How to Build ARCHWAY-101 Part 8: Prep & Paint

[This is part of my ARCHWAY-101 series.]

The finish coat of paint is from Benjamin Moore’s Historic Collection, and is called Revere Pewter (HC-172), in a satin finish.

Prepping and painting the archway requires only one additional step to my usual sequence.

Clean the Flex Trim

That extra step is to wipe the Flex Trim down with paint thinner to remove any oily residue from the surface that might affect the adherence of your primer coat. Don’t soak your rag in the stuff, of course, make it just kind of damp.

Steps to Paint the Archway

Vacuum the entire arch with a soft bristle nozzle
Wipe everything down with slightly damp, soft rag
Apply the primer. This time I used a primer tinted as close to the final paint color as possible.
Sand the primer
Vacuum the sanding dust again
Wipe down with damp rag
Caulk all gaps in the arch and fill any last minute blemishes with spackling (sand and re-prime the spackling fixes)
Apply the first finish coat of paint (Don’t forget to use Floetrol for latex paint or Penetrol for oil-based paint.)
Apply a second and final finish coat of paint
Paint the walls around the moldings

Wall Paint Tip

When I’m painting a wall red, like this one, I buy some primer that’s tinted the wall color and apply a coat or two over the molding overpaint that got on the all. I do this because other colors bleed through reds easily, even good paint like this Benjamin Moore red color (I forgot the name of the color). And that’s all there is to it. See my How to Paint Moldings series for even better step by step tips.