perfect size for scraping wet paint out of your roller. And when I'm springing for $60/gallon paint, I'm gonna squeeze every drop I can out of that roller before I start cleaning.

It's good to see the Eye of Sauron making a comeback.