Product Info: Aura Affinity Paint

The last couple of years, Red Canary has been working witht the learning curve of Aura Affinity Paint produced by Benjamin Moore. This is a self-priming product (on most surfaces) and it is also a low VOC product that has the ability for one-coat coverage.

For most projects, one-coat coverage can be achieved. As a painter, however, I prefer the richer visual appeal of two coats (any lap marks tend to be "removed" or become less noticeable [remember, lap marks are not always 100% avoidable with any product]), especially on new drywall or walls that are being painted for the first time since the buider painted the home (these surfaces can act like dry sponges, absorbing the paint unevenly).

The self-priming side is both a benefit and a downfall: If you get the paint on trim or any other surfaces while painting, you will want to clean it up immediately. Cleaning dried and cured "oopses" from this paint takes some elbow grease and it also settles in any knotting or graining in trim (as any paint would), making it nearly impossible to completely remove any pigment.
And the low VOC aspect, well, that just goes without saying. Aura is a high-quality, low VOC paint that is friendly for the homeowner, pets, painters and earth.

Additionally, the color selections in the Aura color deck are fabulous and Red Canary has used them to decorate many homes. They are colors that cannot be found in any other paint line, nor can they be matched in any other paint product. Undoubtedly, this is a one-of-a-kind paint that cannot be bought in just any hardware store. If you live in the Madison Metro, your local reputable dealer is McGovern & Sons on Odana Road.

Challenging Wallpaper Removal with Happy Ending

Wallpaper and the "joys" of the removal process: Anyone ever experiencing the "joys" of wallpaper removal will often think twice about considering choosing wallpaper--or even wallpaper borders--as a wall treatment again. Sometimes, the paper comes down without a hitch; at other times, the process of paper removal can be challenging.

For quite a bit, Red Canary has been using Wallwik Wallpaper Remover to remove paper. After years of struggling with other products and vowing to never remove paper again after each project was completed, I found Wallwik--the wonder of all paper removers! For many paper removal projects, the Wallwik was a true super hero when battling difficult paper removal projects. Then, it happened: The Wallwik met its kryptonite!!!

This time, although we tried and tried with the help of Wallwik, we were losing the battle against the paper--it refused to budge. Not one single bit. At this point, we put plan B into action and used a steamer to remove the paper. Well, tried to remove the paper.

Even though steamers tend to work when all else fails, the wallpaper continued to win--with every strip of paper we removed, we also removed the paper coating from the drywall. Not good. Wallwik didn't work. Steamer didn't work. Now what?

Painting over wallpaper is not recommended (yet is sometimes unavoidable). Removing and replacing drywall may not be an option. When faced with this situation, what steps can a homeowner take? The most feasible answer is to put the new wall treatment over top of the wallpaper after a few simple steps.

In our removal "nightmare" described above, we had to first assess the project: The walls had been scored and damage had been done to the drywall from the attempted paper removal. Areas where the walls were scored were sanded. We then repaired drywall damages caused by the removal attempts and used a spackling compound to seal seams around borders and other imperfections. A bonding primer was used to seal all surfaces. At this point, the wallpapered surface is ready for a new application: paint, paper or texture.

This project is a perfect example of the negative saying that goes something like "if it can go wrong, it will go wrong," which pretty much dooms everything. But everything that COULD go wrong, DID go wrong and we were unable to remove the paper. This situation, however, led to some ingenuity and putting creativity forward to find a suitable solution to our decorating challenge. All was not lost and a unique space will be created for the homeowners.

(Our solution for this project: A decorative plaster wall treatment created from a skimcoat of plaster applied to all the walls. The decorative finish will then be painted and possibly be treated with glaze applications--sample boards are in progress!)