Latest / Repcolite Home Improvement Show / Decluttering Sentimental Items and Choosing the Right Paint for Every Room

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Decluttering Sentimental Items and Choosing the Right Paint for Every Room · Repcolite Home Improvement Show

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Good morning, everybody, Thanks for tuning in.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: You're listening to Home in Progress, sponsored by Repical Life
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: Paints and Benjamin Moore. And I've got to pause for
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: a second before I tell you about the show, Before
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: I get into all the good home improvement stuff, you know,
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: the weighty things that we'll talk about. I've got to
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: talk about something silly and dumb, because I embarrassed myself
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: the other day. And for any of you who know me,
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: that's saying something you know not because not because I'm
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: infinitely confident and embarrassment just runs off my back, you.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Know, that's not it.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: I don't embarrass easily because I've spent pretty much a
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: lifetime doing ridiculous, embarrassing things, and I've gotten used to
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: It really doesn't surprise me anymore when I do something
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: like that. Usually that that was not the case this week.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: Here's the scoop.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: The other day, I'm at church and I look down,
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: you know.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: At the little worship aid that they gave me when
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: I walked in, you know, because we're singing, you know whatever,
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: him And when I look down, I spot and this
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: is hard to explain, but my eye sees this really blurry,
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: random hair that's shooting off of my face, you know,
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: from some point in my face it's shooting off.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: I just happen to see it. It's like when you see.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: Your own nose, right, it's blurry, you don't focus on
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: it all the time, but it's there, you know, kind
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: of lurking, you know what I mean. I see this
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: random single hair shooting off of my face, and my
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: first thought was, is that a hair from my beard?
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: And why isn't it hanging out with all the other ones,
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: you know, why is it shooting off in a weird direction?
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: What's up with that?
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: So I reach up to gently force it back into place,
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: to nudge it back into you know, compliance. But here's
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: where things take a really frustrating turn for me. I
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: can't find it, you know, with my hand, I can
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: see it, but my depth perception is off, or it's
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: too blurry, or you know, all of those things.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I can't put my finger on it.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: I can't find it.
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: So I keep trying eye and I'm pawing randomly at
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: my face. I'm closing my right eye so I can
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: look straight down my nose with my left eye and
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: try to pinpoint this rogue, obnoxious hair that is all
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: of a sudden consuming every single thought that I've got,
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: every single ounce of energy, is entirely focused on this
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: one hair.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: And then it hits me, like this huge wave of concern.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: It hits me. What if the hair isn't in fact a.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: Beard hair, you know that's just obstinately sticking up in
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: the wrong direction. What if it's a huge nose hair
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: that's coming out of hiding right.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: I know it's early for some of you, but that's
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: really what's going through my mind.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: What if it's a nose hair? You know what am
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: I going to do?
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: So I step up my attempts to find this hair
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: and wrangle it back into obedience. You know, I'm touching
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: my beard, I'm stroking my face, and then, because I
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: completely lose sight of the fact that I'm in a
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: public setting, I start pawing at my nose. I'm poking
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: at my nostrils. I'm doing Oh man, you can only
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: imagine whatever you're imagining. I'm doing that completely forgot where
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: I was. I'm waving my fingers all around my nostrils,
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: trying to see if I can feel a hair either
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: on my fingers or I thought this was so strategic.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: I thought maybe by brushing it, I might somehow trigger
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: a tickling effect in my nose, and thereby I had
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: at least pinned down where it was coming from. Well,
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: I carried on like that for a while, and when
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: that didn't work, and of course it didn't work. When
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: it didn't work, I realized the whole thing could be
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: closer to my eye. Maybe it's just an eyelash, you know,
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: because it's blurry, I can't tell where it's coming from.
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: So I start pawing all over my face. Now my eyes,
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: my eyebrows. You name it, and guess what you know,
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: for anybody who cares.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: That was it? Rogue eyelash?
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: I found it, and I was staring at it on
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: the end of my finger, like probably like somebody who's
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: just landed this huge fish, you know, in a huge
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: fishing battle, or you know what, if you're a hunter,
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: you can figure out what the analogy is that works
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: for you. I'm looking at this hair like I have
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: just conquered the world. And that's when it dawns on
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: me that I'm in a social setting surrounded by people.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: You know, I've been man handling my own face for
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: about ten minutes at this point, and I just freeze.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: My fingers still extended with the eyelash on it, and
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: I'm frozen. And because I've got no common sense whatsoever,
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: no social no social skills at all, I slowly turn my.
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: Head around, you know, in every single direction I can,
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: and I look at everybody to my right and to
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: the left and off to the sides behind me. At least,
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: I didn't fully turn around, but I'm looking at everybody,
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: you know, as much as I can, you know, swiveling
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: my head, I lock eyes with like four different people
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: who clearly have been observing and wondering what in the world.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: I was doing.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: And because there's no limit to the social awkwardness that
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: I possess, I started to lift up my index finger
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: with the hair on it so they could see that
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: I had found it. You know, I almost mouthed the
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: word it was a hare, you know, the words it
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: was a hair. But thankfully I froze at that point again,
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: and I realized that was going too far, even for me.
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: So anyway, it was awkward, so awkward, but I did
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: survive it. And now I'm stronger, right, I'm stronger for
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: that experience. Anyway, enough of that, it's time to get
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: to the show. This week, we're going to be continuing
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: that series on memory management.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: This week, we're.
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: Going to look at how to clean up all the
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: physical items that we've saved over the years, you know,
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: our kids and our grandkids, all of those things, the
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: school projects, the birthday cards, the artwork, you know, the
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: first crocs they wore, you know, all the things that
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: we saved, their favorite pacifier, you name it. We've all
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: got boxes and boxes of stuff like that, or at
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: least lots of us do, and sometimes it gets out
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: of hand. How do you pair it all down and
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: organize it in such a way that you can find
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: the things that you want to find and enjoy those memories,
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: you know, rather than just have them stored away in boxes.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: We're going to talk about all of that.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: We're also going to be doing a paint one a
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: one class so you can confidently know everything you need
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: to know to pick the right paint for any room
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: in your house. But before we get to that, we're
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: going to talk about a crazy cool eight dollars tool
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: that you might need in your toolbox. We'll get to
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: that right after. This home in progress is brought to
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: you by repco Like Paints and Benjamin Moore. You know,
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: people often think of paint as just another line item
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: on the project's supply list.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: But here's the thing.
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: Everything you do, every hour of prep, every stroke of
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: the brush, all comes down to the quality of the paint.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: The paint is the project. Make sure it's the best.
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: Right now, I want to do another Winter wood Shop
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: Series segment. If you remember a while back, I started
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: this Winter wood Shop series and we talked about different finishes,
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: went through three different you know, segments in a row
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: over three different weeks. We talked about different finishes. Today,
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: I want to revisit that whole series and talk about
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: a tool that I'm betting most of you don't know
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: anything about, but it's something that you should go out
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: and buy. Just rush out and buy one right now.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: Well in a minute after I'm done telling you about it,
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: you're going to find a ton of uses for it.
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: And best of all, it's something that's usually going to
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: cost less than a lunch, right, so not expensive. You're
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: going to use it all over the place. It's a
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: card scraper, and I don't know, like I said, does
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: anybody even know what I'm talking about?
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: You're forming a visual of it in your mind, and
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: you're probably not right.
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: On the surface. It really is about as boring as
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: it gets, you know. But if you ever refinish furniture,
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: if you hate sanding, if you hate all the dust
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: that standing creates, this is something to check out. And
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: here's my home in progress promise from Repcolite. Repcolite standing
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: behind this. When you've got one of these, and when
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: you know where and how to use it, you're gonna
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: find yourself stopping mid project over and over and thinking,
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: I am so glad that little guy on the radio
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: told me about this. All right, So, card scraper, what
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: is it? Well, when you look at one, it doesn't
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: look like much of anything. It's basically a hunk of thin,
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: flexible metal about the size of a playing card.
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: They're made of hard and steel. If you didn't know
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: any better, you really would.
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  Speaker 2: Just assume this is a hunk of scrap metal. It's
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: just a hunk of junk that's sitting around in somebody's shop.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: I've seen them being used in woodworking videos in the past,
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: and I just figured the guy was using this hunk
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: of metal to scrape the wood, something that he had
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: sitting around. They're that basic. But once they're prepared properly,
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: something almost magical happens with these things along the edges
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: of the card. You know you've got four edges. You
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: can do this to all four of these sides. You
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: prepare them by creating a tiny hook. It's microscopic, really,
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: and hook probably isn't the right word. Call it a burr.
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: That's the proper term. And that burr turns the scraper
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: into a cutting tool. Now, don't get hung up on
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: everything that I just said. Right now, as you're trying
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: to make that make sense, don't worry about it.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: Just roll with it. I'll explain it later.
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: It'll make sense as we go. The big thing is
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: that when it's sharpened properly, when you pull it across
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: the wood, it takes off whisper thin, curly.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: Shavings like a hand plane. Right.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: Think of it as a mini handplane, but with so
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: much more finesse than a handplane. And also it doesn't
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: care about which direction the grain is running, and that's
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: a big deal, especially on figured wood. You know things
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: like burrol or bird's eye where the grain twists and
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: swirls instead of running straight. They're incredibly practical. These card
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: scrapers incredibly practical in that regard in a lot of
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: different woodworking applications. Not all right, I've already mentioned that
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: they're inexpensive, but they are easily one of the most
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: inexpensive upgrades that you can make to your shop or
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: your tool bin. A basic rectangular card scraper is usually
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: going to cost about eight to twelve bucks.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: That's it.
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: A small set of them might run twenty to thirty.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: Sometimes that set's going to include the burnisher that you
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: need to sharpen it, you know, to create that burr
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: that we talked about earlier. So twenty to thirty bucks.
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: You can get everything you need, and if you take
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: care of it, it's going to last for decades. Now
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: that sounds good, But what do you use them for.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: Let's talk about that for a second. Specifically from the
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: point of view of a regular homeowner, you know, regular
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: di wire. Which projects would you really benefit from using
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: a card scraper. Well, furniture refinishing, that's a big one.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: If you've ever stripped old varnish or paint, you know
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: how much fun that is. You know, chemical strippers work,
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: but they're messy, they smell terrible, they're not very much
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: fun to work with indoors. If you even can work
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: with them indoors. A card scraper lets you remove that
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: finish mechanically, so no fumes, no sludge, no mess, really
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: at least no slimy, sloppy mess, and you can stay
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: in control of everything, especially on flat surfaces like drawer fronts, tabletops,
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: cabinet sides, things like that. And also, as I mentioned earlier,
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: they're grain agnostic. They don't care which way the grain
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: is going. You can go over joined up sections that
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: are hidden underpaint, you know where the wood grain runs
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: in different directions, and you're not going to hurt the wood.
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: They're great with veneers because they're scraping and removing such
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: whisper thin strips of wood. So really great for furniture refinishing. Now,
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: if you're dealing with layers and layers of paint or
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: something like that, it might be good to kind of
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: tag team that project, use a chemical stripper or something
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: like that to get the bulk of that off and
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: then clean everything up with the with the card scraper.
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: You know, it may not be best if you've got
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: layers and layers of stuff on it, but it's still
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: going to do a really good job. It'll take off varnas,
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: it'll take off pretty much anything, so really great for that.
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: Another place that card scrapers really earn their keep is
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: in glue clean up. You know, dried glue squeeze out.
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: You know you built something, you glued it together, the
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: glue dripped all over the place. This is a great
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: way to get it off, to get adhesive residue off,
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: to get tape gunk off, and keep the wood safe.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: A scraper's going to remove.
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: It cleanly without gouging the wood the way a putty knife,
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: mit a razor blade can all of that. So they're
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: really good for those kinds of things. And then there's
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: final surface prep, which is where a lot of people
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: really fall in love with these things. Sandpaper upbraids and
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: crushes wood fibers, you know, a card scraper slices them clean,
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: so you get this beautifully smooth surface with way less dust.
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: And for clear finishes like polyurethane, you know, maybe shellac,
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: tongue oil, different things that we talked about in other weeks.
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: If you're using just those on the wood that scrape
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: surface is just superior to anything else.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: It's beautiful.
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: However, one thing to add here, if you are planning
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: to use stain, many woodworkers actually go and do a
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: quick pass with like a two twenty grit sandpaper over
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: the scraping area, you know, the area that they scrape
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: clean to give the stains something to grab onto. This
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: is something that not everybody realizes. A lot of di
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: wires don't realize this that when a surface is really
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: really smooth, that smoothness can actually negatively impact your ability
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: to get a particular color with a stain. You know,
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: we've had people really really polish some trim up, for example,
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: with their sandpaper. You know, even just just with sandpaper,
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: they'll go to three twenty grid or higher and they'll
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: really get this beautifully. You know, it just feels beautiful.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: To touch it.
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: But when you put stain on it, the stain just
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: can't penetrate. It's almost polished to the point where it's
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: not going to absorb the stain. That can happen with
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: a card scraper. So a lot of the times, like
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: I said, woodworkers will get it scraped and then they'll
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: lightly hit it with a two twenty grit sandpaper to
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: open up the grain a little bit, give that stain
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: something to bite onto. But even then, even if that's
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: what you have to do, and you have to use
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: a little bit of sand paper, you're still going to
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: be miles ahead of sanding everything from the beginning. All right,
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: those are some typical homeowner uses for this card scraper thing.
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: But if you actually have a wood shop and you
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: love woodworking, well then you probably already know about these.
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: But if you don't, card scrapers really earn their keep
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: in a few other ways as well. They're going to
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: be great for cleaning up million marks left by planers
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: and jointers without changing the thick of your stock, so
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: that's really good. They're going to let you work right
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: up against joinery, you know, tenins Duvetale's, Dato's, without rounding
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: things over the way sanding can do.
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: You know, a lot of.
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: Woodworkers also use a scraper right before glue ups to
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: expose fresh wood fibers for better adhesion, or to sneak up,
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: you know, sneak up on a perfect fit when things
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: are just a little bit too tight, you know, maybe
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: a hair too tight. This is a great way to
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: sneak up on that fit and after a panel glue up,
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: a scraper is going to level seems evenly without dishing
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: out the surface or causing any kind of damage at all.
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: It's one of those tools that's really going to reward
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: your precision work. You're going to take everything up a notch.
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: I was reading one particular blog post a guy who
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: runs a wood shop and he talked about how every
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: piece that he produces went up a notch in quality
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: just because he was using a card scraper. So, a
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: lot of uses for a card scraper and like I said,
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: eight to twelve bucks can't really.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: Go wrong here, right, Well, there's a butt.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: There's actually three different butts that we have to talk
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: about because in life that's pretty much how it always is,
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: no matter how good everything is, there's a butt that
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: you got to deal with with card scrapers. Like I said,
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: there's three of them. The first butt is that technique matters.
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: You know, a card scraper is thin and flexible on purpose.
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: You hold it with both hands, you gently bow it
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: with your thumbs, and that flex does two important things.
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: It lifts the corners so they don't dig in and
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: it concentrates the cutting right in the middle where the burr.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: Is doing its work.
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: You also have to tilt the scraper slightly in the
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: direction that you're moving just a few degrees too upright,
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: and it's not going to cut too much angle, and
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: it kind of just skates along the wood. Some people
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: push them, some people pull them. I've seen a lot
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: of people do both, you know, I think most people
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: probably do a mix of both, you know, once they
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: get the fuel for it.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: Definitely, when you're trying this, try both.
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: You know, once you've got the flex and the angle
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: and you figured that out and it all clicks.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: And it's not going to take long. It's going to
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: take a couple of minutes for that to click.
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: Once that happens, you stop getting dust and you start
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: getting long, curly shavings. And that's when that moment happens
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: when you say, oh, thank goodness, that little guy from
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: Repcolite told me about this. All right, So the first
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: butt is technique, but you can figure it out. The
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: second butt is heat. You know, things heat up with
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: this little thing. It's just a thin piece of steel,
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: so friction is going to build quickly. Now, some people
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: put tape on the area where their thumbs are, and
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: that will kind of help. I've seen people take business
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: card sized refrigerator magnets and put them there, you know,
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: where their thumbs sit, and that helps dissipate the heat.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: It's not ideal because the refrigerator magnet slips around a
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: little bit, so that's not perfect, but it can work.
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: Other people just take a little bit of a break. Still.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: Other people will step up to a larger cabinet scraper
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: and those things have handles. You know, it's not quite
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: the same tool, but it's very very similar a cabinet scraper.
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: It doesn't have the same finesse, but it is great
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: for bigger areas and it's something to know about if
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: you end up loving card scrapers. All right, So that's
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: the second but the third butt is sharpening now card scrapers,
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: and I think this is the biggest of the butts.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: It's the biggest of the butts. The sharpening. Card scrapers
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: only work, of course, if they're sharp and when you
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: buy one, they're not going to come generally speaking, prepared
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: and ready to go. You're going to need to prep it.
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: You're gonna need to sharpen it, and you'll need to
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: maintain that edge over time, especially if you're scraping paint,
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: which is going to duble them faster. Now, the good
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: news is that sharpening isn't intimidating. Once you've done it
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: a few times, you know you're simply rolling a tiny
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: burr along the edge with a burnishing tool. You know
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: there's no grinding, no complicated angles or anything like that.
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: And once you get the hang of it, it's going
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: to take a few minutes to do. And if you
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: want to go deep, there are tons of great videos
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: and shop tricks out there from people who swear by
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: these tools. So those are card scrapers. If you refinish furniture,
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: if sanding dust drives you crazy, if you like tools
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: that weigh outperform their price tag, get one. And when
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: you do, you're gonna see all kinds of shapes, just
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: really quick.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: Here.
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: You're gonna see rectangular ones, curved ones, goose neck ones,
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: all kinds of different shapes, and they all have their place.
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: But don't overthink it. Start with a basic rectangular scraper.
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: It's gonna handle most furniture and flat work just fine.
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: And you can always add specialty shapes later compared to
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: sanding scrapers are quieter and cleaner compared to chemical strippers.
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: They're safer and less messy compared to power tools. They're calm.
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: You know, no cords, no noise, no setup. They've got
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: that old school craftsmanship feel to them. And even if
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: you've never used one before, I think you're gonna be
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: surprised how often you reach for one once it's in
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: your shop. All right, Coming up next, we're gonna talk
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: about paint choices, mudrooms, bathrooms, guestrooms, kids rooms, What actually
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: makes sense where? What paint should you pick. We're gonna
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: demystify the whole process, and we're gonna start right after
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: this Homing Progress is brought to you by Repcolite Paints
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: and Benjamin Moore.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: Think about it.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: You spend hours prepping, sandy, taping, and then finally painting.
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: Don't throw all that work away with an inferior product.
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: The paint isn't just another supply. The paint is the project.
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: Make sure it's the best. And right now, I want
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: to do something a little bit different. I don't know
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: how it's gonna work. I'm gonna do my best. We'll
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: see how it works. But here's the deal. My kid
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: just bought a new house and suddenly he's got all
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: kinds of paint questions, and it got me thinking. As
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: I'm answering them, I was thinking that it might be
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: helpful on the radio to walk through an entire home
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: and talk briefly about what paint and finish makes sense
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: in each particular space. Because here's the thing. Paint choices
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: get confusing fast. You know, if you're not in it,
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: dig in and day out, it gets confusing. There are
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: a lot of different products out there, and within each
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: product line, there's a whole range of different finishes. I
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: remember when I started working at repcolit like thirty years ago,
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: you know, twenty nine, thirty years ago. I remember wanting
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: to quit in my first few weeks or so because
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: it just felt impossible to learn where everything worked best.
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: It was just so many things to figure out. It
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: took years until you start to feel like, Okay, I've
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: kind of run into most of the questions and most
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: of the concerns that I will run into on a
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: daily basis, and I can answer them, you know, So
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: it takes years to get there, and even once you
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: get there. Pretty much every week you run into something
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: that's brand new that you've never heard about before or
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: never run into that exact situation. You can always figure
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: out what to do based on other things that you've
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: run into. But it is kind of fun because every
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: week you run into something that really just came out
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: of left field. Anyway, if you've ever felt that way,
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: just confused about all of the paint stuff, you're not alone.
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: And yeah, you just stop in at any repkolite and
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: we'll walk you through it. You know, that's one way
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: to go. But even then, knowing a little bit of
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: the stuff yourself is going to be helpful, if for
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: no other reason that when you do walk into replight
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: you feel.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: Kind of smart.
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: All right, So let's do a quick practical walk through
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: of a house and talk about how to make good
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: paint decisions room by room, because that's my main key,
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: not so much to tell you which paint to pick,
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: but how to make that decision. But I still will
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: tell you what I think is the best paint for
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: each space. Now, let's start with the mudroom, you know,
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: the entry off the garage, whatever that space is in
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: your home, you know wherever it falls in your house.
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: That's the space I'm talking about, not the main entry,
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: the foyer or anything like that. I'm talking the mud room,
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: the place where shoes and boots get kicked off, you know,
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: floors get messy. The whole space takes a beating, you know,
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: especially if you have kids that room. What's the right
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: paint for a space like that? Now, before you can
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: really answer that, you've got to know a few simple
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: things about paint, and this is going to apply to
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: every room that we'll talk about.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: Now.
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: The first of those things is you've got to understand
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: the role that finish plays. You know, paint finishes or shechines.
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: They run from flat, which is the dullest, up through
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: matt eggshell satin semi gloss, and then full gloss. Each
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: step up gets a little shinier, and some companies have
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: other finishes or other sheenes tucked away in there. I'm
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: just trying to simplify it here. As sheen increases, as
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: it gets shinier, you're gonna gain washability, but you're also
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: gonna increase the chance of seeing flaws. You know, so brushmarks,
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: roller lines, patches, touch ups, dents, things like that. Think
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: of it this way, the shinier the paint, the more
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: honest it is. It's gonna tell you exactly what's going
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: on on your walls. Flat flat paint, it's a complete liar,
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: but it's a good liar, right. Flat's gonna hide imperfections beautifully.
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: It's gonna touch up easily. But the downside to flat
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: is it's gonna mark up easily. It's gonna burnish when
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: it's bumped, and you can't really clean it. Once it's dirty,
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: you pretty much just repaint it again. There's always gonna
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: be some sort of exception to some of these these things,
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: but you know, for the most part, that's giving you
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: the straight scoop. So making your paint choice is always
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: a balance. You've got to choose something washable enough for
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: the abuse that it's going to have to hold up to,
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: but dull enough to hide any imperfections or you know,
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: lack of skill.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: If you're not a.
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: Completely trained painter, if you haven't done a lot of painting,
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: you might want something that's going to hide some of
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: the things that you might bring to the project where
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: you're still learning the skill or the art of it.
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: So you've got to find that balance. That's one thing
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: to know about paint. The second thing to know is
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: the role that quality plays. And I know it's going
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: to sound like a commercial. It's gonna sound obvious, but
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: quality really does.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: It matters.
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: A ton A twenty dollars gallon of paint and one
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: hundred dollars gallon of paint are going to look the
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: same in the can. You know, they both look like paint,
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: but they don't behave the same on the wall. Lower
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: quality paints they generally go on thinner, they spatter more,
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: They don't level and flow as well. They don't hold
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: up the same way. Long term, better ingredients in a
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: product are going to mean better application, better durability, and
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: better results that last. So quality matters. Remember that now.
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: The last thing I like to think about is what
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: I like to call the paint superpower. You know, every
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: paint does something especially well. Scuff X from Benjamin Moore.
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: It's superpower, of course, is scuff resistance. Nothing else out
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: there touches it so high traffic areas, hospital schools, elevator lobbies,
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: that's where scuff X is perfect. Aura from Benjamin Moore,
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: it's superpower amongst other things, but it's it's probably most
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: you know, famous for its coverage.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: You know, that's its superpower.
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: Two coats over pretty much any color, guaranteed sometimes less care.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: Free from Repcolite.
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: It's got a little quieter superpower, but its strength is value.
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: You know, it's going to apply be you to fuey,
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: hold up well and cost less. That's that's what you're
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: really getting. There is a good product for less dollars,
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: so it's perfect for guest rooms, powder rooms, spaces that
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: don't need maximum durability or scuff resistance. You know, places
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: where you're trying to save a buck or two and
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: still get a really good product on the wall that's
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: care free from Repcolite. You know there's overlap between products.
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: For sure, you can use scuff X everywhere if you want,
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: but in some rooms you're going to end up overspending,
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: and in others there are simply better fits. So think
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: about the paint superpower or and this is probably easier,
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: just ask yourself, what problem am I trying to solve
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: in this room? You know, knowing what each space needs,
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: or at least knowing what problem you're trying to solve,
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: is going to make choosing the right paint a lot easier.
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: All right, that's the quick paint one on one crash course.
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: Now let's get back to that mudroom and walk through
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: the paint selection. Mudrooms, like we said earlier, they generally
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: take a ton of abuse, So your first priority is
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: going to be to get a product and a finish
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: that's going to wash up and resist scuffs and other marks.
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: You know, at least if it's like my mudroom, the
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: kids would kick their shoes off all the time and
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: I had black marks, scuff marks all over the bottom
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: of the wall. So I would be looking for something
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: that's going to wash up and resist scuffs. Well, when
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: it comes to finish, an eggshell is probably going to
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: be ideal. You know, you could go shinier and get
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: more washability, but I think you're going to get enough
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: washability out of an eggshell, and then with that lower sheen,
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: you're still going to have you know a little.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: More forgiving finish.
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: You know, it's going to show less imperfections on the wall,
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: less roller marks and things like that. It's just going
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: to ease up the application process. So an eggshell I
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: think would be great as for product. You know, talking
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: about scuffs, things like that, the ultimate scuff resistance is
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: going to come from scuff X, so that'd be the
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: best recommendation for that space. Don't skimp in this room,
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: don't don't go don't go economical here, because this room
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: sees so much heavy use, you're going to think yourself later.
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: I painted mine with scuff X four years ago and
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: it still looks pretty much like I just painted it
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: because it really has resisted everything the kids and the
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: dogs have thrown at it. So scuff X for mudroom
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: in an eggshell, I think that's great. What about a bathroom?
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: These are complicated rooms.
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: To deal with. You know, usually the big issue here
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: is moisture.
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: You know you're gonna need a paint that's gonna hold
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: up to long showers, lots of steam, you name it well.
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: Because of that most of the time, you know, in
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: the past we would say go to a satin sheen.
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: But now we've got a better option and it's a
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: win all the way around. Aur a bath and Spa
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: from Benjamin Moore. It's got to be the ideal bathroom paint.
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: It's made to resist extremely high moisture levels and it
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: comes in a matte finish. In fact, it only comes
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: in a matte finish, so you don't have to deal
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: with a shiny paint in your bathroom.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: You know, not everybody wants that.
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: You know, like I said, not only do you have
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: the imperfections and all of that that show with a
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: shiny paint, it's just a look that not everybody wants anymore.
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: Sometimes people do, but if you don't, you don't have
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: to have that in your bathroom. You can go with
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: aur a bath and spa, get the matte finish and
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: get a product that's going to outperform the shinier paints.
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: So definitely the way to go in a bathroom. It's
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: premium again, but just like the mudroom, you don't want
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: to skimp in the space.
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: This space really sees a lot of stuff. Bathroom see
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: a lot of stuff.
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: At least coat their walls with something that's gonna hold
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: up to all of what you're gonna throw at it.
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: All right, what about a master bedroom? You know, these
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: spaces they don't usually need the extreme durability that the
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: other spaces that we just talked about. You know that
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: those spaces need master bedroom. I think it's a great
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: space to make a few more economical paint choices. You know,
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: I'm thinking repcolites care for your optima, even in a
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: matte finish would be great, you know, perfect for a
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: space like that. You save some money and still get
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: a product on the walls that's gonna be perfect. Now,
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: what about a kid's room. It's really, of course, going
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: to all depend on what those walls see. You know,
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: if you're wiping the walls down on a regular basis
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: and worried about things like that, I would think an
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: eggshell finish would be the way to go. I don't
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: think you need to go shinier than that unless you're
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: really wiping those walls down regularly. But an eggshell should
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: be washable enough, and if you want to make make
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: sure that it's good and that you don't have to
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: worry about any staining and stuff like that. Regal select
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: in an eggshell would be perfect. We talked about it already,
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: but Regal has those. It's got stained resistant technology built
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: right into it.
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: It will hold up to what your kids can throw
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: at it.
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: If it's really crazy in there, it's a throw down
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: all the time. Scuff X, it's like putting iron on
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: the walls. That might be a way to go. What
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: about a ceiling When you're doing a ceiling, flat finish
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: all the way right, the flattest you can find. The
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: ideal product for a di Wied to grab for a
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: ceiling is going to be Benjamin Moore's waterborne ceiling paint.
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: It's dead flat no matter what color you choose, and
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: that is unique to this product. Most flat ceiling paints,
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: when tinted, are going to pick up sheen from the pigments,
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: but not this one, Benjamin Moore's Waterborne ceiling paint. It's
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: going to remain dead flat, whether it's a ceiling white
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: or a navy blue. And that's going to make painting
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: it much much easier because lap marks and roller marks
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: won't be an issue. The flat's going to hide all
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: of What about a hallway again, it's going to see
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: a lot of traffic. I would think an eggshell would
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: be fine here because you don't really want a big
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: shiny section if everything else is eggshell in the home,
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: eggshell should be fine. Scuff X would be extremely great there,
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: Regal select would be fine.
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: Either one would work well.
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: What's funny about all of this is that there really
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: is no single answer for most spaces. When it comes
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: to which painting use, the big thing that you want
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: to remember is what the sheene is doing for you.
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: Flat finishes hide imperfections, but don't wash up shiny your
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: paints washed like there's no tomorrow, but they show more brushstrokes,
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: more roller marks, more imperfections, and things like that. Also,
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: don't forget that the quality of the paint makes a difference.
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: And finally, if you can't remember all of that, just
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: remember to pay attention to what the space that your
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: painting needs. You know, what are you struggling with in
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: that space? Dirty handprints that you're always wiping down, moisture issues,
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: scuffs from shoes.
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: Or toys or whatever.
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: Knowing what you're dealing with helps us make the right
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: recommendations when you stop in for paint. All right, my
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: basement full of boxes of kids' artwork, baby clothes, and
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: memories that have gotten a little bit out of control.
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: Let's talk about how to organize all of that. Right
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: after this, you're listening to Home in Progress, where the
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: projects are real, the mistakes. They're educational, sometimes painful, mostly educational,
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: And the only thing more stubborn than that old wallpaper
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: on your bathroom wall is your determination to get it fixed,
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: probably sponsored by Repcolite Paints and Benjamin Moore Paint with
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: a purpose, people who care and everything you need to
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: get the job done right. Let's keep working to get
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: those storage boxes of memories under control. And today I'm
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: going to focus on the physical stuff. Not photos, that's
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: physical too, but kids, art work, you know, homework, pieces
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: of clothing, you name it, all the stuff that we
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: save because we think it's important. And I want to
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: start with the art first and foremost, because if you
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: have kids or grandkids, you know, they bring home a
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: tone of art and some of it's really cool, right,
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: and you love it, but some of it, you know,
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: I don't know how else to say it, but some
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: of it, really it's kind of just quantity over quality, right,
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: if we're honest, it's quantity over quality. Yeah, there's children
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: crying right now, and I'm sorry about that, but you know,
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: it's a wake up call for everybody.
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: But the kids made it. I understand that. You know,
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: they made it.
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: It's tons of it, and they made it and they
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: put love into it. And that makes you, you know,
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: just question yourself and question yourself as a parent or
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: as a person, as a human in general, when you
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: want to throw it away, and so we end up
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: not throwing it away. We end up saving it and
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: saving it and saving it, and you end up with
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: rubber maids full of cotton ball, sheep, macaroni collages, you
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: name it, tons and tons of stuff. I'm looking at
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: that right now in my basement. This stuff fills up
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: to four foot wide, six foot tall shelving units, and
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: it's gotten to the point where it's really just a
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: collection of junk because I don't even know what's in
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: there anymore. So what do you do? How do we
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: get on top of all of this? Well, first first
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: thing you do is let your kids help you decide.
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: And this can be way more important than it sounds.
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: You know, if the kids are younger, involving them and
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: choosing what to keep is going to help them learn
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: decision making skills. It really will. You know, it's a
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: really good practice for that. If they're older, you're giving
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: them a lesson, a life lesson that they can hopefully
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: take to their own homes as they move out and
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: get married, you know, namely, don't stockpile things like this.
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: It's a good lesson to learn. And honestly, when you
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: involve your kids, what's really interesting and really fun to
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: me is that they're often less sentimental about it than
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: we are. Most of the time, they're less sentimental about
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: it than we are. And when they say something can go,
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: let me tell you, that is incredibly freeing. You know,
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: the guilt is minimized dramatically at that point. Now, one
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: simple system that professional organizers recommend is one bin per kid.
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: All right, so throughout the year, the best artwork goes
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: in that bin. At the end of the year, you
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: go through it together, you pick the absolute favorite ones
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: to keep, and then everything else gets.
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: Photographed and recycled.
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: And really that's probably the key takeaway in all of this,
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: all of these weeks of talking about this stuff. You
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: don't have to keep the physical piece to keep the memory.
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: You know, take photos, put them in a digital album
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: or a small photo book. One organizer that I was
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: reading online said that she photographs her kids' artwork near
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: a window for good light and then makes a yearly
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: book and the whole process takes her about an hour,
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: and her kids love flipping through those books every single year.
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: They can see how their art changed over time, and
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: it takes up way less space than bins of crumbling,
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: crumbling construction paper. Another thing, if you want to display artwork,
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: think in terms of rotation. You know, clipboards on the wall,
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: magnet frames on the fridge, frames that opens, you can
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: stack multiple pieces behind the one on display. You know,
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: the key is to limit the space. That's what you're
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: trying to do here. When it's full, something has to
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: come down. And for three dimensional projects, you know, clay sculptures, dioramas.
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: Things like that.
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: Keep them for a while, enjoy them, take photos, but
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: don't feel like you've got to store them forever.
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: You know, that's just a trap.
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: Don't do that, all right, So that's all pretty solid
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: when it comes to you know, artwork.
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: And stuff like that.
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: What about everything else, you know, baby clothes, old yearbooks,
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: boxes of cards and letters, things you inherited from family.
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: This is where it gets emotionally. You know, it gets
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: tough at this point. Artwork's cool and all of that,
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: and photos are tough to let go. But these things
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: that I'm talking about now, they're physical things that were
• 35:37
  Speaker 2: used or worn or handwritten, you know, you name it.
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: This is where it all gets real. But the good news,
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: according to professional organizers, is that if you've done all
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: of the other things that we've talked about, the photos, sorting,
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: you know, sorting through the artwork and all of that.
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: If you've done all of that, you've been working out.
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: You're letting go muscles. That's their term, not mine. It's
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: a little food food for me, but I'm going with it.
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: You've been working out, you're letting go muscles. And once
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: you've done that and you're ready to tackle these you know,
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: bigger items, the physical things, the close.
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: The pacifiers that they use, the crocs they wore, you
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: name it. When you're ready.
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: Here are a few things that might help you. First
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: off again, set clear boundaries one box per family member
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: or one drawer, one shelf, whatever works. You know, the
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: limit forces you to curate, to choose only the best
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: of the best. Second, and this is huge, separate the
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: item from the memory. Right, Your memories aren't locked inside
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: your stuff. They live in you. And you know that's true.
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: We all know that's true. But we don't even know
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: what's in those boxes. But we still hold the memories,
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: you know. And so as you're going through things, ask yourself,
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: why am I keeping this, Does it bring me joy
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: or is it just guilt at the thought of letting
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: it go. Now, sometimes we hold onto things out of obligation,
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: but keeping something out of guilt doesn't really honor the memory.
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: It just honestly, it.
• 36:59
  Speaker 2: Just that's this layer of guilt to the memory. So
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: just make sure you're separating the fact that these items
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: aren't the memory.
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: The memory lives in you. And if it's not bringing.
• 37:10
  Speaker 2: You joy, if you're not getting a positive emotion from it,
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: if it's just guilt at the thought of letting it go,
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: that's not reason enough to keep it. And if that's
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: not enough and you're still struggling to let something go.
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: The professional organizers once again, I'm going to them. I'm
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: tagging them into this match. I'm asking for their help.
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: They're saying, give it a victory lap. Their term, not mine.
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: But the idea is that you use whatever this is
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: one last time with intention. So you make a cup
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: of coffee in your mom's old mug, you wear your
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: grandmother's scarf once more, those kinds of things. You get
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: the little baby crocs out and you put them on
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: the table with maybe a little flower in them. I
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: have no idea what you would do with little baby crocks.
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: But yeah, let them take their victory lap, whatever that
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: looks like. Make the kid wear them around the house
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: one last time and make new memories.
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: And then if that happened, take photos. And you don't
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: need to save the crocs anyway.
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: Whatever you've got to do, let that item have its
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: last little moment, appreciate it, you know, enjoy it, and
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: then let it go. Now, I want to be clear
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: about all of this. It's not about becoming a minimalist,
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: you know.
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: It's not about.
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: Throwing every single thing that you've ever saved away. It's
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: about being intentional. I need to be intentional.
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: When I'm surrounded by too much stuff, even sentimental stuff,
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: you just can't appreciate what's there. You know, That's how
• 38:28
  Speaker 2: I feel. It's just how it is. It's how we
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: all are. But when you curate these things, you know,
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: when you find the best of the best, When you
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: keep only the most meaningful items and give them a
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: place of honor, that's when they bring you joy and
• 38:41
  Speaker 2: do the work that these things are supposed to do,
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: you know, to jog our memories and help us remember
• 38:45
  Speaker 2: great days. So here's the challenge for the week. Pick
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: one category, just just one category, photos, kids, artwork, cards, letters,
• 38:53
  Speaker 2: you name it. Pick one category, then set aside a
• 38:56
  Speaker 2: couple of hours, put on some music, make a cup
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: of coffee. You don't have to fit finish the project.
• 39:01
  Speaker 2: You don't have to be perfect. You just have to
• 39:03
  Speaker 2: start even if you don't feel like it. Because, if
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: you remember last week, action comes before motivation. Most of
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: the time, motivation is gonna follow. You're gonna start feeling
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: like doing this once you start doing it, probably not before.
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: And once you finish even a small piece of this
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: and you get one organized box, you know, one organized
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: photobook or cleared bin, you're gonna feel loads lighter and
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: more organized, and you're gonna find tons of great memories
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: along the way. It really can be a pretty fun process.
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: So I'm challenging me, I'm challenging you. Let's see how
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: far we can get. All Right, that's gonna do it
• 39:36
  Speaker 2: for this episode. If you want to catch it again,
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: you can find it online at repco light dot com.
• 39:41
  Speaker 2: Whatever you do today, make sure paints a part of it.
• 39:43
  Speaker 2: I'm Dan Hansen for Home and Progress. Thanks for listening.