Quick Tip Tuesday: A Painting "Pane"

During a recent visit to a friend's home, I noticed she was working on the fun project of painting some old built-ins.  I was so excited about what she was up to, and I loved her quick solution to avoid painting pane after pane in the cabinet doors.

The thing with these types of projects, whether old doors, windows or cabinets, is that they can be a literal pane in the glass.  Using painters tape is not fool-proof.  Paint still tends to seep and can tear away all of your hard work when being peeled away.  Not to mention, the hours upon hours it would take to tape each pane both front and back.

So she just painted.  And painted some more... both inside and out.  In fact, she started with primer, then followed up with a couple of coats of paint. 

And just like many of us, she is busy and let it sit for a few weeks before finishing up her project.  But that was still OK.  When it came time to finally fix those panes, it was easy as pie.

She started by laying down some plastic on the floor below the built-ins to catch the falling paint.  That's right, the paint is about to fall off those glass panes!

Next, she mixed vinegar and water into a spray bottle (heavy on the vinegar) and generously sprayed down the glass.

Using a small blade from the local hardware store (similar), she scored along the edge of the pane and then just scraped the paint right off.

It really seemed to just fall off, even after sitting for weeks and curing.  I was really impressed at the lack of effort needed.  Definitely easier than taping everything off and then messing with that aftermath.

Just put on your favorite Netflix show or some Pandora music and moments later you will have paint-free panes.

This may be the oldest painting trick in the books, but I felt it was my duty to share my excitement with y'all.  This just changed my painting future!

Looking for more quick tips?  Check out the entire series here!