Contact: Brian Santos
(813) 654-7044
(813) 340-5258

Painting Tips & Tricks
Straight from The WALL WIZARD’s Workshop

It doesn’t take magic spells, secret incantations, and mysterious concoctions to conquer a home painting project, especially when you’re equipped with The Wall Wizard’s latest book, Painting Secrets from Brian Santos, The Wall Wizard. In this revolutionary read, Santos reveals a bevy of time-tested tricks that he has learned after thirty years on the job.

Consider these tips:

• Bag and tag hardware in clear storage bags. As you disassemble the room for painting, drop all the switch plates into one medium plastic bag. Separate hardware for each window, door, and curtain into its own bag and mark its location in the room. Once all the hardware has been bagged, place the bags into one large bag with the room name on it, then stick the bag on the windowpane of the room with blue tape.
• Pull the masking tape while the paint is fresh. Remove the masking materials within 45 to 60 minutes after the paint is applied and set to prevent surface tear up. The idea of masking tape is to protect surfaces from the paint, but when you slop the wet paint over the sealed masking tape and let the paint cure to hard, the paint film bonds to both the wall and the masking tape. Removing the tape after the paint dries will also remove paint from the wall or trim work.
• Use rubber cement to cover hardware. Instead of removing door hinges and handles, clean them with rubbing alcohol, them mask them with two coats of rubber cement. The cement peels right off when finished.
• Clean water-based paint from brushes and paint pads in 10 seconds. Simply remove excess paint from the brush or pad. Mix together ½ cup of fabric softener for each gallon of water, then dip a brush into the mixture, swish briskly through the water, and count to 10. Dry the brush using a paintbrush spinner. Spin the brush in a wet waste bucket. Rub the tool dry with a small towel.
• For quick touch-ups, pour a small amount of paint into a clean shoe polish bottle. The pad is perfect for small jobs. Label the bottle with the room and color, snap on the lid to store.

And that’s only the beginning. Painting Secrets is brimming with short cuts, cool tools, and practical techniques that will help both the first-time and experienced painter produce a professional looking finish.

To reinforce painting pointers, Santos, a seasoned guest star at home improvement shows, uses the same “edutaining” demonstrations in his television appearances. Besides having a laid-back comedic style to complement his wealth of knowledge about painting and papering, Santos employs clever props—including wearing his famous “bucket stilts” stocked with a variety of homemade Wizard tools to an interview.

Santos is a fourth generation decorative artist who learned classical techniques from his father and grandfather. More recently, Santos has spent years lecturing and conducting demonstrations on the subject throughout the U.S. for industry giants like Sherwin-Williams, Imperial Wallcoverings, Home Depot, and Lowe’s at home and garden shows throughout the world.

To book an appearance, receive a review copy of his latest book, Painting Secrets from Brian Santos, The Wall Wizard, or for more information, contact The Wizard's Workshop at (813) 654-7044, (813) 340-5258, or wallwiz@tampabay.rr.com.