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Ever since cutting down the pine trees a couple weeks ago, the weather in Atlanta has been somewhat mucky. Rain hasn’t always been pouring, but the threat of it loomed for about ten days, which made everything seem even more drab than before. Plus, rain always makes me lazy and choose to stay in bed rather than DIY. So, once the sun was finally going to come out again this weekend (hooray, spring!), I felt somewhat obligated to take advantage of it and get at least something done.
That’s all it takes. Just telling myself that something is better than nothing seems to be a pretty good trigger for getting off my butt. At least one mile. Just one cup of coffee. And then as soon as I step out into the sunlight, I suddenly get overwhelmed with ideas for what to do next.
On Saturday, it was still pretty blah outside, so I chose the laundry room window as my first little nudge for some #slackerprojects that I’ve been avoiding for weeks months years. You know the type—that last step after painting a window, or caulking the trim… that crap that makes everything look a lot better, but you just keep putting off.
I did both, first inside the laundry room, then out. I’d show you what the rest of the room looks like right now, but I’m working on a handful of other things, and want to share a bigger update with you soon!
By the way, I know that most of you will be familiar with this handy little gadget, but just in case there is someone out there who, like me, has always just found a random and meandering path of information through this DIY world, I thought I’d share:
This nifty little dude is a mini glass scraper. All it is is a handle with a little grip, and a single-edge razor blade plugged into the end. In many cases, the reverse side of the handle stores extra blades to easily change out the old one, but it’s one of those tools that’s really inexpensive, so they seem to simply appear in your house without you ever remembering having bought it. I’m pretty sure I have two, actually.
DIYers (myself included) are familiar enough with a tool like this to never actually think it’s worth a post by itself, but you know what? Badass DIYer Pretty Handy Girl once covered how to use a caulk gun for an entire post, and I genuinely learned something from it, even though I’ve been making caulk jokes since I first began this blog (five years ago, come April 1st!). So for the few who didn’t know about this thing beforehand, I hope you enjoy never having to tape off your windows again, because this is WAY easier. Three cheers for something cheap and easy, right?
Ha. I know. I couldn’t help myself.
Anyway, there’s relatively little risk in using this thing, but it is still a razor blade, so use the same amount of care you would with a pair of scissors—don’t try to eat it, don’t run with it, and store it like it has something sharp on one end that you’d rather not get cut by (aka, common sense). A few other tips:
- Unlike using painter’s tape, you do want to let the paint dry first.
- For larger areas, wetting things down might help (I usually don’t have this problem since I normally remove paint off windows, but I’ve heard it helps with larger surface areas)
- Old blades have a higher risk of scratching glass than new ones, so use your judgement on when to replace
- A retractable scraper is about the same cost as one that doesn’t, so if you’re buying a new one for yourself, I’d recommend that feature
- Use a 30-45 degree angle when scraping.
Think of it like going under the paint with short, quick strokes instead of chipping it off, and you’ll find that the paint will curl over the blade and come over in more of a sheet-like fashion.
When you get enough of it done, you might notice that a little cleanup near the edge of the glass is necessary. This is when you might want to use a 90-degree angle to slice through the remaining edge so the paint comes off clean.
More work from the weekend still ahead this week, but that’s it for now. What #slackerprojects have you been needing to get to lately?
Ughhhhh slacker projects! Last summer we got our floors refinished (the day after our wedding-what were we thinking??) and the stain splashed up on our 9″ white baseboards (old houses-charming yes. Makes up for lack of insulation and modern electrical wiring, right? Right??? le sigh) Anyway, I’ve been putting it off for over 9 months because… because. It’s not affecting my life to have what looks like a 4″ toddler came along and smeared poop at the bottom of our baseboards. BUT. To sell a house, these slacker projects must be done. Such a way to spend the first beautiful days of spring!
Best.Tool.Ever. And, you get the strangest level of satisfaction as you scrape the paint off. So much better than tape!!
The thing that I loved about this article is the close up snaps. it’s such a descriptive way to illustrate what you you’re trying demonstrate. I take it you still use tape anyway as a precaution to lessen the impact?
I have recently added a blog to my website think I’ll adopt some of your ideas with how you use your close up images.
Nope, no tape used at all.
“Slacker projects” is a great name for these! These are some great ideas for getting paint off of windows. I’m tempted to start painting windows now that there’s less of a danger of paint permanently sticking to the glass (I am NOT what you would call “neat” when painting!). Thanks for sharing!
Excellent tip and I should try this! I used to remove paint from windows just by using gas and soap. My dad also taught me to use wallpaper shaver and I believe it is less dangerous and less chance of scratching the windows.
While using the glass scraper, people often fear that they might scratch the glass. The trick is to hold the scraper at a 35-40 degree angle as you scrape all of the paint off your window. Keep a clean edge on your scraper, this is very important. When you’re done, clean them with a newspaper or cloth. Newspapers don’t leave any lint on the glass, leaving them streak-free.
The glass scraper has helped me out a lot recently! I got new replacement windows a while ago and finally got around to painting the siding on them. The glass scraper helped me clean everything up once I finished everything.
Nice recommendable mini-scraper u have there. It’s perfect for areas that typical size scrapers cannot carefully get. Great tip.