Minimalistic Coastal Scandi Reno - Top Questions Every DIY Painter Wants to Know When Starting to Spray [Q&A]

Want to transform your home but don’t feel you have time?

Need some inspiration?

Meet Coastal Hill Haven (aka. Renée).

Nestled in North Brisbane, fulltime lawyer, Renée, and her husband took to the task of transforming their humble home into a “minimalistic coastal scandi” dream. Equipped with minimal time but a fierce determination, Renée came to be known for her affordable savviness, inexpensive hacks and relatability.

From secret invisible kitchen storage, to meticulously lifting hundreds of pavers BY HAND, these guys get it.

Now, we’ve let it loose before that GO has a soft-spot for weekend warriors and their transformational renos. So when the opportunity arose to do a bit of a collab with Coastal Hills Haven (CHH) and Tint Paint, we were on board. 

Renee already had the inside looked after, now it was the outside’s turn.

Many days of pain-staking painting the patio by hand? Not this time. Our first visit we gave the patio, gutters and soffits (aka. under roof) new life, then after the deck and chamfer boards where put it, we were back to finish the job.

One thing that is always hard as a homeowner, is when you search the depths of the interwebs looking for inspiration and how-to’s there are honest limits to what you find. 

You see a lot of professionals doing equipment breakdowns and workflow hacks, which don’t get us wrong, are super helpful.

But sometimes you just want to know what it is actually like if you were to do it yourself?

What is it like to hold an airless paint sprayer for the first time? Does it overspray like you’ve heard? Is it hard? Is it worth the investment?

Like, did you know that you can paint your outdated but fully functioning air conditioning unit to match your freshly painted walls? We didn’t. Renée did. 

We love that. Raw, authentic experience on how to do a reno and use gear when you’re on a money and time budget.

For this reason, we decided to do a bit of an interview, to take on that hard hitting journalism - or something like that - and ask those questions you want to know!

So, without further ado, let’s get it.  

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself and Coastal Hill Haven? 

I am a fulltime lawyer but started our Instagram page in May 2020 when we bought our house as we were working from home a lot. It started as an “inspo” page for our renovations but, one year later, we have nearly completed our renovations. It has been fun documenting every step and showing our followers how we reduce costs by doing some aspects of the renovations ourselves, including painting!

2. Did you always know about spraying? Why did you choose to spray over brush and roller? First impressions of spraying? 

I honestly always thought that spraying was too hard or too expensive.

I tried to paint our outdoor patio beams with a brush and after a full day of painting I had only completed two beams. It was not practical and I mentally could not bring myself to keep painting it with a brush haha. I was a bit nervous to use an industrial style sprayer but it was surprisingly so easy. The time it took to spray the entire patio blew my mind (about 2 hours).

3. What concerns did you have prior? How did they turn out? 

"By the time it settled on the ground it was like a fine dust that just swept off the pavers."

I was worried about the prep and overspray but the GO Industrial prep kit (tape, plastic sheeting and cardboard) and the Graco sprayer - Graco Magnum ProX19 - we used were amazing.

We did not need to protect some parts of the patio as we knew they would be replaced but the paint from the gun was so light like a mist by the time it settled on the ground it was like a fine dust that just swept off the pavers.

4. What was most challenging and what would you recommend other DIYer's know about going into buying or spraying for the first time? 

"The first time is the most daunting but you will never look back." 

I think clean-up is the worst part about any paint job, whether it’s with a brush, roller or gun. But GO Industrial and Graco have awesome YouTube how-to videos to guide you so you can clean the machine with confidence and store it ready for its next use. 

The first time is the most daunting but you will never look back. I would personally start with a handheld gun to build confidence, then for bigger jobs try out the large machines (which supply the paint directly from a tin or bucket on the ground rather than a bag attached to the gun, which does not hold much paint in comparison). 

You also might like:
Airless Spray Tips Made Simple : A Step-by-Step Guide to Choose the Right Spray Tip

5. What are you working on next? 

We will be spraying the weatherboard on our patio to complete that area. We will use the Graco sprayer (Magnum ProX19) again.

Then we will commence our laundry renovations for which we will use the Graco sprayer (Magnum ProX19) again, as we did for our double bathroom and toilet renovations in May (we painted 3 rooms – primer and 2 coats of paint - in 12 hours).

Finally, we want to paint our entire garage. It is a huge job so I will definitely be using a spray gun.

If you’d like to connect with Renée, be sure to follow and drop a comment on her next Instagram post. Give a shout out that you came from here.

Want to see the behind the scenes breakdown of how to use the paint sprayer for Renée’s patio spray? There’s an all-in one vid or a three-parter for you:

The Gear We Used:

• Graco Magnum ProX19 Airless Paint Sprayer
• GO ‘Spray More Kit’
• Spray tips used
• Patio structure: FFLP312 & FFLP514
• Boards: FFLP312
• Graco Cleanshot Shut Off Valve
  
  
• Paint
• Tint Exterior - Colour: So Fresh and So Clean
• Tint Prep - Used to prepare the boards for Exterior coats

Want to see more DIY transformations?

Check out GO x Geebungalow : A Post-War Renovation