The $25 Amazon Buy That Cuts Your Painting Time in Half

Painting is one of the least expensive ways to give your space a facelift. But it’s not exactly fun. It’s messy and time consuming especially if you have to do multiple coats — say goodbye to your weekend. Enter this $25 buy, which helps you tackle painting like the pros and shave significant time off the job.

Over the years, I’ve seen hundreds of inventions promising to make the chore go faster, easier, smoother, and cleaner —basically, pick any adjective and there’s a product that claims it. Many have earned their place in the Pantheon of Painting Tools (although for some it’s the trash can), but, when it comes right down to it, the only thing that makes painting go faster is a giant 18″ roller:

Available from Amazon: the Big Ben Wooster Frame, currently priced at $18.26, and the roller cover to go with for $6.18 (for a combined total of $24.44). If you want a tray (instead of using the roasting pan from your kitchen), they have those too.

I know right? It seems so simple when you spell it out. The standard roller size is 9″, so it makes sense that a wider 18″ roller would cover the same wall space in half the time —much like a wider lawn mower deck will mow your yard faster. Of course, there’s still the prep: taping things off and putting down dropcloths. But the painting itself will fly by with this thing.

These 18″ attachments screw onto any broom or mop handle (or a cool extension pole if you’ve got one) that accepts a roller. Another bonus: you don’t have to slide the roller cover off a rotating metal frame, like the usual rollers. Here, the cover simply snaps off for you to clean or dispose of.

Wooster has the best customer reviews on Amazon. Some users caution that the longer roller makes it more difficult to paint in the corners, which is probably true. But I’ve also found that to be the case with 9″ rollers as well. And, it only takes a few seconds to cut in the corners with a 4″ bristle brush. Plus, customers also say that this roller head will coat a ceiling in one go!

Sure, a traditional size roller will do the job just fine, but why not go pro, spend a fraction more, and save yourself some time. Then, get back to the things you like doing most — which is probably anything but painting!

• Wooster Big Ben 18″ Roller Frame, $18.26 at Amazon
• Wooster 18″ Roller Brush, $6.18 at Amazon