January 18, 2025 • 39 mins
Get ready for a fun and insightful episode of the RepcoLite Home Improvement Show, sponsored by Benjamin Moore! Whether you're tackling a home project, setting goals for the New Year, or just looking to make your weekend a little brighter, we've got you covered.We kick things off with some brilliant tips to help you make yourself look taller (yes, you read that right!) and discover clever paint tricks to make small rooms feel spacious and inviting.From there, we dive into the world of primers and why they’re essential, even in the age of paint-and-primer all-in-one products. Not sure what to use? We’ve got the tips to make your next paint job a masterpiece.Finally, we wrap things up with practical advice for turning your New Year's resolutions into lasting achievements. Tune in for a mix of laughs, practical insights, and home improvement know-how to kick off the New Year right!CHAPTERS00:00 Weekend Greetings and Roller Skating Nostalgia02:00 New Year's Resolutions and Mind Tricks02:56 Height Hacks: Look Taller Instantly12:58 Paint Tips: Making Small Rooms Look Bigger19:01 The Truth About Primers19:55 Innovative Combo Products23:01 The Reality of Paint and Primer Combos23:58 The Importance of Dedicated Primers26:40 Quicksand Multi Surface Primer Sale29:23 New Year's Resolutions vs. Goals33:34 Setting SMART Goals37:26 Maintaining Long-Term Success with Goals39:12 Conclusion and Wrap-Up
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Well, good morning, everybody. Happy weekend. How are y'all doing?
I mean, we hit the weekend, so really, there can't
be that much complaining out there, right, I mean we
hit the best part of the whole week. Yeah, gotta
love it. You're listening to the Repco Light Home improvement
show sponsored by Benjamin Moore, and I'm wondering, what has
everybody got going on today? You know, after the show.
(00:25):
I'm sure you're not going to bail on the show,
or maybe you're gonna work while the show's going. But
what do you got going Maybe a home project, maybe
a little painting. Maybe you're just gonna crash, you know,
watch a few movies. That sounds kind of good. Personally,
I kind of got a hankering to go roller skating.
Don't really know why we watched Back to the Future
(00:46):
over the Christmas break. I'm wondering if that's it. You know,
maybe the eighties nostalgia kind of hit a little hard
and brought me, you know, back to my big time memories,
you know, skating around the Grand roller Rink in Holland
if any of you remember that place doing that when
I was in elementary school, I had some big times
(01:06):
some big memories back then. You know, a cooler kid
you've never seen, you know, skating smoothly in this huge
loop around this place, the disco ball and all the
music going on, you know, only falling periodically. You know,
I was pretty good skating with a girl, even a
couple of times. I remember that, you know, getting a
(01:27):
little sweaty, you know, my little sweaty hand while I
was doing that, and then finding it really hard to
keep a hold of her over you know, the turns
because of the sweaty hand. Sometimes who she just kind
of zip off to the side and crash into the wall.
And I'd go back to skating alone anyway, rambling roller
(01:47):
skating the golden years when I was in elementary school. Anyway.
I don't know how I got to roller skating, but
it's a thought. It's something that you might want to consider, right,
think about it, all right, who cares. Let's get back
to the show today. We're going to be talking about
New Year's resolutions. Now. Last week Friday, I think it
was was Quitter's Day, the day most people give up
(02:09):
on their New Year's resolutions. There's actually a day devoted
to it, Quitter's Day. Yeah, that was last week Friday,
and so we're going to talk now about a mind trick,
like a little Jedi mind trick to help you stick
to your resolutions longer and actually see them to completion.
So we're going to get to that at the end
of the show. We're also going to talk briefly about primers.
(02:31):
I mean, really, in a world full of paint and
primer all in one products, why do primers even exist
in the first place? You know, why would you want
one or why would you use one? Is it just
you know, wasted steps, you know, money, extra money spent,
or or is it a secret weapon to help you
achieve professional results and actually save money? Who knows? Who knows?
(02:52):
Only the shadow knows. And we'll talk about that in
a little bit. But right now, I've got a paint
point that I want to get to and it's going
to take me a long time to do it because
I found a really fun article that sets it up.
And this fun article was supposed to be just this
brief introduction to the topic that I wanted to cover
the paint point itself. But this little article is so
(03:16):
good it warrants its own segment. It's not a brief introduction.
It's its own segment. So we're going to talk about
that I'm short, right, I don't hide that. I don't
think I'm ridiculously short. I like to say average height,
you know, when I'm having conversations with friends and family.
But when I do say that, people around me always
(03:37):
look at me and say, you know, you're on the
shorter side of average, just so you know, you people
like to keep me honest. I guess let's just say
I'm not tall, all right, let's just establish that. But
could I be? That is the bigger question. Is it possible,
you know, to make a few, you know, outer changes,
something simple and gain some height. And I'm not talking
(03:59):
silly changes like walk around in stilts. I mean legitimate
changes that will give height to somebody of average or
you know, on the shorter side of average height. Well,
I did a lot of research into this topic, and
I found an article online that seems really super legit,
and I discovered that yes, with a few simple changes
(04:20):
and a little exercise, but really mainly some simple changes,
I can go listen to this from five foot seven
ish all the way up to six foot three in
about six months. In fact, I could go from five
foot seven to six foot one in hours. That extra
two inches, you know, to get to six foot three,
(04:41):
that comes from exercise. That's going to take time. I'm
trying to decide if it's worth it. Do I really
need those extra two inches or shall I just go
with this, you know, the plan that will will have
me at six foot one in hours? Anyway, here are
my find these, find to find these. Here are my
find these my finding and here's my plan. And for
(05:02):
all of you other height challenge folks, you know, get
out the notepads. I'm dishing out gold. Here all right,
tips to consider. So if you want to look taller,
the tips that you'll need. We're going to start simple.
First off, wear shoes that make you look taller. You know,
this isn't rocket science. I just need to find some
shoes that have a bit of a sole, you know,
a lot of sole, and I need to find it.
(05:23):
You know, shoes that have a sole composed of lightweight material.
I guess you know. It can't be thick, heavy rubber
or I'm going to get tired, you know, really quick,
really quick. I don't want that. So I'm going to
look for tall shoes that are lightweight, and when I
find them, I'm easily, according to this article, going to
be able to add at least half an inch. So
(05:43):
there we go. I am right now at five foot
seven and a half. We're going to do the math
and keep track. Okay, five foot seven and a half
just from shoes alone. I could go higher, but I
don't want to be ridiculous. All right. Second thing, lose
body fat. All right, this one's the exercise thing. I'll
decide if I want to do it. But it turns
out weight actually compresses the spine. I guess that's not
(06:06):
rocket science either. Really, it does make a lot of sense.
You know, if I wore a necklace of twenty five
pound weight plates, i'd compress my spine. I'm pretty sure
of it. I'm not a doctor. It just seems to flow.
It makes sense. So the same is probably true when
it comes to a little extra girth. Probably weighs me
down a little bit, compresses my spine. I bet my
(06:26):
body blubber. You know. It's probably holding me back, you know,
maybe from another inch. So if I lose that weight,
my spine's gonna decompress and boop, I'm gonna shoot up
probably another inch, maybe maybe more. So it's not easy
to lose weight. I get that, but it's not impossible.
So I'm planning on it. And if I do that
(06:46):
and pull it off, that'll make me five foot eight
and a half. Okay. Third thing, improve your posture again,
no rocket science here, still not at that point yet,
that's coming. But slouching makes you look shorter. So the
guy who wrote the article, he went into the military
and after twenty six weeks of training he had grown
another inch and a half. Another inch and a half
(07:06):
after just twenty six weeks of boot camp and training.
You know, he attributes it to good posture. So slouching
it's the short man's enemy. So I'm gonna work on
eliminating the slouch. And let's just say that by doing so,
I'm going to gain, you know, another inch, so you know,
five foot nine and a half, right, Okay. Now number
(07:27):
four wear fitted clothing. And I really don't know how
I feel about this one, and I don't know that
it's really all about being tall. It's about creating the
illusion of being tall. One of his paragraphs. Actually, when
I look at this this point, I only included it
because of this this paragraph that he has in there,
it's kind of cutting. It hurts a little bit. Let
(07:49):
me quote it. You wear well fitting clothing because quote
those things won't make you look taller per se, but
because we associate good things in clusters, and being tall
is good, says in his quote, Dressing well goes a
long way in creating the illusion of height, or at
the very least, it draws attention away from how short
(08:10):
you are. End quote. Wow, I don't know. I'm not
sure what to do with that. Yeah, I don't know.
I don't know where fitted clothing. I'll let you decide
if you're going to pursue that one. I just wanted
to give his quotes because I thought he's pulling no
punches here. He's trying to help us, and he's being
brutal in the process. All right, And it's funny, I
(08:31):
should say. The guy's six foot something, so it's not
like he's one of us talking to us. He's talking
down to us in every every way that you can
talk down to people. You know, he's six foot three
or something like that. I don't know how tall he
is after after boot camp gained another three inches. He
could be seven foot tall by now, who knows he's
talking down to us short people anyway. Number five, let's
(08:54):
get back to his recommendations, wear a hat now here
here where his and some dark horse, unexpected gold star recommendations.
Hats make you look taller, of course, because they extend
the top of your head. And you know, as an aside,
you know, a freebie if you will tall hair. I
could do the same thing. You know, a few people
(09:15):
realize it, but I think Lyle love it. You know
that singer. I think he's actually five foot two, but
with the hair, you know, he clocks in over six foot.
I can't get my hair to do that. But I
can PLoP a hat on my head, now, Panama hat.
That would give me a good inch or so, I
think it could. It make me look like Indiana Jones.
So that's cool. But a top hat here's where I'm going.
(09:38):
A top hat that seems to be the way to go.
You know, first, you gain another six inches or more
depending on your top hat. Secondly, it's super classy, right,
and classy clothes you know, also distract from how short
you are. We just talked about that were fitted clothes.
I'm reading that as as classy clothes. So top hat,
that's classy. It'll distract from how short I am. So
(09:58):
if I take that top hat, you know, I'm going
to add four more inches. You know, maybe six more
inches if I went nuts, but let's just be reasonable,
four more inches. I was at five nine something. I'm
over six foot at this point. Anyway. The rest of
his points, don't wear belts because belts divide your body
into segments and they draw the eye downward. You know,
(10:20):
hats do the same, they draw your eye upwards. So
don't wear belts. You know, you want to wear high
waisted pants. Again, you don't want to divide your body
and have your eye drawn downward. So if you wear
high waisted pants, you know, up around, just tucked under
your armpits, it's going to draw people's eyes up. They're
going to think, man, that kid has amazingly long legs.
(10:41):
You know, look where the waste of his pants is.
He's got an incredibly small torso though, So I think
this part's problematic, but you know, who knows, it might
work for you. The last one that he's got that
I'm going to focus on is dress in monochromatic color schemes.
You know, if you only wear one color, your eye
doesn't have to factor in any break. Again, we're talking
about how the belt breaks things up. Your pants breaks
(11:03):
things up. If it's all monochrome, a monochromatic color scheme,
there's no breaks. You know, your shoes, your pants, your shirt,
all of those things are the same color. Your big hat,
all of those are the same color. You're naturally gonna pear,
you know, up here taller along those lines. I wonder
what happens if you'd wear you know, like a jumpsuit
or something. It's a one piece, so no breaks at all.
(11:26):
It's a one color kind of a thing. There's no belt,
seems like it's checking all the boxes, you know. Just
get something that looks like prison garb, and you might
be good to go. You know, prisoners, You know, I
don't have a lot of experience, but they do seem
you know, quite tall when I encounter them or when
I see them in movies, they seem seem big. Might
be the jumpsuit doing that. So if I can find
(11:47):
a prison suit that you know, kind of feels business casual,
you know, that might help me help me clock in
at some bigger heights, some taller heights. But with all
of these things that I'm doing with the hat, the
shoe use and all of those things, and the illusions
that I'm creating by wearing my prison business casual suit,
I'm really I've gained I don't even know how many
(12:09):
inches anymore, but I'm clocking in around six one sixty two.
If I do the exercise, lose the belly fat, and
my spine decompresses. Oh my goodness, look out, I'm gonna
have to be bending to get into doorways. So anyway,
there you go. If you're struggling with height and you
want to look taller, you want to be a mountain
of a man, It's all about how you dress. It's
all about the accouterments that you bring to the process.
(12:32):
All right, let's take a break. When we come back,
we're going to get to the actual paint point. How
to make your small room look bigger using nothing but paint.
It's similar in concept, but way better because it's smart
and I came up with it. All right, it's all next,
stick around, and we're back. You're listening to the Repcolite
(13:00):
Home improvement show sponsored by Benjamin Moore, And right now,
let's get to the paint point. I mean, finally, right,
let's get to the paint point. You know, last segment
I gave out some solid gold advice on how to
make yourself look taller using nothing but clothes, shoes, good posture,
a little bit of weight loss, but not much. But
now let's get to the paint point, and let's talk
(13:22):
about how to make small rooms in your home feel
larger just by using paint. You know, if we all
had the budget and the layout of the home allowed
us to, it'd be really nice, you know, to knock
down walls, expand rooms and really make our spaces bigger.
But that's expensive and often it's impossible with our homes layout.
So let's talk about an easier way to do it.
(13:43):
In fact, let's talk about five practical ways to make
a room feel larger just by using paint. All right,
First up, you've got to use the right colors, and
typically we'd recommend lighter colors because they reflect more light
and this, in turn, when it's reflecting light, is going
to create a sense of openness. So think off whites,
light neutrals, pails, pastels, pretty much anything that doesn't weigh
(14:06):
the room down. Visually. A great example of this would
be to think about some soft blues. You know, I
know blue isn't everybody's color, but these shades naturally recede,
so the walls seem to push back to fall back.
For dim rooms, you could try an airy blue, kind
of like Benjamin Moore's Smoke and actually just put it
on the ceiling and it's kind of like you rip
(14:28):
the ceiling off of the home and there's nothing but
blue sky overhead. It's open, it's airy, it's expansive. And
if the room doesn't have a lot of natural lighting
coming through, you could pair that blue ceiling with an
off white that kind of has a warm, you know,
sunny undertone. And if you do that, you've got this,
you know, something that feels like an eternal spring day
going on in that room, and that kind of tone
(14:50):
gives off open, expansive, airy vibes all day long. Right, So,
light neutral colors, that's the way to go. But there's
a little bit of a problem. Now. If you listen
to the s Show on a regular basis, and if
you don't, well I don't know what's wrong with you.
But if you listen on a regular basis, You've got
to be wondering about some of what I'm saying. You know,
after all, we've talked on the show tons of times
(15:12):
about how darker colors can make a room feel bigger too, Right,
You've got to be wondering what's up with that. Well,
here's the scoop. Darker colors can create depth by making
walls visually received. All of that's true, However, there is
a bit of a catch. It works best on one
or two walls or the ceiling, not the whole room. Also,
and probably more importantly, good lighting is absolutely crucial, you know,
(15:34):
otherwise you just risk making the room feel enclosed. So
in smaller rooms with limited light, which is what we're
talking about, lighter colors are usually going to be your
best bet. Dark colors can work wonders too, but only
with the right setup. All right, Next, try a monochromatic
color scheme. Now, it's almost like we rip this off
from the fashion article, but really what's true in fashion
(15:55):
is true with design. Using different shades and tones of
the same color for the walls, trim, and ceiling is
going to create a continuous look and really help minimize
visual breaks. And this is going to expand the space.
For example, if your walls are a canvas colored neutral,
you could use a lighter neutral or a deeper off
white on the trim. You know, a stark white on
the trim would break the room into more clearly defined segments,
(16:16):
and that would make it feel more closed in. If
you really want to eliminate the line, you know, really
go whole hog into you know, opening up that space.
You could look at the third trick and that's color drenching.
And basically this means using one single color everywhere, walls, trims, ceilings,
maybe even furniture. You know, it's dramatic, it's crazy bold,
(16:39):
but it does a better job than monochromatic schemes when
it comes to eliminating visual breaks. You know, no more
crown molding, no more baseboard, no more doors cutting up
your space into smaller chunks. It's all one color. Everything
blends and you've got this unified, larger feel. Now, for
those with imagination out there, just imagine a small room
with soft green on every single surface, you know, the
(17:01):
same color on everything. And when you've got that, the
breaks completely disappear, the room flows, the space just feels
way bigger. If you can't imagine that. Well, the Google,
the Google is going to help you out Google color drenching.
You'll get an idea, all right. Moving on, Idea number
four is to consider accent walls. You know, a darker
shade on the far end of a narrow room can
(17:22):
add depth and make that room feel longer, last and
kind of similar to accent walls. Don't forget about the
power of two toned walls to draw the eye upward.
You know. Paint the lower half of your walls all
the way around the room a lighter shade, and then
the upper half, including the ceiling, a little bit darker.
Or you could try the reverse. You know. Either way,
this is going to blend the ceiling with the walls,
(17:42):
and it erases that dividing line and naturally draws your
eye upward and gives the illusion or impression of height
and space. We talked about that a couple of times
in the last month or so, and if you miss
those shows, just head back to the archives and check
them out. All right, there you go. That's the paint
point for the week. Five techniques to make small spaces
feel bigger. You know, remember that paint it's not just
(18:05):
about color. It's about creating atmosphere, about tone, you know,
creating the tone that you want. It's even about creating space.
For a relatively small investment, you can transform pretty much
any room in your house, no matter what architectural constraints
you're working with. If you do have questions or tips
of your own, any painting tips, any painting questions, maybe
a topic you'd like me to tackle on the show,
(18:27):
or even a friend or a relative, or maybe a
contractor that you think should be interviewed. If you've got
any of those ideas, I'd love to hear from you,
So email me at radio at Repcolight dot com and
let me know what you're thinking. All right, let's take
a break right now. When we come back, we're going
to be talking about primers. You know, in this day
and age of painting, primer all in one products. Do
(18:47):
you even need a primer? We're going to get to
that in just a minute. Stick around, and we're back.
You're listening to the repco lighte Home improvement shows sponsored
by Benjamin Moore, and it's time to talk about primer. Primer.
(19:10):
Pretty exciting stuff. Buckle up, it's gonna get real with
all the paint, and primer all in one products out there,
and we all know there are an absolute boatload of
these products out there. With all of them out there,
why in the world would you ever, ever ever want
to use a primer again, you know, just a standalone,
dedicated primer. In fact, why do we even make primer?
(19:33):
Why do we keep doing it? Isn't it completely you know,
unnecessary at this point? You know, the whole point of
a combo product is to eliminate the need to buy
the products separately. Right, you know you've got shampoo and
conditioner all in ones. You don't buy that and then
stock up on conditioner just in case. Right, You've got
the combo here. It does it all. You don't need
(19:54):
the separate parts, or toothpaste with mouthwash built in. You know,
talk about a technologic advancement, talk about a time saver.
You don't need the other components. At that point, you
know you've got everything you need all in this one product.
What other ones are out there? Oh? I should have
made a list. Should have made a list ahead of time.
A laundry detergent with fabric softener that's out there, right,
(20:17):
Let's move on because I'm not sure don't fact check me.
Convertible sofa beds. I know that's a thing. It's a sofa,
it's a bed. It's both, right, it's a combo. It's brilliant.
You know. We've got all these amazing combos out there,
and they serve double duty. And isn't Peyton Primer all
in one really just as brilliant as all of those
other brilliant products that I talked about. Isn't it as
(20:40):
brilliant as those? Well? I think it is. I think
it really pretty much is exactly as brilliant as all
of those. And think about all of those things for
just a minute. Which one of those combos that we
just mentioned, Which one of those combos is better than
the two parts separate? You know, maybe it's a time saver,
you know, I don't have to wash my hair twice
(21:01):
go through that process. I did it all at once,
and I shampooed and conditioned. It's a time saver. But
is it better? You know, I don't honestly know. That's
a terrible example for me to use because I can't
attest to the veracity of my statement. I don't know
the truth of the question. Shampoo conditioner, Is it better
as a combo, better separate. Who knows. Let's talk about
(21:23):
convertible sofa beds. That's something I can get down on
and I know, I know the facts here, I know
the truth. Who has ever sat on a convertible sofa
or slept on a convertible sofa and thought? Whoa, that's
something to write home about. That is the best rest,
the best most comfortable sit that I've ever had. It's
(21:43):
the best sleep I've ever had ever in all of
my life. You know, this convertible sofa bed. It's won
me over, It's converted me. I'm going to get rid
of all my dedicated couches and my dedicated beds, replace
them all with convertible sofa beds because I can have
a party in the bedroom, I can talk and have
people over. Who knows? Who has ever done that? Nobody's
(22:05):
ever done that? You know, sitting and sleeping on a
convertible sofa bed. It's okay, comfortable, but it's not something
that's as good as a dedicated couch, as good as
a dedicated bed. Or what about the toothpaste and the
mouthwash all in ones? Do you really think you know?
Do you really think that your breath is as fresh,
flowery fresh, garden fresh, garden fresh after doing just the one.
(22:29):
You know, I guess I'm only thinking about myself here.
I'm not throwing or casting shade or whatever you do
with shade these days, you know, to make somebody feel bad.
I'm not throwing that, doing that towards you. I'm just
talking about me. But sometimes I go to put my
toothbrush away, and that little guy is wilting like a
dying flower. You know, I need the second step. Mouthwashed.
(22:52):
Toothpaste isn't enough. I need to follow up. I need
something to power through. I need that mouthwash just to
be able to tolerate myself. All right. Same is true
with paint and primer all in ones. They're crazy popular
right now. You know, people think they're saving time and
saving money, but in the end, you're just not getting
the best results that you could be getting by using
(23:13):
more dedicated products. And I should mention right off the
bat as we're starting this is that there really is
no such thing, no special paint out there that's a
chemically formulated paint and primer all in one. Nobody adds
primer to the paint mix to come up with this
miracle hybrid Payton primer all in ones are really just
good high quality paint with the phrase paint and primer
(23:36):
all in one smacked on the label. So we've got
them as well. Benjamin Moore has them as well. Pretty
much any high quality paint will function as a paint
and primer all in one. That's important to understand. But
because the marketing is just absolutely brilliant on these, and
it's all pervasive. Because of that, so many people think
that a paint and primer all in one is absolutely
(23:56):
the way to go on every project. Well, let's look
at where a primer excels and why a primer, a
dedicated primer can make a huge difference on your projects.
And first off, let's look at bonding. Primers are specifically
designed to bond to surfaces like wood, drywall, even glossy
glossy surfaces, and they're designed to create a strong foundation
for your finish paint. In fact, there are some specialty
(24:19):
primers out there that take this bonding thing to you know,
ridiculous levels. Honestly sticks from Benjamin Moore talk about it
all the time. STI X it sticks to everything. I
don't know that that's their tag for it. But you know,
I'm a marketing genius and seems to work for me.
So sticks from Benjamin Moore. It bonds to everything. It's
(24:40):
incredibly tenacious. You know. It's like that that relative that
just won't leave, you know that sticks. We've had displays
in our stores and at home expos home shows where
we've taken you know, glass blocks or something glazed ceramic
tiles and without sanding them, without really prepping them, we've
just primed them with sticks. And once it's dry, once
(25:01):
it's cured, you can scratch at it as long as
you'd like, and you're only going to get tiny little
flakes of it to come off, tiny tiny little flakes
of it to come off. It bonds that well. Painton
Primer all in one products can't match the adhesive strength
of a standalone bonding primer. Second, if you're dealing with stains,
a specialty primer is often your only solution. You know,
water stains, smoke stains, knots in wood, other things like that.
(25:24):
They can bleed right through regular water based paints. Even
those Painton Primer all in one products, it'll bleed right
through you put them on the stain can bleed right
to the top. You put another coat on bleeds right
back to the top. These things are just regular paint
after all, you know. It's what we talked about at
the beginning. If you've got situations where you've got a
water stain, a smoke stain, knots, and wood, you really
(25:44):
need a primer that's specifically formulated to block those types
of stains. It's just not going to happen with one
of the combo products. Third, when you've got porous surfaces
like bare dry wall, a dedicated primer seals and covers
these better than a combo product's going to do, and
that means you're gonna get a smoother, more even finish
with your paint. It's just gonna look better. And Fourth
(26:05):
kind of connected to that. While paint and primer all
in one might seem convenience, seem like a money saver,
you often end up spending more money and using more
of that expensive product, you know, the paint and primer
all in one to get your desired results. When you
use a dedicated primer, it does the heavy lifting at
a cheaper price, you know, a way cheaper price. It
steals up the surface and you don't need as much
(26:27):
of the more expensive finish paint, so in the end
you save money, and depending on the size of the project,
it actually could be a fair amount of money. All right,
So there you go. There are four quick reasons to
use a dedicated primer. There are more, but that's enough
for now. I do want to take a second here
to let you know that until the end of the month,
one of our more versatile primers is on sale at
(26:47):
all Repcolite locations for just over forty five percent off
the usual price. It's actually right around forty seven percent off,
like forty seven point something, but you know, forty seven
percent is close enough, right. That gets the case the
point across anyway. Quicksand Multisurface Primer. It's available all month long.
Like I said, for forty seven percent off ish. It's
(27:10):
just under twenty one bucks a gallon, so it's way
cheaper than your finish paint and it's going to give
you that foundation that you want so you get beautiful
results with your finish without having to use so much
of it. It's a really really smart way to go.
Quicksand is recommended. If you're thinking about it, you could
use it on wood, trim, doors, drywall, pretty much most
interior surfaces. It bonds incredibly well, and it dries really fast.
(27:34):
There are comparable products out there, and they usually need
to dry for about two hours or so before you
can sand them. Quicksand can be sanded in as little
as thirty minutes, So that's a big time saver. It
means that you're able, you know, to keep working on
your project with less downtime, which means you get done faster,
which means you can go do you know, other work
around your house, or you can go have fun quicker.
(27:58):
So all of that's really good. I'm sure you know
I just said sanding in as little as thirty minutes.
Quicksand can be sanded in as little as thirty minutes.
I say that, and I'm sure there's a bunch of
people going, what are you talking about sanding my primer?
Who sands their primer? What blasphemy is this? Well, if
this is news to you, I'm sorry, but you actually
should do a light sanding on your primer before you
(28:20):
move to your finished paint if you want the best
results possible. It's a little bit of a topic that
needs more explanation than I can give right now, so
we'll talk about that next week. Why you should do
that sanding. And the good news is it's not a complicated,
you know step, it's not adding a lot of time.
It's going to go fast. We'll talk about sanding your
primer next week, why you would do that and how
(28:41):
to do it quickly. Anyway, back to quicksand, it sands
with very little clogging you know of the sandpaper, So
that's great, you're going to go through less sand paper.
That saves you money too. It applies well, it seals
up poor as surface as well, provides an even base
coat that ensures your finished paint looks great. Overall, it's
a wonderful primer that cover there's a lot of different
surfaces inside the home. And it's on sale, like I said,
(29:04):
forty seven percent off the usual price until the end
of the month. All right, Primers, if you have questions
or you need help finding the best primer for your project,
you can email me at radio at repcoll Light dot com,
or better yet, just stop out or call any of
our locations. Anybody there. Everybody here is happy to help.
All right, let's take a break. When we come back,
we're going to help you and me accomplish all of
(29:26):
those New Year's resolutions that we made a couple of
weeks ago, in which many of us quit on last
week Friday. That's just a head and stick around, and
we're back. You're listening to the repcol Light Home improvement
Show sponsored by Benjamin Moore, and in this last segment,
we're going to get straight to solving or saving. I
(29:49):
guess I should say everybody's New Year's resolutions. Now, last
week Friday, I didn't know about this. I didn't know
what was a thing I should say. But last week
Friday was something called Bitter's Day. You know, Quitter's Day,
The second Friday in January is always called that because
it's the day most people give up on their New
Year's resolutions. Quitter's Day comes early for me, normally earlier
(30:13):
than that. You know, that's like a long, a long
wait for Quitter's Day to get all the way to
the second Friday before we give up. But that's when
most people do it. Most people gave up last week Friday.
How did you do? You know? Are you still going
with yours? Did you bail? Did you even start? Did
you even have a new year's resolution. I didn't. I
(30:33):
didn't make a resolution this year, a single one, because
I know what happens. Like I said, I already said it.
I quit right away, and then I feel profoundly guilty.
And let me tell you, that's the way to start
a new year with huge helpings of guilt. I will
pile that guilt on naturally throughout the year. I don't
need to, you know, streamline the process with resolutions that
(30:56):
fail immediately. Now, I didn't set resolutions this year, but
not because I'm lazy, not completely lazy. Instead, I made goals,
and that's what I want to talk about right now.
It's not just wordplay. There really is a difference between
the two, between resolutions and goals, and you're much more
likely to get results from goals than you are resolutions.
(31:18):
Why is that, Well, first off, resolutions are usually vague,
they're broad, and they're kind of abstract. You know, you've
heard things like this before. I'm going to be healthier
this year. I'm going to spend less money this year.
It's really kind of like saying I want to go
on a road trip this year, but then not bothering
to pick a destination or exactly you know, map out
how you're going to get there. It's vague, it's abstract,
(31:40):
hard to wrap your brain around exactly how to do it. Second,
with New Year's resolutions, a really common idea is that
we need to come up with some sort of sweeping,
you know, huge change for our lives. And that's going
against the grain of our natural inclinations as people, as humans,
you know, we're not wired to make huge sweeping changes.
(32:01):
Think about it. I hate it. I hate it more
than I should, more than is reasonable. When they change
the interface on you know, the Facebook or Instagram or Netflix,
my life goes into this brief tail spin. Perhaps when
the phone updates and things function differently, or my apps
(32:21):
aren't in the same place. I mean, it's a mental meltdown.
I struggle with little changes that are inconsequential, and yet
every year I somehow think I'm going to jump into
this major life change and just breeze right through it
like I'm walking in the park. We're not cut out
to make big, sweeping changes in our lives. That's another
problem with resolutions. Third, resolutions are often externally motivated. You know,
(32:43):
every New Year, people everywhere are making resolutions, and so
we kind of feel like we should too. It's kind
of like peer pressure, right, for lack of a better phrase,
we're doing it because other people are all right. Fourth,
resolutions are based on something that we think we should do,
and they're less about focusing on what's in it for us,
and that's really just not enough of a motivator to
(33:04):
keep us moving. Long term change is tough, crazy tough.
And if we're just doing something because we know we
should or think we should, but not because we're focused
on what we're going to gain from that change, it's
really difficult to stay on track. Finally, many resolutions lack
accountability or a way to track progress, and as a result,
we find we're not motivated, we get frustrated, we don't
(33:26):
have a clear vision for why we're doing what we're doing,
and then we fall off track and drop the resolution. Right,
that's the problem with resolutions. So why is goals? You know,
why is setting goals any better? And honestly, I should
say that goals can be just as bad as resolutions.
Really if they're not good goals. Good goals follow something
(33:47):
that's called the smart framework. Smart I didn't need to
spell it. I don't know why I do that. It's
an acronym. There's specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound.
They're smart right. For example, they're specific, instead of a
bag resolution like I'm going to spend less money this
year really vague. Instead of that, when we're creating a
good goal, we're more likely to say, let's save x
(34:10):
amount of dollars every single month by eating out only
once or twice every two weeks. Or instead of saying
I'm going to be healthier this year, we may say
something like I'm going to walk fifteen minutes every day.
They're specific. They're also measurable. You know when you're on track,
and you know when you've failed. You know when you've
walked three days in a row but missed the fourth day.
You can see it it happened. It's easy to see
(34:31):
how it's going, how you're doing, how your plans are working.
If your resolution is to be healthier this year, how
in the world do you ever track that? You know?
How do you know how you're doing? Have I arrived?
Have I made it? It's only the third week in January?
Am I healthier? Maybe I'm healthier? I don't know, it's possible.
I guess to track that to some extent, but it's
(34:53):
really not clear cut. Good goals are going to be measurable.
You're going to see it easily. Good goals are also achievable.
It's crazy critical here. Resolutions are usually not always, but
usually focused on bigger, you know, a bigger, wider perfection
that we're shooting for. You know, I'm going to fix
up my entire home this year, inside and out. You know,
that's perfection. That's a huge, sweeping resolution. Good goals, on
(35:16):
the other hand, they kind of value progress over that perfection.
You know, a good goal would say, I'm going to
have the bathroom repainted by the end of January. Good
goals are a step in the right direction. They're progress,
they're achievable, and our brains can see that they're achievable,
and you know, that's what gives us the motivation to
keep going. You know, right, an unachievable resolution, who's got
(35:41):
the gumption to keep doing that? Third or fourth or
whatever are good goals are relevant. You know, you're not
just going to walk for fifteen minutes a day just
because you're going to walk for fifteen minutes a day
so you can lose x amount of pounds so you
can enjoy beach season or whatever whatever enjoyed beach season.
I would love it if we could go back in
(36:03):
time or bring fashion back from the twenties and dudes
could go to the beach wearing you know, like those
full body jumper suits like little onesies that babies wear,
but you know, for grown up people, I could go
for that. I don't know that I need the stripes
because the horizontal stripes just make me look chubbier. Maybe
vertical stripes that would make me look taller as well
(36:24):
at the beach. But anyway, anyway, the bigger point is
you're going to walk for fifteen minutes a day to
lose a certain amount of weight so you can enjoy
a certain season a little more. You know, it's not
just a naggy idea that you know, I probably should
do this because sitting on the couch all winner is bad.
You've got a positive goal in mind. Finally, good goals
are time bound. I'm going to have the bathroom repainted
(36:45):
by the end of January, or the kitchen cabinets redone
by March. Having that time bound puts us on a
schedule and helps us power through days when we feel
like procrastinating. Basically, goals set in this manner, oh man,
they're way easier for a brains to grasp, and that
makes us much more likely to stick to them. So
if resolutions are not working for you, and have not
(37:06):
worked for you in the past, it's not too late
this year. I mean, we're three weeks in. You know.
Most people just quit last week Friday, so it's all
right to start up again. We've got a whole new
year ahead of us. Maybe it's time we just ditch
that whole idea of resolutions and switch to setting clear, measurable, smart,
you know, goals. Now, before we wrap up for the week,
(37:27):
here are three quick ways to maintain some long term
success with your goals. Start small. Break those bigger goals
into micro goals. You can experience success which keeps you
on track. This is critical. If your overarching goal is
to have the whole interior of the house repainted by
the end of the year, you need to break that
up into many different micro goals. You know, maybe you
(37:48):
need to break it into By the end of this week,
I'm going to have colors for the living room. Next week,
I'm going to paint the bathroom. Maybe you can go
bigger than that and say the kitchen is going to
be done by March, the living room by April, and
so on. However you do it, set smaller goals that
work to bring your larger goal to completion. Second, focus
on habits, not immediate results. Habits are the most important
(38:09):
things to change as we set our goals. It's habit
that's going to call us back to the couch from
the treadmill, and it's habit that's going to help us
say no to the couch and start our daily walk.
Focus on building those habits first, and keep your eyes
on that rather than looking at the bathroom scale for results.
At least in the beginning. The results will come, but
that habit needs to be formed first. Finally, track your progress.
(38:31):
Use a journal, an app, just a simple checklist to
measure how far you've come. You know, take photos and
chronicle the journey. It doesn't seem important at the time.
It never does, but there's always going to be a day.
It happens to me all the time, a day when
I want to look back and see how far I've come.
You know, the motivation that comes from that is great.
(38:52):
Be sure that you can do that. Most of the time,
I don't take those pictures along the way, and I'm
just going by memory. How did the kitchen used to look?
Is it bat better? I think it's better, but I
don't ever know how much better. And knowing how much
better and how big an improvement I've made really propels
you to the next thing. So track your progress, keep
those records, and there you go. That's all the time
(39:12):
we've got. We're gonna have to wrap this one up.
If you want to cut it again, you can find
it online at repcolit dot com. Whatever you do today
makes your paints a part of it. Have a great weekend, everybody.
I'll see you next week. I'm Dan Hansen. Thanks for listening.
Well, good morning, everybody. Happy weekend. How are y'all doing?
I mean, we hit the weekend, so really, there can't
be that much complaining out there, right, I mean we
hit the best part of the whole week. Yeah, gotta
love it. You're listening to the Repco Light Home improvement
show sponsored by Benjamin Moore, and I'm wondering, what has
everybody got going on today? You know, after the show.
(00:25):
I'm sure you're not going to bail on the show,
or maybe you're gonna work while the show's going. But
what do you got going Maybe a home project, maybe
a little painting. Maybe you're just gonna crash, you know,
watch a few movies. That sounds kind of good. Personally,
I kind of got a hankering to go roller skating.
Don't really know why we watched Back to the Future
(00:46):
over the Christmas break. I'm wondering if that's it. You know,
maybe the eighties nostalgia kind of hit a little hard
and brought me, you know, back to my big time memories,
you know, skating around the Grand roller Rink in Holland
if any of you remember that place doing that when
I was in elementary school, I had some big times
(01:06):
some big memories back then. You know, a cooler kid
you've never seen, you know, skating smoothly in this huge
loop around this place, the disco ball and all the
music going on, you know, only falling periodically. You know,
I was pretty good skating with a girl, even a
couple of times. I remember that, you know, getting a
(01:27):
little sweaty, you know, my little sweaty hand while I
was doing that, and then finding it really hard to
keep a hold of her over you know, the turns
because of the sweaty hand. Sometimes who she just kind
of zip off to the side and crash into the wall.
And I'd go back to skating alone anyway, rambling roller
(01:47):
skating the golden years when I was in elementary school. Anyway.
I don't know how I got to roller skating, but
it's a thought. It's something that you might want to consider, right,
think about it, all right, who cares. Let's get back
to the show today. We're going to be talking about
New Year's resolutions. Now. Last week Friday, I think it
was was Quitter's Day, the day most people give up
(02:09):
on their New Year's resolutions. There's actually a day devoted
to it, Quitter's Day. Yeah, that was last week Friday,
and so we're going to talk now about a mind trick,
like a little Jedi mind trick to help you stick
to your resolutions longer and actually see them to completion.
So we're going to get to that at the end
of the show. We're also going to talk briefly about primers.
(02:31):
I mean, really, in a world full of paint and
primer all in one products, why do primers even exist
in the first place? You know, why would you want
one or why would you use one? Is it just
you know, wasted steps, you know, money, extra money spent,
or or is it a secret weapon to help you
achieve professional results and actually save money? Who knows? Who knows?
(02:52):
Only the shadow knows. And we'll talk about that in
a little bit. But right now, I've got a paint
point that I want to get to and it's going
to take me a long time to do it because
I found a really fun article that sets it up.
And this fun article was supposed to be just this
brief introduction to the topic that I wanted to cover
the paint point itself. But this little article is so
(03:16):
good it warrants its own segment. It's not a brief introduction.
It's its own segment. So we're going to talk about
that I'm short, right, I don't hide that. I don't
think I'm ridiculously short. I like to say average height,
you know, when I'm having conversations with friends and family.
But when I do say that, people around me always
(03:37):
look at me and say, you know, you're on the
shorter side of average, just so you know, you people
like to keep me honest. I guess let's just say
I'm not tall, all right, let's just establish that. But
could I be? That is the bigger question. Is it possible,
you know, to make a few, you know, outer changes,
something simple and gain some height. And I'm not talking
(03:59):
silly changes like walk around in stilts. I mean legitimate
changes that will give height to somebody of average or
you know, on the shorter side of average height. Well,
I did a lot of research into this topic, and
I found an article online that seems really super legit,
and I discovered that yes, with a few simple changes
(04:20):
and a little exercise, but really mainly some simple changes,
I can go listen to this from five foot seven
ish all the way up to six foot three in
about six months. In fact, I could go from five
foot seven to six foot one in hours. That extra
two inches, you know, to get to six foot three,
(04:41):
that comes from exercise. That's going to take time. I'm
trying to decide if it's worth it. Do I really
need those extra two inches or shall I just go
with this, you know, the plan that will will have
me at six foot one in hours? Anyway, here are
my find these, find to find these. Here are my
find these my finding and here's my plan. And for
(05:02):
all of you other height challenge folks, you know, get
out the notepads. I'm dishing out gold. Here all right,
tips to consider. So if you want to look taller,
the tips that you'll need. We're going to start simple.
First off, wear shoes that make you look taller. You know,
this isn't rocket science. I just need to find some
shoes that have a bit of a sole, you know,
a lot of sole, and I need to find it.
(05:23):
You know, shoes that have a sole composed of lightweight material.
I guess you know. It can't be thick, heavy rubber
or I'm going to get tired, you know, really quick,
really quick. I don't want that. So I'm going to
look for tall shoes that are lightweight, and when I
find them, I'm easily, according to this article, going to
be able to add at least half an inch. So
(05:43):
there we go. I am right now at five foot
seven and a half. We're going to do the math
and keep track. Okay, five foot seven and a half
just from shoes alone. I could go higher, but I
don't want to be ridiculous. All right. Second thing, lose
body fat. All right, this one's the exercise thing. I'll
decide if I want to do it. But it turns
out weight actually compresses the spine. I guess that's not
(06:06):
rocket science either. Really, it does make a lot of sense.
You know, if I wore a necklace of twenty five
pound weight plates, i'd compress my spine. I'm pretty sure
of it. I'm not a doctor. It just seems to flow.
It makes sense. So the same is probably true when
it comes to a little extra girth. Probably weighs me
down a little bit, compresses my spine. I bet my
(06:26):
body blubber. You know. It's probably holding me back, you know,
maybe from another inch. So if I lose that weight,
my spine's gonna decompress and boop, I'm gonna shoot up
probably another inch, maybe maybe more. So it's not easy
to lose weight. I get that, but it's not impossible.
So I'm planning on it. And if I do that
(06:46):
and pull it off, that'll make me five foot eight
and a half. Okay. Third thing, improve your posture again,
no rocket science here, still not at that point yet,
that's coming. But slouching makes you look shorter. So the
guy who wrote the article, he went into the military
and after twenty six weeks of training he had grown
another inch and a half. Another inch and a half
(07:06):
after just twenty six weeks of boot camp and training.
You know, he attributes it to good posture. So slouching
it's the short man's enemy. So I'm gonna work on
eliminating the slouch. And let's just say that by doing so,
I'm going to gain, you know, another inch, so you know,
five foot nine and a half, right, Okay. Now number
(07:27):
four wear fitted clothing. And I really don't know how
I feel about this one, and I don't know that
it's really all about being tall. It's about creating the
illusion of being tall. One of his paragraphs. Actually, when
I look at this this point, I only included it
because of this this paragraph that he has in there,
it's kind of cutting. It hurts a little bit. Let
(07:49):
me quote it. You wear well fitting clothing because quote
those things won't make you look taller per se, but
because we associate good things in clusters, and being tall
is good, says in his quote, Dressing well goes a
long way in creating the illusion of height, or at
the very least, it draws attention away from how short
(08:10):
you are. End quote. Wow, I don't know. I'm not
sure what to do with that. Yeah, I don't know.
I don't know where fitted clothing. I'll let you decide
if you're going to pursue that one. I just wanted
to give his quotes because I thought he's pulling no
punches here. He's trying to help us, and he's being
brutal in the process. All right, And it's funny, I
(08:31):
should say. The guy's six foot something, so it's not
like he's one of us talking to us. He's talking
down to us in every every way that you can
talk down to people. You know, he's six foot three
or something like that. I don't know how tall he
is after after boot camp gained another three inches. He
could be seven foot tall by now, who knows he's
talking down to us short people anyway. Number five, let's
(08:54):
get back to his recommendations, wear a hat now here
here where his and some dark horse, unexpected gold star recommendations.
Hats make you look taller, of course, because they extend
the top of your head. And you know, as an aside,
you know, a freebie if you will tall hair. I
could do the same thing. You know, a few people
(09:15):
realize it, but I think Lyle love it. You know
that singer. I think he's actually five foot two, but
with the hair, you know, he clocks in over six foot.
I can't get my hair to do that. But I
can PLoP a hat on my head, now, Panama hat.
That would give me a good inch or so, I
think it could. It make me look like Indiana Jones.
So that's cool. But a top hat here's where I'm going.
(09:38):
A top hat that seems to be the way to go.
You know, first, you gain another six inches or more
depending on your top hat. Secondly, it's super classy, right,
and classy clothes you know, also distract from how short
you are. We just talked about that were fitted clothes.
I'm reading that as as classy clothes. So top hat,
that's classy. It'll distract from how short I am. So
(09:58):
if I take that top hat, you know, I'm going
to add four more inches. You know, maybe six more
inches if I went nuts, but let's just be reasonable,
four more inches. I was at five nine something. I'm
over six foot at this point. Anyway. The rest of
his points, don't wear belts because belts divide your body
into segments and they draw the eye downward. You know,
(10:20):
hats do the same, they draw your eye upwards. So
don't wear belts. You know, you want to wear high
waisted pants. Again, you don't want to divide your body
and have your eye drawn downward. So if you wear
high waisted pants, you know, up around, just tucked under
your armpits, it's going to draw people's eyes up. They're
going to think, man, that kid has amazingly long legs.
(10:41):
You know, look where the waste of his pants is.
He's got an incredibly small torso though, So I think
this part's problematic, but you know, who knows, it might
work for you. The last one that he's got that
I'm going to focus on is dress in monochromatic color schemes.
You know, if you only wear one color, your eye
doesn't have to factor in any break. Again, we're talking
about how the belt breaks things up. Your pants breaks
(11:03):
things up. If it's all monochrome, a monochromatic color scheme,
there's no breaks. You know, your shoes, your pants, your shirt,
all of those things are the same color. Your big hat,
all of those are the same color. You're naturally gonna pear,
you know, up here taller along those lines. I wonder
what happens if you'd wear you know, like a jumpsuit
or something. It's a one piece, so no breaks at all.
(11:26):
It's a one color kind of a thing. There's no belt,
seems like it's checking all the boxes, you know. Just
get something that looks like prison garb, and you might
be good to go. You know, prisoners, You know, I
don't have a lot of experience, but they do seem
you know, quite tall when I encounter them or when
I see them in movies, they seem seem big. Might
be the jumpsuit doing that. So if I can find
(11:47):
a prison suit that you know, kind of feels business casual,
you know, that might help me help me clock in
at some bigger heights, some taller heights. But with all
of these things that I'm doing with the hat, the
shoe use and all of those things, and the illusions
that I'm creating by wearing my prison business casual suit,
I'm really I've gained I don't even know how many
(12:09):
inches anymore, but I'm clocking in around six one sixty two.
If I do the exercise, lose the belly fat, and
my spine decompresses. Oh my goodness, look out, I'm gonna
have to be bending to get into doorways. So anyway,
there you go. If you're struggling with height and you
want to look taller, you want to be a mountain
of a man, It's all about how you dress. It's
all about the accouterments that you bring to the process.
(12:32):
All right, let's take a break. When we come back,
we're going to get to the actual paint point. How
to make your small room look bigger using nothing but paint.
It's similar in concept, but way better because it's smart
and I came up with it. All right, it's all next,
stick around, and we're back. You're listening to the Repcolite
(13:00):
Home improvement show sponsored by Benjamin Moore, And right now,
let's get to the paint point. I mean, finally, right,
let's get to the paint point. You know, last segment
I gave out some solid gold advice on how to
make yourself look taller using nothing but clothes, shoes, good posture,
a little bit of weight loss, but not much. But
now let's get to the paint point, and let's talk
(13:22):
about how to make small rooms in your home feel
larger just by using paint. You know, if we all
had the budget and the layout of the home allowed
us to, it'd be really nice, you know, to knock
down walls, expand rooms and really make our spaces bigger.
But that's expensive and often it's impossible with our homes layout.
So let's talk about an easier way to do it.
(13:43):
In fact, let's talk about five practical ways to make
a room feel larger just by using paint. All right,
First up, you've got to use the right colors, and
typically we'd recommend lighter colors because they reflect more light
and this, in turn, when it's reflecting light, is going
to create a sense of openness. So think off whites,
light neutrals, pails, pastels, pretty much anything that doesn't weigh
(14:06):
the room down. Visually. A great example of this would
be to think about some soft blues. You know, I
know blue isn't everybody's color, but these shades naturally recede,
so the walls seem to push back to fall back.
For dim rooms, you could try an airy blue, kind
of like Benjamin Moore's Smoke and actually just put it
on the ceiling and it's kind of like you rip
(14:28):
the ceiling off of the home and there's nothing but
blue sky overhead. It's open, it's airy, it's expansive. And
if the room doesn't have a lot of natural lighting
coming through, you could pair that blue ceiling with an
off white that kind of has a warm, you know,
sunny undertone. And if you do that, you've got this,
you know, something that feels like an eternal spring day
going on in that room, and that kind of tone
(14:50):
gives off open, expansive, airy vibes all day long. Right, So,
light neutral colors, that's the way to go. But there's
a little bit of a problem. Now. If you listen
to the s Show on a regular basis, and if
you don't, well I don't know what's wrong with you.
But if you listen on a regular basis, You've got
to be wondering about some of what I'm saying. You know,
after all, we've talked on the show tons of times
(15:12):
about how darker colors can make a room feel bigger too, Right,
You've got to be wondering what's up with that. Well,
here's the scoop. Darker colors can create depth by making
walls visually received. All of that's true, However, there is
a bit of a catch. It works best on one
or two walls or the ceiling, not the whole room. Also,
and probably more importantly, good lighting is absolutely crucial, you know,
(15:34):
otherwise you just risk making the room feel enclosed. So
in smaller rooms with limited light, which is what we're
talking about, lighter colors are usually going to be your
best bet. Dark colors can work wonders too, but only
with the right setup. All right, Next, try a monochromatic
color scheme. Now, it's almost like we rip this off
from the fashion article, but really what's true in fashion
(15:55):
is true with design. Using different shades and tones of
the same color for the walls, trim, and ceiling is
going to create a continuous look and really help minimize
visual breaks. And this is going to expand the space.
For example, if your walls are a canvas colored neutral,
you could use a lighter neutral or a deeper off
white on the trim. You know, a stark white on
the trim would break the room into more clearly defined segments,
(16:16):
and that would make it feel more closed in. If
you really want to eliminate the line, you know, really
go whole hog into you know, opening up that space.
You could look at the third trick and that's color drenching.
And basically this means using one single color everywhere, walls, trims, ceilings,
maybe even furniture. You know, it's dramatic, it's crazy bold,
(16:39):
but it does a better job than monochromatic schemes when
it comes to eliminating visual breaks. You know, no more
crown molding, no more baseboard, no more doors cutting up
your space into smaller chunks. It's all one color. Everything
blends and you've got this unified, larger feel. Now, for
those with imagination out there, just imagine a small room
with soft green on every single surface, you know, the
(17:01):
same color on everything. And when you've got that, the
breaks completely disappear, the room flows, the space just feels
way bigger. If you can't imagine that. Well, the Google,
the Google is going to help you out Google color drenching.
You'll get an idea, all right. Moving on, Idea number
four is to consider accent walls. You know, a darker
shade on the far end of a narrow room can
(17:22):
add depth and make that room feel longer, last and
kind of similar to accent walls. Don't forget about the
power of two toned walls to draw the eye upward.
You know. Paint the lower half of your walls all
the way around the room a lighter shade, and then
the upper half, including the ceiling, a little bit darker.
Or you could try the reverse. You know. Either way,
this is going to blend the ceiling with the walls,
(17:42):
and it erases that dividing line and naturally draws your
eye upward and gives the illusion or impression of height
and space. We talked about that a couple of times
in the last month or so, and if you miss
those shows, just head back to the archives and check
them out. All right, there you go. That's the paint
point for the week. Five techniques to make small spaces
feel bigger. You know, remember that paint it's not just
(18:05):
about color. It's about creating atmosphere, about tone, you know,
creating the tone that you want. It's even about creating space.
For a relatively small investment, you can transform pretty much
any room in your house, no matter what architectural constraints
you're working with. If you do have questions or tips
of your own, any painting tips, any painting questions, maybe
a topic you'd like me to tackle on the show,
(18:27):
or even a friend or a relative, or maybe a
contractor that you think should be interviewed. If you've got
any of those ideas, I'd love to hear from you,
So email me at radio at Repcolight dot com and
let me know what you're thinking. All right, let's take
a break right now. When we come back, we're going
to be talking about primers. You know, in this day
and age of painting, primer all in one products. Do
(18:47):
you even need a primer? We're going to get to
that in just a minute. Stick around, and we're back.
You're listening to the repco lighte Home improvement shows sponsored
by Benjamin Moore, and it's time to talk about primer. Primer.
(19:10):
Pretty exciting stuff. Buckle up, it's gonna get real with
all the paint, and primer all in one products out there,
and we all know there are an absolute boatload of
these products out there. With all of them out there,
why in the world would you ever, ever ever want
to use a primer again, you know, just a standalone,
dedicated primer. In fact, why do we even make primer?
(19:33):
Why do we keep doing it? Isn't it completely you know,
unnecessary at this point? You know, the whole point of
a combo product is to eliminate the need to buy
the products separately. Right, you know you've got shampoo and
conditioner all in ones. You don't buy that and then
stock up on conditioner just in case. Right, You've got
the combo here. It does it all. You don't need
(19:54):
the separate parts, or toothpaste with mouthwash built in. You know,
talk about a technologic advancement, talk about a time saver.
You don't need the other components. At that point, you
know you've got everything you need all in this one product.
What other ones are out there? Oh? I should have
made a list. Should have made a list ahead of time.
A laundry detergent with fabric softener that's out there, right,
(20:17):
Let's move on because I'm not sure don't fact check me.
Convertible sofa beds. I know that's a thing. It's a sofa,
it's a bed. It's both, right, it's a combo. It's brilliant.
You know. We've got all these amazing combos out there,
and they serve double duty. And isn't Peyton Primer all
in one really just as brilliant as all of those
other brilliant products that I talked about. Isn't it as
(20:40):
brilliant as those? Well? I think it is. I think
it really pretty much is exactly as brilliant as all
of those. And think about all of those things for
just a minute. Which one of those combos that we
just mentioned, Which one of those combos is better than
the two parts separate? You know, maybe it's a time saver,
you know, I don't have to wash my hair twice
(21:01):
go through that process. I did it all at once,
and I shampooed and conditioned. It's a time saver. But
is it better? You know, I don't honestly know. That's
a terrible example for me to use because I can't
attest to the veracity of my statement. I don't know
the truth of the question. Shampoo conditioner, Is it better
as a combo, better separate. Who knows. Let's talk about
(21:23):
convertible sofa beds. That's something I can get down on
and I know, I know the facts here, I know
the truth. Who has ever sat on a convertible sofa
or slept on a convertible sofa and thought? Whoa, that's
something to write home about. That is the best rest,
the best most comfortable sit that I've ever had. It's
(21:43):
the best sleep I've ever had ever in all of
my life. You know, this convertible sofa bed. It's won
me over, It's converted me. I'm going to get rid
of all my dedicated couches and my dedicated beds, replace
them all with convertible sofa beds because I can have
a party in the bedroom, I can talk and have
people over. Who knows? Who has ever done that? Nobody's
(22:05):
ever done that? You know, sitting and sleeping on a
convertible sofa bed. It's okay, comfortable, but it's not something
that's as good as a dedicated couch, as good as
a dedicated bed. Or what about the toothpaste and the
mouthwash all in ones? Do you really think you know?
Do you really think that your breath is as fresh,
flowery fresh, garden fresh, garden fresh after doing just the one.
(22:29):
You know, I guess I'm only thinking about myself here.
I'm not throwing or casting shade or whatever you do
with shade these days, you know, to make somebody feel bad.
I'm not throwing that, doing that towards you. I'm just
talking about me. But sometimes I go to put my
toothbrush away, and that little guy is wilting like a
dying flower. You know, I need the second step. Mouthwashed.
(22:52):
Toothpaste isn't enough. I need to follow up. I need
something to power through. I need that mouthwash just to
be able to tolerate myself. All right. Same is true
with paint and primer all in ones. They're crazy popular
right now. You know, people think they're saving time and
saving money, but in the end, you're just not getting
the best results that you could be getting by using
(23:13):
more dedicated products. And I should mention right off the
bat as we're starting this is that there really is
no such thing, no special paint out there that's a
chemically formulated paint and primer all in one. Nobody adds
primer to the paint mix to come up with this
miracle hybrid Payton primer all in ones are really just
good high quality paint with the phrase paint and primer
(23:36):
all in one smacked on the label. So we've got
them as well. Benjamin Moore has them as well. Pretty
much any high quality paint will function as a paint
and primer all in one. That's important to understand. But
because the marketing is just absolutely brilliant on these, and
it's all pervasive. Because of that, so many people think
that a paint and primer all in one is absolutely
(23:56):
the way to go on every project. Well, let's look
at where a primer excels and why a primer, a
dedicated primer can make a huge difference on your projects.
And first off, let's look at bonding. Primers are specifically
designed to bond to surfaces like wood, drywall, even glossy
glossy surfaces, and they're designed to create a strong foundation
for your finish paint. In fact, there are some specialty
(24:19):
primers out there that take this bonding thing to you know,
ridiculous levels. Honestly sticks from Benjamin Moore talk about it
all the time. STI X it sticks to everything. I
don't know that that's their tag for it. But you know,
I'm a marketing genius and seems to work for me.
So sticks from Benjamin Moore. It bonds to everything. It's
(24:40):
incredibly tenacious. You know. It's like that that relative that
just won't leave, you know that sticks. We've had displays
in our stores and at home expos home shows where
we've taken you know, glass blocks or something glazed ceramic
tiles and without sanding them, without really prepping them, we've
just primed them with sticks. And once it's dry, once
(25:01):
it's cured, you can scratch at it as long as
you'd like, and you're only going to get tiny little
flakes of it to come off, tiny tiny little flakes
of it to come off. It bonds that well. Painton
Primer all in one products can't match the adhesive strength
of a standalone bonding primer. Second, if you're dealing with stains,
a specialty primer is often your only solution. You know,
water stains, smoke stains, knots in wood, other things like that.
(25:24):
They can bleed right through regular water based paints. Even
those Painton Primer all in one products, it'll bleed right
through you put them on the stain can bleed right
to the top. You put another coat on bleeds right
back to the top. These things are just regular paint
after all, you know. It's what we talked about at
the beginning. If you've got situations where you've got a
water stain, a smoke stain, knots, and wood, you really
(25:44):
need a primer that's specifically formulated to block those types
of stains. It's just not going to happen with one
of the combo products. Third, when you've got porous surfaces
like bare dry wall, a dedicated primer seals and covers
these better than a combo product's going to do, and
that means you're gonna get a smoother, more even finish
with your paint. It's just gonna look better. And Fourth
(26:05):
kind of connected to that. While paint and primer all
in one might seem convenience, seem like a money saver,
you often end up spending more money and using more
of that expensive product, you know, the paint and primer
all in one to get your desired results. When you
use a dedicated primer, it does the heavy lifting at
a cheaper price, you know, a way cheaper price. It
steals up the surface and you don't need as much
(26:27):
of the more expensive finish paint, so in the end
you save money, and depending on the size of the project,
it actually could be a fair amount of money. All right,
So there you go. There are four quick reasons to
use a dedicated primer. There are more, but that's enough
for now. I do want to take a second here
to let you know that until the end of the month,
one of our more versatile primers is on sale at
(26:47):
all Repcolite locations for just over forty five percent off
the usual price. It's actually right around forty seven percent off,
like forty seven point something, but you know, forty seven
percent is close enough, right. That gets the case the
point across anyway. Quicksand Multisurface Primer. It's available all month long.
Like I said, for forty seven percent off ish. It's
(27:10):
just under twenty one bucks a gallon, so it's way
cheaper than your finish paint and it's going to give
you that foundation that you want so you get beautiful
results with your finish without having to use so much
of it. It's a really really smart way to go.
Quicksand is recommended. If you're thinking about it, you could
use it on wood, trim, doors, drywall, pretty much most
interior surfaces. It bonds incredibly well, and it dries really fast.
(27:34):
There are comparable products out there, and they usually need
to dry for about two hours or so before you
can sand them. Quicksand can be sanded in as little
as thirty minutes, So that's a big time saver. It
means that you're able, you know, to keep working on
your project with less downtime, which means you get done faster,
which means you can go do you know, other work
around your house, or you can go have fun quicker.
(27:58):
So all of that's really good. I'm sure you know
I just said sanding in as little as thirty minutes.
Quicksand can be sanded in as little as thirty minutes.
I say that, and I'm sure there's a bunch of
people going, what are you talking about sanding my primer?
Who sands their primer? What blasphemy is this? Well, if
this is news to you, I'm sorry, but you actually
should do a light sanding on your primer before you
(28:20):
move to your finished paint if you want the best
results possible. It's a little bit of a topic that
needs more explanation than I can give right now, so
we'll talk about that next week. Why you should do
that sanding. And the good news is it's not a complicated,
you know step, it's not adding a lot of time.
It's going to go fast. We'll talk about sanding your
primer next week, why you would do that and how
(28:41):
to do it quickly. Anyway, back to quicksand, it sands
with very little clogging you know of the sandpaper, So
that's great, you're going to go through less sand paper.
That saves you money too. It applies well, it seals
up poor as surface as well, provides an even base
coat that ensures your finished paint looks great. Overall, it's
a wonderful primer that cover there's a lot of different
surfaces inside the home. And it's on sale, like I said,
(29:04):
forty seven percent off the usual price until the end
of the month. All right, Primers, if you have questions
or you need help finding the best primer for your project,
you can email me at radio at repcoll Light dot com,
or better yet, just stop out or call any of
our locations. Anybody there. Everybody here is happy to help.
All right, let's take a break. When we come back,
we're going to help you and me accomplish all of
(29:26):
those New Year's resolutions that we made a couple of
weeks ago, in which many of us quit on last
week Friday. That's just a head and stick around, and
we're back. You're listening to the repcol Light Home improvement
Show sponsored by Benjamin Moore, and in this last segment,
we're going to get straight to solving or saving. I
(29:49):
guess I should say everybody's New Year's resolutions. Now, last
week Friday, I didn't know about this. I didn't know
what was a thing I should say. But last week
Friday was something called Bitter's Day. You know, Quitter's Day,
The second Friday in January is always called that because
it's the day most people give up on their New
Year's resolutions. Quitter's Day comes early for me, normally earlier
(30:13):
than that. You know, that's like a long, a long
wait for Quitter's Day to get all the way to
the second Friday before we give up. But that's when
most people do it. Most people gave up last week Friday.
How did you do? You know? Are you still going
with yours? Did you bail? Did you even start? Did
you even have a new year's resolution. I didn't. I
(30:33):
didn't make a resolution this year, a single one, because
I know what happens. Like I said, I already said it.
I quit right away, and then I feel profoundly guilty.
And let me tell you, that's the way to start
a new year with huge helpings of guilt. I will
pile that guilt on naturally throughout the year. I don't
need to, you know, streamline the process with resolutions that
(30:56):
fail immediately. Now, I didn't set resolutions this year, but
not because I'm lazy, not completely lazy. Instead, I made goals,
and that's what I want to talk about right now.
It's not just wordplay. There really is a difference between
the two, between resolutions and goals, and you're much more
likely to get results from goals than you are resolutions.
(31:18):
Why is that, Well, first off, resolutions are usually vague,
they're broad, and they're kind of abstract. You know, you've
heard things like this before. I'm going to be healthier
this year. I'm going to spend less money this year.
It's really kind of like saying I want to go
on a road trip this year, but then not bothering
to pick a destination or exactly you know, map out
how you're going to get there. It's vague, it's abstract,
(31:40):
hard to wrap your brain around exactly how to do it. Second,
with New Year's resolutions, a really common idea is that
we need to come up with some sort of sweeping,
you know, huge change for our lives. And that's going
against the grain of our natural inclinations as people, as humans,
you know, we're not wired to make huge sweeping changes.
(32:01):
Think about it. I hate it. I hate it more
than I should, more than is reasonable. When they change
the interface on you know, the Facebook or Instagram or Netflix,
my life goes into this brief tail spin. Perhaps when
the phone updates and things function differently, or my apps
(32:21):
aren't in the same place. I mean, it's a mental meltdown.
I struggle with little changes that are inconsequential, and yet
every year I somehow think I'm going to jump into
this major life change and just breeze right through it
like I'm walking in the park. We're not cut out
to make big, sweeping changes in our lives. That's another
problem with resolutions. Third, resolutions are often externally motivated. You know,
(32:43):
every New Year, people everywhere are making resolutions, and so
we kind of feel like we should too. It's kind
of like peer pressure, right, for lack of a better phrase,
we're doing it because other people are all right. Fourth,
resolutions are based on something that we think we should do,
and they're less about focusing on what's in it for us,
and that's really just not enough of a motivator to
(33:04):
keep us moving. Long term change is tough, crazy tough.
And if we're just doing something because we know we
should or think we should, but not because we're focused
on what we're going to gain from that change, it's
really difficult to stay on track. Finally, many resolutions lack
accountability or a way to track progress, and as a result,
we find we're not motivated, we get frustrated, we don't
(33:26):
have a clear vision for why we're doing what we're doing,
and then we fall off track and drop the resolution. Right,
that's the problem with resolutions. So why is goals? You know,
why is setting goals any better? And honestly, I should
say that goals can be just as bad as resolutions.
Really if they're not good goals. Good goals follow something
(33:47):
that's called the smart framework. Smart I didn't need to
spell it. I don't know why I do that. It's
an acronym. There's specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound.
They're smart right. For example, they're specific, instead of a
bag resolution like I'm going to spend less money this
year really vague. Instead of that, when we're creating a
good goal, we're more likely to say, let's save x
(34:10):
amount of dollars every single month by eating out only
once or twice every two weeks. Or instead of saying
I'm going to be healthier this year, we may say
something like I'm going to walk fifteen minutes every day.
They're specific. They're also measurable. You know when you're on track,
and you know when you've failed. You know when you've
walked three days in a row but missed the fourth day.
You can see it it happened. It's easy to see
(34:31):
how it's going, how you're doing, how your plans are working.
If your resolution is to be healthier this year, how
in the world do you ever track that? You know?
How do you know how you're doing? Have I arrived?
Have I made it? It's only the third week in January?
Am I healthier? Maybe I'm healthier? I don't know, it's possible.
I guess to track that to some extent, but it's
(34:53):
really not clear cut. Good goals are going to be measurable.
You're going to see it easily. Good goals are also achievable.
It's crazy critical here. Resolutions are usually not always, but
usually focused on bigger, you know, a bigger, wider perfection
that we're shooting for. You know, I'm going to fix
up my entire home this year, inside and out. You know,
that's perfection. That's a huge, sweeping resolution. Good goals, on
(35:16):
the other hand, they kind of value progress over that perfection.
You know, a good goal would say, I'm going to
have the bathroom repainted by the end of January. Good
goals are a step in the right direction. They're progress,
they're achievable, and our brains can see that they're achievable,
and you know, that's what gives us the motivation to
keep going. You know, right, an unachievable resolution, who's got
(35:41):
the gumption to keep doing that? Third or fourth or
whatever are good goals are relevant. You know, you're not
just going to walk for fifteen minutes a day just
because you're going to walk for fifteen minutes a day
so you can lose x amount of pounds so you
can enjoy beach season or whatever whatever enjoyed beach season.
I would love it if we could go back in
(36:03):
time or bring fashion back from the twenties and dudes
could go to the beach wearing you know, like those
full body jumper suits like little onesies that babies wear,
but you know, for grown up people, I could go
for that. I don't know that I need the stripes
because the horizontal stripes just make me look chubbier. Maybe
vertical stripes that would make me look taller as well
(36:24):
at the beach. But anyway, anyway, the bigger point is
you're going to walk for fifteen minutes a day to
lose a certain amount of weight so you can enjoy
a certain season a little more. You know, it's not
just a naggy idea that you know, I probably should
do this because sitting on the couch all winner is bad.
You've got a positive goal in mind. Finally, good goals
are time bound. I'm going to have the bathroom repainted
(36:45):
by the end of January, or the kitchen cabinets redone
by March. Having that time bound puts us on a
schedule and helps us power through days when we feel
like procrastinating. Basically, goals set in this manner, oh man,
they're way easier for a brains to grasp, and that
makes us much more likely to stick to them. So
if resolutions are not working for you, and have not
(37:06):
worked for you in the past, it's not too late
this year. I mean, we're three weeks in. You know.
Most people just quit last week Friday, so it's all
right to start up again. We've got a whole new
year ahead of us. Maybe it's time we just ditch
that whole idea of resolutions and switch to setting clear, measurable, smart,
you know, goals. Now, before we wrap up for the week,
(37:27):
here are three quick ways to maintain some long term
success with your goals. Start small. Break those bigger goals
into micro goals. You can experience success which keeps you
on track. This is critical. If your overarching goal is
to have the whole interior of the house repainted by
the end of the year, you need to break that
up into many different micro goals. You know, maybe you
(37:48):
need to break it into By the end of this week,
I'm going to have colors for the living room. Next week,
I'm going to paint the bathroom. Maybe you can go
bigger than that and say the kitchen is going to
be done by March, the living room by April, and
so on. However you do it, set smaller goals that
work to bring your larger goal to completion. Second, focus
on habits, not immediate results. Habits are the most important
(38:09):
things to change as we set our goals. It's habit
that's going to call us back to the couch from
the treadmill, and it's habit that's going to help us
say no to the couch and start our daily walk.
Focus on building those habits first, and keep your eyes
on that rather than looking at the bathroom scale for results.
At least in the beginning. The results will come, but
that habit needs to be formed first. Finally, track your progress.
(38:31):
Use a journal, an app, just a simple checklist to
measure how far you've come. You know, take photos and
chronicle the journey. It doesn't seem important at the time.
It never does, but there's always going to be a day.
It happens to me all the time, a day when
I want to look back and see how far I've come.
You know, the motivation that comes from that is great.
(38:52):
Be sure that you can do that. Most of the time,
I don't take those pictures along the way, and I'm
just going by memory. How did the kitchen used to look?
Is it bat better? I think it's better, but I
don't ever know how much better. And knowing how much
better and how big an improvement I've made really propels
you to the next thing. So track your progress, keep
those records, and there you go. That's all the time
(39:12):
we've got. We're gonna have to wrap this one up.
If you want to cut it again, you can find
it online at repcolit dot com. Whatever you do today
makes your paints a part of it. Have a great weekend, everybody.
I'll see you next week. I'm Dan Hansen. Thanks for listening.
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