Wow, congratulations! I'm usually over on HD, but love to puruse the Kitchen forum. I've got a ceiling or two waiting for me for the same reason you did your own. Can I ask what paint you used, color & sheen? What a feeling of accomplishment you must have!

Good for you!! I, too, am a virgin painter and I still haven't decided if I should just go for it myself or pay a professional. We are knee-deep in renovations now and the thought of coughing up several hundreds of dollars for someone else to do something which seems like a relatively doable DIY also makes me uneasy. My biggest qualm if I were to do it myself is what to do with my 2 babies... I'd have to hire a babysitter to get them out of the way! Way to go! I can't wait to see the end result!

The first coat always looks terrible (but nobody ever tells you that), so I'm glad you stuck it out and finished it! I painted our under-construction rooms the day before I had my second kid. I had little speckles of paint spatter in my hair and on my face when she was born :)

arapaho: I used Sherwin Williams Antique White, mixed by Kelly Moore with a flat finish. I think KM is only in the far western states and Texas and Oklahoma, so you don't hear about it much on this board. They don't have the great colors other brands have, but it's a good quality paint and much used in homes here (SF Bay Area). I don't like any sheen on walls/ceilings (except low sheen in bathrooms). I've never had any problem with flat in my kitchen. SW Antique White is a beautiful off-white (sort of rich French vanilla) that I have throughout most of my house. It's true, the feeling of accomplishment (and conquering a fear) is probably worth more than the money I saved.

dragonfly08: I have two 9-month old kittens who are into everything. I shut them in my guest room during all painting. OMG, what a disaster it would have been if they'd been on the loose. They are hellions!!! Unfortunately, you can't do that with human babies. For safety and doing the best job possible, you'd want them totally out of your way. At first I thought I was foolish to subject myself to this three-coat torture to save a buck. When it was done, and I lived to tell the tale, I thought it was totally worth it.

Anenemity: Ugh, that first coat was truly terrible. I couldn't believe I hadn't gotten the paint down into all of the texture. Before the second coat, I touched up the low places with a brush, but there were so many I knew nothing but a second coat would do the job.

We painted three bathrooms, and our entire downstairs (FR/entryway/guest bedroom and a brick wall/fp) by ourselves. Worst part is the prep; taping off the molding and cutting in, and then taping the edges of the freshly painted areas adj to areas yet to be painted (not to mention any wall repair as part of the prep; taping and spackling and listening to DH about doing it!). Once you get past that, it's usually not too bad.

We had a good friend (who's a contractor) re-paint our kitchen/LR/DR/hallway/foyer a couple of years post-reno (the original paint didn't hold up as well as it should have, and we also weren't happy with the shade of white originally used) because we have a sloped/vaulted ceiling in two of the rooms--high up and tricky to reach, and because of the time-frame. We also had him paint another small room while he was here. He did a good job, but it cost us a lot of $. If and when we can, painting rooms ourselves is the way to go.

I had the same trouble as you rolling the ceiling using the extender pole, so I also did the up and down the ladder while rolling with the regular roller thing like you. I made DH do the second coat on the ceiling in the guest bedroom (he had no problem using the extender pole) to make sure it was evenly coated.

"discovered I couldn't use an extension pole with the extra weight overhead and zero control."

It takes a decent amount of arm and upper body strength to use an extension pole with a roller.

My wife is OK on walls, but has a problem with a 9 inch roller on ceilings using extension poles.

I get dragooned into doing the ceilings before anything else, and them leave the rest to her whims (and arms).

linelle, next time you do this you may want to use a primer for newly textured/retextured walls and ceiling. Those surfaces suck up the paint. Then put your good stuff over that. I tend to stint the prep stuff like taping and drop cloths, but I do keep a wet paper towel for drip and a small, craft size brush for touch up on trim. It's almost impossible to not get some wall paint on the trim or trim paint on the wall. A water color size brush (not the kiddy ones because they are too floofy) is just right for touching up those intrusions.

brickeyee, besides the added weight, no extension pole just seemed simpler and easier to change angles. My ceiling is 10x10 and it was very difficult to get the right aspect on the floor, with lower cabs and appliances in the way. The worst part was the space above and behind the upper cabs. With 9-ft. ceilings, I've got about 11 inches above the cabs. Now that crown has been added, and the space reduced, I had quite an awkward reach, esp. on the ceiling. I decided perfection would stop way down the back. The only way to see is to stand on the counters and peer down. Be my guest!

Here's another tip. Don't tape. Pros don't. They use an angled brush to cut in or a paint shield if it's a difficult location. It goes much faster that way if you can skip the tape. You get a better edge most of the time too, because unless you are very careful in applying tape down well and remove it while it is wet, you can get seepage or pull off. The key is to use a relatively thick creamy consistency paint. Too thin will spatter and too thick will not give you much square footage out of the can. You have to be like Goldilocks and find a brand that is "just right" for your style. A lot of people like Benjamin Moore or Sherwin Williams, but I like Behr Ultra because it's readily available in just about any market and it covers great with no spatter.

LWO, next time I will try a paint shield. I taped because of my lack of confidence. Cutting in is harder than it looks, but I think I just don't have the best brush or the right technique. I didn't have too bad a seepage problem, but you could tell a pro didn't do the work. The fortunate thing is it doesn't matter too much since most of the things I taped (where wall meets cab or plywood counter), will be covered either by cab paint or the new counter itself. I was overly-cautious because I had envisioned pans of paint being upturned and flying through the air.

I thought the Zinzer primer was a little runny and messy. The Kelly Moore paint was just right, spread well, but virtually splatter-free. No one can believe I didn't cover my hair, since I was rolling about 2 ft. directly overhead and none got in my hair.

"too thick will not give you much square footage out of the can"

That is what Floetrol is for (for latex paint).

To thin is simply a disaster when rolling, but thick can be adjusted.

If you have enough strength (and the room layout allows for it) you can paint above cabinets by using a longer extension pole from further away.

In a small kitchen you may not be able to get far enough back standing on the floor with a pole.
I would probably start on that area with a ladder and a very short extension (about 2 feet or so) and then move on to the rest of the room.

Adding Floetrol helps slow setting time, allowing you to better maintain a wet edge.

Just finished painting behind the fridge and I'm done, baby!!! So stoked.

brickeyee: In my small kitchen it was difficult getting the right angle on things. Fortunately I was able to stand on the counter and reach into the space over the cabs. A good reason to go straight to the ceiling. :)

Linelle: This post was just what I needed today. Today was priming day, and, although I am no painting virgin, I just didn't feel like doing it! I was procrastinating by reading GW, and your post helped me get over the hump. Thanks!
(I think I will have a "remodeler's cocktail" tonight: Aleve and chardonnay! Wait, it is cold out, maybe a nice, jammy zinfandel.)

Go Angie! It feels so good when it's done. I celebrated with Bushmills.

Linelle,

You tease!
I was all excited to see some pictures of your paint
choices.

When you get a chance, make a boxer happy and post
a few eye candy pictures of your favorite new colors.
smiles

~boxer

Oh boxerpups, I didn't think to do that since this is one time I already knew what color I'd be using in my kitchen. I have SW Antique White throughout most of my house and I love it. The pics I took have way too much of the wrong color cast, so I'm gonna cheat and show one of the photos from Southern Hospitality that sold me on this color. It's the one on the right. This is NOT my house. I have it on the ceiling as well, so it envelopes the space with buttercream.

My cabinets are being painted BM Cloud White. The two whites are different, but I like them together.

oooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh lovely!
This is going to be stunning. Enjoy your painting.

Proud of you Linelle! Good for you!!!

Congratulations! You started with the most difficult painting job, in my opinion. I hate painting ceilings! But I can't imagine paying anyone to do it for me. I don't have a lot of skills, but I can paint. The only problem is that I am a very messy painter and always seem to be covered with paint by the time I'm finished. I've never fallen off a ladder, stepped in paint, or spilled paint on the floor, but I'm messy. In recent years, DH has been helping by painting the ceiling (hooray!), and he only has a couple specks of paint on him---or none at all---when he's finished.

I always make sure the cats are closed in a room when painting, also, However, DH didn't think that was necessary and insisted we could leave them out. After they tunneled under the tarps, pounced on everything, and made a general nuisance of themselves, he agreed to put them in another room. Thankfully, they hadn't managed to get into the paint yet. I was worried both about their safety if they got into the paint and the prospect of them running around the house with painted paws, leaving a trail behind them.

PS --- I love paint shields. I have taped, but the paint shield is so much faster, plus occasionally the paint would drip under the tape.

Boxerpups and Donna, thanks!

Sail-away, my kittens are twin black and white hell-cats. They shred rolls of toilet paper, pull bath towels off their bars, leave deep claw marks on newly textured walls (spackle to the rescue). I wouldn't dream of leaving them loose with fresh paint and me up a ladder. Running through the house with paint on their paws was a very real possibility.