Trim Trouble!

Here is a little update about my adventures in painting trim.

 

1.  It has made me cry!

 

2.  Sometimes, 50 year old trim just doesn't want to be painted!

 

3. Seriously, how many coats of primer and paint do I have to do!

 

To start off, I did not know what I was getting myself into. I did some research before I started this project and asked questions at home improvement stores for some guidance. But really, you don't know what is going to happen. How hard is painting trim? IF you have my trim, REALLY HARD!

 

The biggest problem I have is that my trim has old, really stubborn stain on it.  Our trim is also real wood, so the trim is soaked to the bone in stain. Really..... to the bone I tell you!  This is a pic of some trim before sanding.

(Yikes!)

 

 

Now here is a pic of trim after I sanded it.

 



 

The sanding helped take away the orange oak look.

Now, this is where the problem occurred. I took someones advise and used a latex primer on the trim. This is a big no, no when you are dealing with an oil based stain. You need an oil based primer to cover an oil based stain. Well, I learned the hard way! After sanding and priming for 6 hours (the wrong way), I am left with trim that looks yellowish.

This is where I cried.

 All the work I did was in vain!

Alas, I have taken some time off, and am now OK to talk about it.

:)

Sorry for the dramatization, but it really hurt! So this is where the hubs steps in, does his own research, and came to my rescue!  After sanding some more, I used a latex primer on the trim this time, and it seems to be working. I do have a few spots where the stain is still seeping through. But, this is better than an entire wall of yellowish trim. I can deal with a few spots. I am thinking that I may have to sand the smaller spots down again and start over. Trial and error, I guess. I am not an expert, just here to tell you what not to do. :)

 

Here are some progress pics.

 

 

 

 

I know it will look good when it is finally done, but it has been more work than I anticipated. Maybe I should have just did a small piece of trim first, or perhaps done more research. Oh well. I have definitely learned patience with this project.