We recently had the opportunity to assist a local high schoolโs television department with a new set they were constructing. The television instructor for Kathleen High School has beenย a good friend of mine for many years. His studentsย and program won Best in Show at last yearโs county-wideย high school TV awards program. In order to โstay on the top,โ someย innovation was neededโparticularly with respect to their daily show studio and set. This would involve a lot of paint, and we opted for Behr Premium Plus to avoid having to prime the walls separately.
Building theย Set
Weโre a tight-knit community, and so when the call went out for help, volunteers from all around pitched in to help the school construct a complex, multi-level set (itโs actually based on the one used for the popularย Saved By the Bell TV series).ย It wasnโt long before everythingย was constructedโbut the set remained unpainted, and the school year was about to begin.ย Since painting the new set was all that remained, I figured Iโd callย Behr to see if they wanted to pitch in. They agreed. Our paint of choice was their line of Behr Premium Plus Ultra paint. We picked it becauseย we wanted a durable paint thatย would quickly coverย our setโs unprimed drywallย surface.
Building a set for the high school required utilizing nearly every square inch of the west side of the studio. That included reaching high up into the ceiling with 12-foot tall studs and installing a couple of doorsโand even a small staircaseโto allow for entry and exit to the set. All told, we had around 500-600 square feet of wall to paint.
Additionally, we were incorporating accent striping to incorporate the school colors into the design. It was a complex job to be sure, but Goldsmith Construction, a local construction company,ย lent a hand and put the whole thing together in just two days. In fact, they got the set all the way to drywallโall that was left was painting.
A lot of painting.
Preparingย to Paint
I not only wanted to paint the studio, but I also wanted to train an entire class of volunteer student helpers on some basic painting tipsโtips they could use for the rest of their lives. This included using enough paint on your roller, effective rolling techniques (using a 5-gallon bucket and grid instead of a rolling pan), how to cut in, and which types of rollers and brushes will work well without leaving you frustrated. Most importantly, I wanted to teach them how to clean up properly so they could continue to use the brushes and rollers on other projects. With a culture of young students who are used to โdisposableโ electronics, teaching them how to clean and reuse rollers and brushes was a bit of a shock!
In order to ensure we had everything we needed, I put togetherย the following supplies list for The Home Depot Pro App, which weโd need for painting a set of this size:
Behr Premium Plus Ultra Paint (we chose 3 differentย colors)
- New House White (walls)ย โ 3 gallons
- Jet Black (trim and accents) โย 1 quart
- 100MPH (accent stripe and lockers) โย 1 gallon
- Summerwood (stairs) โย 1 quart
Other Painting Supplies
- Purdy 3 in. XL sprig paintbrush
- Purdy 3 in. XL glide angled sash brush
- 5-gal. buckets (2)
- 5-gal. bucket grid (2)
- 9 in. Sherlock roller frames (2)
- 4 ft.- 8 ft. Sherlock extension poles (2)
- 9 in. x 9/16 in. microfiber roller cover (2)
- Plastic drop
- Painters tape
Prepping the Set for Painting
Of course, it would be great to just jump in and start painting, but we had to prep the set first, and this was an excellent time to teach our student helpers the aforementioned basic painting skills. So we spent some time masking off the floor with plastic, properly mixing the paint, and filling the 5-gallon buckets and inserting the grids, so we could use that to roll the paint.
Remember, we opted to use the Behr Premium Plus Ultra paint so that we didnโt have to apply a base coat of primer. This was a significant test for Behr Premium Plus Ultra, as unprimed drywall tends to absorb a substantial amount of paint. The defining question was: Would it truly work, or would the drywall absorb too much paint, leaving us needing to apply several coats regardless?
We chose a Behr Premium Plus Ultra semi-gloss sheen that offered a nice, sleek look, ideal for resisting mildew, moisture, and wear. Itโs perfect for this set since it will be in a room that will see a lot of use by multiple classes of high school studentsโthatโs a lot of hands-on walls over the weeks and months. A gallon of Behr Premium Plus Ultra can cover from 250-400 sq. ft. Since we were painting unprimed drywall, we figured on the low side and ordered a few gallons. As it turned out, that was a good call.
Painting a Set with Behr Premium Plus Ultra
When theย students got hold of the rollers, they really took to the job and went to town. The biggerย (and perhaps stronger) students rolled the tall 12โฒ walls (making good use of theย Sherlockย extensionย poles) while otherย students took care of cutting in and taking care of everything from six feet and below. We taught them how to keep a lot of paint on the rollers and how to adequately get enough paint on with a brush so that the paint rollers didnโt risk coming into contact with the ground or the stairs.
It didnโt take long before we got our first feedback from the studentsโthey were impressed. As the Behr Premium Plus Paint went on, the walls quickly took on the nice light color of the โNew House Whiteโ, and the semi-gloss sheen looked perfect for a set that would be brightly lit with studio lights and used for filming their daily news show as well as interviews, short films, and even music videos.
As someone with extensive experience in painting with various materials over the years, I can attest that Behr Premium Plus Ultra paint has exceptional hiding power. It can absolutely go over unprimed drywall and mudded jointsโprovided everything is adequately prepared and ready. A certain technique is required for a perfect finish, and those who attempt to extract every last drop from the roller before refilling it will notice variations in the surface. If you paint properly, however, the thick Behr Ultra paint will go on smoothly and evenly, and youโll get excellent resultsโand I mean excellent.
Masking the Behr Premium Plus Ultra Paint
We had to go back and apply some painterโs tape to the Behr Premium Plus Ultra paint in order to do some creative striping on the walls. This gave the set some character, but it also integrated more of the schoolโs colors into the setโa goal that was desired by everyone involved. The real question was whether the Behr paint would allow us a clean surface to mask with in order to get a nice edge for our striping.
We made sure to use a good technique in applying the painterโs tape with a clean edge and proceeded to create our black and red stripes. It took multiple lines of tape since we were going for a series of stripes across the entire wall. Starting in a test area, we made our way around the walls and quickly applied the black and red paint to achieve the desired look. We found that by using some smaller rollers, we were able to do all of the striping at the same time, over the white Behr Ultra paint we had applied and allowed to dry.
Check out the results!
Conclusion
Behr really came to the rescue with their Behr Premium Plus Ultra paint. It simplified what might have been a much more difficult and multi-step job, and it gave our students a great experience learning how good-quality paint can really make a difference. They also learned how to apply paint in a way that will move them faster through a project and produce better, more consistent results.
All in all, I think we helped make painting fun, and exposed a new generation to just how simple it is to tackle a painting projectโprovided you have the right tools, materials, and the right paint for the job at hand.
