Let’s review how great the barn is looking, shall we?
Am I the only one who cares?
Hey? **Tap tap** Is this thing on?
Life has been strange lately. Like, the stars aligned and I’ve been randomly contacted by the most amazing companies who happen to have products that I truly need right now. First it was paint with Behr. (LOVE THEM.)
And then came a chance to try a Wagner FLEXiO paint sprayer. I’ve used many a can of spray paint. And we used a large airless sprayers for huge outdoor projects (like painting our exterior siding). But we’ve never had a smaller sprayer for smaller projects. So, when Wagner offered to send us one to use, I said YESYESYESPLEASE. Because I knew I had the absolute perfect project for this.
It was a painting project I was dreading. I was planning to use a brush on it. But, I reeeeeeally didn’t want to. So I busied myself with other projects, hoping this one would go away.
And this project never got finished by the elves and the paint maker.
The dreaded project – 8 wooden windows with 12 panes each (well, 6 on each side). Ryan built these windows to fit into the barn perfectly. (We purchased the barn sashes and he built the window frame and attached them with a hinge. It was a lot of work for him, but the end result was a really authentic look since the original corn crib didn’t have windows). But this saved us about $1,000 over buying windows pre-made. Plus, it was sort of a source of pride for him. “Who can say they built their own windows?
When we received the FLEXiO, we amended our game plan. We taped all the window panes with a small sheet of paper and painters tape.
That took many more hours that I wanted it to. But, we eventually finished that after bedtimes for a week or so.
After the prep, I asked Ryan to set out everything I needed to paint in the yard so I could work on it during nap time. Below is what I found in the backyard. Apparently he thought Henry takes 14 hour naps, I thought sarcastically.
We used Behr exterior semi-gloss enamel paint from our paint stash that we used for this project. I’ll say it again. I love this paint. And the exterior holds up amazingly well. We’ve used it for the porch and our foundation and it’s still like-new.
Ryan set up the windows like so, allowing me to get nearly every angle. The bottoms wouldn’t be seen anyhow and I could touch up anything I missed when the windows were installed. This worked out surprisingly well. (We decided to paint over the hinges.)
And here’s the star of the show – the Wagner FLEXiO. I took this after I painted everything, so imagine the sprayer being much cleaner when I took it out of the package. I truly needed to get as much done as I could during nap time, so I got to work quickly. I stirred the paint really well and took a few practice sprays on scrap wood to get a feel for it. Then, I went to work.
I hear you now. “Kim,” you say. “You should be a model for Wagner Spraytech.”
I know, my friends. I know.
“And I also want my own tennis shirt circa 2000,” you say.
On the day I painted, a few small miracles took place. One. Henry took a THREE AND A HALF HOUR NAP. (Angels singing.) Two. I was able to finish all of the windows and clean the sprayer and take pictures in well-under that amount of time.
WINNING!
I think I’ll be using the heck out of this sprayer. I did 98 percent of this all on my own. Ryan came home after I was all finished and helped me clean up. But unlike the larger sprayer, I felt confident using it on my own from start to finish. It was easy to fill with paint. Light enough to use myself.
I had to get used to the feel of using the sprayer. I also had to get the pressure correct. But, once you get the hang of it, the speed of painting with the FLEXiO is just plain amazing. And the coverage was great. I want to paint everything I own. (Oh, wait. I already have.)
I really thought painting those blasted windows was going to be a never-ending project. And I was also dreading the clean up. But Ryan simply took the FLEXiO apart and cleaned the pieces thoroughly in soap and water. It came out like new. Ready for my next project (or ten).
It went so quickly that I even had time to paint all the trim work for the barn exterior.
Afterwards, all we had to do was remove the paper from the panes of glass. We had a few panes that needed scraped, but that was only due to faulty taping on my part. Still much easier than scraping them all.
Needless to say, I’m sold on the virtues of this FLEXiO.
The pros:
SUPER fast to finish projects. As in, insanely ridiculously fast.
Even coverage and minimal dripping.
Easy to load and reload with paint. (It holds a quart.)
Relatively light to use.
Pretty simple to clean.
The cons:
Takes some practice to get used to spraying and get the correct pressure and finish.
Preparation is a little more time-consuming. (Especially the taping off, which is my nemesis.)
And here’s how the windows look on the barn.
They swing up and will eventually get latches and hardware. And cleaned. And caulked. And touched up with paint.
I’m tired just thinking about it. Let’s just stare at the pictures instead.
Have you ever used a paint sprayer?
Disclosure: This is a sponsored post for Wagner FLEXiO. I was provided with a FLEXiO 570 and compensated for my time. But as always, all my opinions are my own. And the projects are my own, too. Which is a bummer because they never seem to end.
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