troubleshooting: dealing with runs in your paint

Over all the years that I have been painting furniture I have made a lot of mistakes and learned a ton through trial and error. I’ve gotten pretty good at it, if I do say so myself, so I don’t often get runs, but occasionally it still happens. When it does I have a little trick that makes fixing those runs a breeze.

As soon as I finish putting a coat of paint on I immediately step back and take a look. If there is a spot running I will take a smooth, lint free, slightly damp cloth and very lightly dab the excess paint. Then I will let the piece completely dry. The area will likely need a very light sanding with 320 grit sandpaper and another light coat of paint to touch it up. Every once in a while I will paint immediately after dabbing the excess paint and that will smooth out the area, but this can result in too much paint and yet another run, so it’s usually best to let it dry first.

This is so much easier than letting the run dry, trust me. Trying to sand and smooth out a big blob of paint usually ends poorly.  Fixing a run before it has time to dry is much easier that trying to fix it after it has.