Painting a Room: 6 Pro Tips To Take the Pain Out Of It

EVEN ACCOMPLISHED DIY-ers and veteran home-improvement wizards find paint projects so demanding and exasperating they outsource them to pros. Still, said Portland, Ore., painter Mike Snelson, “there are things that can be done to mitigate the frustration.” Preparation, for one. “This is probably where most homeowners get lost because prep takes patience,” he said. Here, six other pro tips to make your next project less arduous.

1. Create a buffer zone

The maestros recommend at least 3 feet of elbow room between the wall and any obstacles. Stack furniture in the centre of the room (think chairs and small tables upside down on a sofa). If the pile becomes unruly, two smaller heaps work just as well. “Cover the stack with heavyweight canvas,” said Twin Cities painter Nick Slavik. Added James Greenwood, paint and colour specialist with Graham & Brown, “Tape the canvas down for extra protection from splashes.”

2. Protect doorknobs…

…lest they get unintentionally splattered. Mr. Slavik’s prophylactic? Slip a plastic bag over the hardware, then tape the edges. In the case of an awkwardly shaped handle, “try aluminium foil,” said Mr. Greenwood.

3. Bag fixtures

Remove any glass, including bulbs, from hanging light fixtures. Unscrew the decorative plate and slide it down the chain, then wrap and tape all components with a plastic bag.

4. Tint white primer

For a more vibrant finish, shade the primer close to, but not darker than, the top coat’s colour, explained Mr. Slavik. For bright hues like reds and yellows, primer tinged with grey will ensure uniform coverage, he said.

5. Use efficient extension poles

“It takes time to move ladders around and to get up and down them,” said Dave Rychley, president of national franchiser 360 Painting. A pole extends your roller, and you needn’t bend down to load it up again. “It will save your back, shoulders and legs,” said Mr. Slavik.

6. Skip cleanup

Yes, really. When you quit for the day, keep paintbrushes and rollers from drying out by wrapping them tightly in a plastic bag or plastic wrap, said Nicole Gibbons, founder of online paint store Clare. Then secure them with a rubber band or masking tape. Keep the swaddled tools in a cool place—the refrigerator works perfectly.

More than 280 modern and contemporary artworks will be up for sale Friday at Christie’s Post-War to Present auction in New York.

The live sale, which will be held at Christie’s Rockefeller Center sale room, has a low estimate of more than US$27 million and will be led by Frank Stella’s Abra I, 1968, which is estimated to fetch between US$1.2 million and US$1.8 million, according to a news release from Christie’s.

“Abra I is a fantastic example by Stella, a large-scale canvas from the protractor series,” says head of sale Julian Ehrlich. “It engages so many crucial aspects of his practice, including scale, geometry and colour, and has appeal to established post-war collectors and others who are just coming to historical art.”

Ehrlich, who has overseen the semiannual Post-War to Present sale since its first March 2022 auction, says his goal in curating the sale was to “assemble a thoughtful and dynamic auction” with works from both popular and lesser-known artists.

“With Post-War to Present, we really have a unique opportunity to share new artistic narratives at auction. It’s a joy to highlight new artists or artists who have been overlooked historically and be a part of that conversation in a larger art world context,” he says.

Joe Overstreet’s ‘Untitled’, 1970
Christie’s

Works from a number of female artists who were pioneers of post-war abstract painting, including Helen Frankenthaler, Lynne Drexler, and Hedda Sterne, will be included. The auction will also include pieces from a group of Black artists from the 1960s to present day, including Noah Purifoy, Jack Whitten, and David Hammons, in addition to a Christie’s debut from Joe Overstreet (Untitled, 1970) and an auction debut from Rick Lowe (Untitled, 2021).

“The story of art is necessarily diverse,” Ehrlich says. “The sale itself is broad, with more than 280 works this season, and it has been fun to think through artists inside and outside of the canon that we can put forward as highlights of the auction.”

In addition to Abra I, other top lots include Tom Wesselmann’s Seascape #29, 1967, (with an estimate between US$800,000 and US$1.2 million); Keith Haring’s Andy Mouse, 1986, (also with an estimate between US$800,000 and US$1.2 million); and Jack Whitten’s Garden in Bessemer, 1986 (with an estimate between US$700,000 andUS$1 million).

“I think of the Post-War to Present sale as being especially dynamic … in the best case, even for someone deeply embedded in the market, there should be works which surprise and delight and are unexpected, as well as celebrated market-darlings and art-historical greats,” Ehrlich says.