Star Trek TOS Inspired Home Office Remodel

[Starbase101]

I made one more attempt today with a different roller type after sanding one of the doors smooth, and again no good - still getting roller marks in the dried paint and I'm not liking the pebbled orange-peel texture that rollers are creating (even foam rollers). The Behr paint is just way too viscous for the result I'm wanting. Sanding with a palm sander did get the door "smooth as an android's bottom" so the final attempt (hopefully) will be spraying them. The best color I was able to find is Krylon COLORmaxx Satin Pimento. I won't know for certain how well this color will look until seeing the actual paint, but the cap color is promising:

That's the painted door behind the Krylon cap and Behr swatch card. Notice the swatch card is slightly darker than the actual paint. Weather permitting, I'll be sanding both doors tomorrow and trying out the spray paint.

 

[mrwax]

You have a lot of patience! It'll be worth it in the end, better to have a color that's maybe a few shades off with a much better texture. You'll get used to the color, but you won't get as used to bad texture. But man, I hate redoing work.

 

[Rogviler]

If you do anything like this in the future, I highly recommend Sherwin-Williams Pro Classic with a foam roller. It's an interior trim enamel that's frequently used for cabinet doors and the like. It dries extremely smooth and also doesn't have that latent tackiness where two painted surfaces stick to each other even years after.

 

[JamesM242]

For your consideration - there is also a product/mixture you can pour into a bucket of paint that helps reduce brush strokes - I think it is marketed specifically to help paint cabinets. I dont recall a brand or name off the top of my head, but I am sure it is in the paint isle.

I'm looking forward to seeing your end results - you have put a lot of work into it, so I know it will look great.

 

[Starbase101]

For your consideration - there is also a product/mixture you can pour into a bucket of paint that helps reduce brush strokes - I think it is marketed specifically to help paint cabinets. I dont recall a brand or name off the top of my head, but I am sure it is in the paint isle.

Yes, I had a bottle of that in my hand and was reading the instructions/notes while waiting for one of the quarts of red to be mixed. I opted against it after seeing it can potentially affect the finish/sheen of the paint.

 

[Starbase101]

I'm looking forward to seeing your end results - you have put a lot of work into it, so I know it will look great.

Thanks, I'm hoping it looks good. Been getting discouraged lately with having to repaint the gray and now the red doors multiple times with still not an acceptable finish on them. The Colonial doors were easy because of their wood grain, but the smooth doors haven't been cooperating. If spray paint ends up not working out then I'll give the Sherwin-Williams a try. Also, the silver mylar tape I had gotten for the vertical stripes won't work out - it is cellophane-thin and wall texture will show through ruining the effect. I have a different tape on order that is much more expensive but at 1/32" thick should hopefully give the desired contrast difference.

 

[division 6]

With the amount of time and money you're spending on all the assorted paints and sand paper it would be easier and probably cheaper to just get a sprayer.

 

[Starbase101]

I do have an electric sprayer, Wagner if I recall, but the one time I tried to use it with fence stain it kept clogging up. Behr Marquee paint is so thick it would need a lot of thinning to move through the sprayer, and that's just not something I'm experienced with (yet). Rattle-cans are already bought and a sand paper stash was already in the garage, but unfortunately no work got done at all today. Since Thursday I've been having increasing back pain and eye inflammation, so 7 hours was consumed today with an Urgent Care doctor visit, a journey to the hospital E.R., seeing an eye specialist, and then a pharmacy (with typical wait times for all). It's another iritis flare up (basically high pressure and inflammation in one eye) so I'm now on 4 different eyedrops and will be seeing another eye specialist during the week. There's not enough daylight left today to warrant setting up the doors and sander outside, so hopefully tomorrow I can resume work on this.

 

[division 6]

Take care of your health above everything else.
Projects can wait.

 

[13doctorwho]

Hope you're feeling better!! I recently had to put a stack of half done projects to the side for health reasons (not covid). It sucks, but you'll get back to it. Take care

 

[Starbase101]

Starfleet Door Refinishing Services, the weather will not stop us!

All the white areas were high spots on the doors, so in a way I'm glad about taking a sander to them - they will be much smoother than if the original plan had worked out of just taking them home and painting them.

And this is why you wear face protection:

Yep, I had quite a "Total Recall" Mars landscape thing going on with lots of red powder. Both doors are now ready for paint but ran out of daylight again by the time sanding was done.

 

[division 6]

You should invest in cartridge filter mask.
Just saying.

 

[Starbase101]

You should invest in cartridge filter mask.
Just saying.

A respirator? I've got one - use it mostly for chemical vapors. But for dry particulates like sanding dust a regular dust mask does the job. Yes, a respirator would be better, but considering there was no red powder anywhere on my face where the mask and goggles were I'd say they did their job adequately.

 

[Starbase101]

It's too cold and stormy today to paint the closet doors and I'm waiting for new heavier chrome tape to arrive before continuing with shelves and furniture setup, so not much going on now except continue to paint remaining shelving gray. I have decided to end the red alert wall's silver tape at the shelf instead of at the ceiling. This is more consistent with arrangements like seen in Engineering and items on the shelf will obstruct the tape anyway.

 

[Starbase101]

No photos to show yet, but here is what's been going on. Spray painting the red doors is a no-go. Although the Krylon Pimento is a good color, rattle cans seem to be 90% propellant and 10% paint. The little bit of paint which does come out is so transparent that after 3 cans on just one side of one door it's still not coated. So, it's been sanded off. (That whole "experiment" was a waste of time and money.) Next I drove over to Sherwin-Williams with the "Fire Cracker" paint to see about getting some Pro Classic. Nope - they cannot reproduce the color in Pro Classic (base isn't dark enough), and in fact....they could not reproduce the color at all after 45 minutes of trying. I told them to just give up and I'll stick with the Home Depot paint. The more I compare the "Fire Cracker" color to screencaps the more I like how the paint looks. The backsides of the doors have been painted with a foam roller and are curing now. When I flip them for painting the more-important side I'll need to roll slower to not introduce air bubbles into the paint (which end up not popping during settling because of how thick the damned Marquee paint is). These doors are cursed.

Our inept postal disservice has excelled again, with tracking showing the replacement silver tape as being delivered today but nothing was in my parcel locker. That's the second time this has happened during these last two weeks. I'm certain I did not pay extra for cloaked delivery, so hopefully it shows up in the next day or so. When you've got one job to do (deliver mail) it's not unreasonable to expect that it be done correctly - i.e. DON'T scan the package as delivered if you haven't actually delivered it! (Duh.)

 

[Rogviler]

Well shoot, I was afraid that might take a deep base. I'm surprised they didn't try to sell you the Emerald urethane trim enamel, that comes in a deep and ultradeep base. Pricey though. Surely there are other brands that make a similar product. Might be worth some investigation.

 

[Starbase101]

Still getting roller marks with a foam roller, and yeah I do know how to paint. The Behr Marquee, most expensive paint in the store, is absolutely horrible.

At this point I give up, and a professional painter is scheduled to come over tomorrow for sanding the doors back down and spray them.

 

[Starbase101]

Got the silver tape today (dumb mail deliverer put the parcel locker key in the wrong mailbox). This tape is WAY better than the mylar tape on Amazon. The mylar tape is cellophane-thin and wall texture will show right through it. This tape is heavier, like a thin strip of metal (but it's ABS plastic), has a paper backing, and also has a clear removable protective film over the chrome which will enable me to apply the tape without marring its finish. I've got 60-feet of this stuff, which mathematically should be enough to do the whole room with a little left-over: 1.5" ABS Chrome Tape » 75 Chrome Shop

 

[Starbase101]

So, there is an issue with the chrome tape. It's fairly rigid, which is good and why I bought it, so it lays flat against the wall instead of conforming to the texture and being all wrinkled....but its adhesive is crap. It doesn't hold to the wall. Even just the curl from the tape coil is enough spring for it to pop off. Something stronger is going to be needed on the tape's adhesive for bonding better to the wall. A stronger tape like 3M Red Line might work, but then contact is still only being made with the highest areas of wall texture (no contact at all in the low areas of texture). Also, such tape is expensive and I've already invested $140 in just the chrome tape....so I'm thinking maybe an adhesive like Loctite Power Grab or similar so it can "squish" into the wall texture for more surface area bonding. The bond needs to be strong yet thin since the tape is already 1/32" thick (so 3M foam mounting tape is off the table). Tape has the advantage of instant adhesion (if it sticks) but only to the high spots in the texture. Adhesive has the advantage of bonding to more surface area and potentially stronger, but will take time to set up unless it's some sort of contact cement.

Any suggestions? I'm leaning towards some sort of acrylic adhesive transfer tape for not having to wait for glue to set.

Here is how the first stripe ended up, with the shelving holding it in place (sort've) but will need re-anchoring to the wall at the floor and ceiling:

One thing I hadn't realized until this first stripe was up is the effect of its reflectivity. Being like a mirror, there will be projected light reflections from the stripes. Something slightly duller might have been better. Also, since this tape is so rigid, including it on the wall base molding will not be an option - it will be stopping at the wall base top. Oh well.

 

[Rogviler]

You might see if you can knock the shine down on the tape with some Scotch-Brite pads. Definitely test on a scrap first to make sure the finish doesn't come off. Get the gray pads if you can find them (paint store), or the green.