Original Air Date: 09/19/26 Episode Number: 477

Episode Summary

This week on Home In Progress, Dan covers paint store tools you've probably walked past without a second look, and explains why each one is worth having. They include FrogTape (green and yellow), the painter's five-in-one tool, a brush comb, the Handy Paint Pail, the Wooster Pelican Pail and the Wooster Sherlock system. Then he gets into ombre walls, a painted gradient where one color slowly melts into the next with no hard line between them. He explains what the look is, where it works and which direction the colors can run, then walks through the full process from choosing colors to blending wet paint. The episode wraps up with a fall list: jobs to get on the calendar now, plus a few fun things to do before the season gets away from us.

Timestamps

[00:00] -- Show Preview

[01:09] -- FrogTape Clean Lines

[03:28] -- Yellow FrogTape Delicate

[04:29] -- Five In One Tool

[05:28] -- Brush Comb Care

[06:15] -- Handy Paint Pail

[07:24] -- Pelican Pail Combo

[08:28] -- Wooster Sherlock System

[09:32] -- Ombre Walls Explained

[10:02] -- Color Capping Context

[10:59] -- What Ombre Means

[15:20] -- Where Ombre Works

[16:29] -- Ombre Direction Choices

[18:50] -- How To Paint Ombre

[19:27] -- Ombre Recap Practical

[20:43] -- Ombre Wall Basics

[21:36] -- Choose Three Colors

[23:20] -- Prep and Base Coat

[24:04] -- Map the Color Zones

[25:23] -- Blend Like a Pro

[28:55] -- Corners Tape and Edges

[29:57] -- Practice and Dry Time

[33:14] -- Fall Checklist Begins

[33:51] -- Chimneys Apples Gutters

[35:21] -- Trips and Winter Prep

[37:20] -- Historic Homes and Furnace

[38:36] -- Last Fall Fun and Wrap

Paint Tools You've Walked Past [01:09]

Some of the most useful things in a paint store don't look like much on the shelf. Once you know what they do, painting gets a lot easier.

Green FrogTape. FrogTape has PaintBlock Technology along its edges. When latex paint touches that edge, the water in the paint makes it react and form a tiny barrier, so paint doesn't creep under the tape. You still need a clean surface, a firmly pressed edge and a light hand with the paint, but the lines come out much sharper. Through the end of September, RepcoLite has 1.5-inch green FrogTape 3-packs for $12.99, which works out to about $4.33 a roll.

Yellow FrogTape [03:28]. This is the same clean-line technology in a delicate surface tape. It's made for freshly painted surfaces that have dried, and for wallpaper. Regular tape on those surfaces can pull paint or damage the paper when it comes off.

Five-in-one and seven-in-one tools [04:29]. They look like oddly shaped putty knives, but each part has a job. The flat blade scrapes and spreads patching compound. The pointed corner digs out and opens up cracks before you patch them. The half-moon curve squeezes paint out of a roller cover while you wash it. Some versions also open paint cans or have a flip-out screwdriver.

Brush comb [05:28]. This is a small steel comb you run through the bristles while cleaning a brush. It separates the bristles so water gets deeper in, and it pulls out paint that has built up near the ferrule. That buildup slowly ruins a good brush. A comb costs very little and adds years to a brush.

Handy Paint Pail and Handy Paint Cup [06:15]. Both are hand-held containers for cutting in. A magnet on the side holds your brush, so it doesn't sink into the paint when you need a free hand. They clean up and can be reused.

Wooster Pelican Pail [07:24]. It's a similar idea with a brush magnet, plus an angled roll-off area for mini rollers up to about 4.5 inches. You can cut in, stick the brush to the magnet, roll a section and go back to the brush, all from one pail. Liners are available.

Wooster Sherlock System [08:28]. These roller frames and extension poles lock together. You don't thread anything, and nothing spins loose while you work. You can swap frame sizes and change pole length in a few seconds.

Ombre Walls: What They Are and Where They Work [09:32]

A couple weeks back we talked about color capping, which uses two or three related colors with deliberate, visible transitions as you move up the room. Ombre (ombré) does the opposite. The colors blend into each other like a gradient, with no stripes or bands. On a well-done ombre wall, you can't point to the spot where one color stops and the next begins.

You can use shades of one color, which is the easiest and most subtle option, or blend between different colors. Because the color keeps shifting as your eye moves across the wall, you get depth and movement that a single color can't give you. Soft, related colors feel calm. Bolder colors make it dramatic.

Where it works [15:20]. The wall behind a bed, a dining room wall, one big living room wall, or a kid's room. Some versions online look like the night sky just after sunset. You can wrap a whole room in it, but blending across corners gets tricky, and Dan thinks one wall is usually plenty.

Direction [16:29]. Dark at the bottom and light at the top is the most common choice. It puts visual weight down low and makes the ceiling feel lifted and airy. Flip it, with dark at the top, and you get a much more dramatic room. Look at examples online before you decide.

How to Paint an Ombre Wall [18:50]

No sprayer needed. Regular wall paint, rollers and brushes will do it. It takes more technique than rolling two coats, but most people can pull it off with a little practice.

1. Choose three colors [21:36]. Pick a light, a medium and a dark. Start with color chips, then get Benjamin Moore color samples and try them on foam board or the wall. Blended colors can expose undertones you didn't expect. For a first try, pick colors a couple of steps apart on the same chip.
2. Prep and base coat [23:20]. Fill holes, sand, clean the wall and tape off trim and neighboring walls. Paint the entire wall in the lightest color, top to bottom, and let it dry 3 to 4 hours.
3. Map the zones [24:04]. Divide the wall roughly into three horizontal zones. Don't tape the zones off. Light pencil marks are fine if you want a reference.
4. Roll the medium and dark colors. Put the medium color across the middle and the dark color along the bottom. The edges can be wavy, and this paint doesn't need to stay wet. You're just establishing the zones.
5. Blend [25:23]. Put each color in its own container, like a Handy Paint Pail or Pelican Pail, with its own brush, and keep a few clean brushes for blending. Start where dark meets medium and work about 2 feet of wall at a time. Brush fresh dark paint in a 6 to 12 inch band along the top of the dark zone, then fresh medium paint right above it. While both are wet, use a clean brush to blend across the line with loose diagonal strokes, around 45 degrees. You're softening the line where the colors meet, not erasing either color. Move to the next 2 feet and blend it into the section you just finished. When that transition is done, repeat the process where medium meets light.

Corners and edges [28:55]. Feathering right into a corner is fiddly. Tape the adjoining wall. If that wall has fresh paint on it, use yellow FrogTape so the tape doesn't pull the new paint off.

Practice and dry time [29:57]. Practice on a scrap of drywall or foam board first. You'll learn how wet the paint needs to be, how much pressure to use on the brush and how wide you want the blend. Know when to stop. Once the paint starts to set up, more brushing just drags half-dry paint around and leaves marks that show every time sunlight hits the wall. If you can't blend fast enough, a little Floetrol extends the working time of latex paint. It isn't a cure-all, but it helps.

Tried an ombre wall? Send pictures to [email protected].

Fall Checklist: Jobs and Fun Stuff [33:14]

Chimney [33:51]. If you plan to use a fireplace or wood stove, have it swept. If it hasn't been used in a while, have it inspected too.

Apple picking. Pick a Saturday and an orchard. Try not to walk out with $150 worth of apples.

Gutters. Start clearing them now and keep at it as the leaves fall, so water moves away from the foundation.

Charlevoix mushroom houses [35:21]. Earl Young's stone homes have curved roofs and huge boulders built into them. Charlevoix has a self-guided route. Most of the houses are private, so enjoy them from the street.

Snowblower. Change the oil and make sure it starts. Repair shops have room in their schedules now. They won't in late November.

Sprinkler winterization. If someone blows out your system, get on their schedule now.

Historic home tours [37:20]. The Meyer May House in Grand Rapids is a restored Frank Lloyd Wright home with free tours. The Hackley and Hume Houses in Muskegon are Queen Anne Victorians from the lumber era, and their Flashlight Tour is October 9. The Felt Mansion near Saugatuck is also worth a visit.

Furnace. Change the filter and make sure it runs before the first cold stretch, when everyone else finds out theirs doesn't.

Last fall fun [38:36]. Go to a high school football game. Have the bonfire you keep talking about. Get out to Lake Michigan for a walk or a sunset while you still can.

Bring in leftover paint. Water-based paint doesn't survive freezing. Move it from the garage to the basement for the winter.

Resources

Ombre wall tutorials:

• Pretty Handy Girl, How to Paint an Ombré Wall Technique. A bedroom gradient from Benjamin Moore Kendall Charcoal into Revere Pewter, blended with a mixed in-between gray, a sponge and a dry brush. https://prettyhandygirl.com/paint-ombre-wall-effect/
• HGTV, Paint an Ombre Wall. Very close to our method: a light base coat, three zones and a dry brush held at an angle. It also mixes half-and-half colors to fill the gaps between zones. https://www.hgtv.com/how-to/home-improvement/paint-an-ombre-wall
• Studio DIY, DIY Colorful Ombre Wall. A bold multicolor version. Its tip is to widen the blend area if you want a slower fade. https://studiodiy.com/diy-ombre-wall/
• Semigloss Design, How to Paint Ombre Walls. A two-color version that uses a spray bottle to keep paint workable, and shows why side-to-side blending looks better than up-and-down. https://www.semiglossdesign.com/how-to-paint-ombre-walls
• Olive & June Home, How to Paint an Ombre Wall in 5 Easy Steps. A roller-based approach, with honest notes on how hard the edges are. https://www.oliveandjunehome.com/blog/how-to-paint-an-ombre-wall

Fall outings:

• Hackley & Hume Flashlight Tour, October 9. https://lakeshoremuseum.org/event/flashlight-tour-8/
• Meyer May House, Grand Rapids. Check the house's website for tour times.
• Charlevoix mushroom houses. Search "Earl Young mushroom houses self-guided tour."

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