4 Tricks to Avoiding Paint Drips

There’s almost nothing more frustrating than fixing drips when painting furniture.  Paint drips can be fixed, but it’s much easier to just take the steps to prevent them.
Paint drips can be fixed, but it’s much easier to just take the steps to prevent them.  There are a few things you can do to prevent drips from happening when you are painting.

1. Don’t water down the paint too much

It is sometimes necessary to add a little water to your paint when you are using a paint sprayer, but if you do add water, just do a tablespoon or so at a time.  Also, if you want to slow down the drying time of your paint, try using Floetrol instead.  It won’t thin your paint. 

2. Do only thin coats of paint

Whether you are using a brush or spraying the paint on your furniture piece, do thin coats.  It’s better to do 3 thin coats than 2 coats that are so thick that paint starts to drip.

3. When spraying paint, avoid covering the same spot more than once

It’s a tricky process, but when you are spraying paint, painting legs, sides of drawers, and other parts that require you to aim for one spot while simultaneously covering another panel for the 2nd time, that can easily cause drips to happen.  Plan your motions so that if you need to do legs, do them first, then wait a few minutes before you go back and hit them again while aiming for another spot. 

4. Spray or brush in a pattern

When painting, make sure you have a solid pattern going over the surface area.  Back and forth motions are usually best because you can more easily control the overlaps in the paint.