Skim coating our kitchen walls

The first project I wanted to tackle in this house was the awful wall texture/color in the kitchen. They looked like someone spread peanut butter all over. Here's a closeup of what we were dealing with:

Gross.

Whoever did this took 3 different shades of nasty brown and haphazardly spread it all over our kitchen and back entry walls. I knew we couldn't just paint over it, because the paint was so thick that the texture would still be visible. I consulted the internet and my future brother in law who is an architect and it seemed the only way to remove it was to skim coat over the walls. For those of you who are like me and had no idea what this meant, skim coating is where you take joint compound (similar to plaster) and spread multiple thin coats over the top of the wall to create a smooth surface. I had no idea if this was a DIY job or if we would have to hire someone to do it. One day my work was offering a lunch that featured "Mr. Fix it" Lou Manfredini who is a radio talk show host, has a TV show and has written a book on home ownership. I am so glad I attended this talk! After the lunch, he was inviting people to come ask questions. I brought the above picture to Lou and asked how to fix it. He said I would have to sand the walls lightly and then skim coat. I asked if this was a DIY project and he said "Have you ever decorated a cake?" and I have so he said I could tackle skim coating myself.  I never heard of Lou before this, but now I am a huge fan! I bought his book "House Smarts" and it's basically home ownership 101. I would definitely recommend any new homeowners buy and read this book!

As with any project, I recommend you do your research and devise a plan of attack. As everyone who knows me knows, I am a planner. So naturally I like to do a ton of research online and familiarize myself with the lingo, tools and different ways to approach a project. I found lots of guides online for skim coating walls. The two I referenced most are found here and here. I compared different ways to do it and the different supplies needed. With traditional skim coating, you use a metal trowel to spread out the joint compound and smooth it out over the wall- being very careful to feather out the edges. A few people mentioned that there was a great tool called a magic trowel that made this process much easier. It's basically a long squeegee made for skim coating. I did buy the magic trowel from Amazon as sawdustgirl recommended and found it to be super easy. I headed to HD for the other supplies. I needed a pole sander, a 5 gallon bucket, a drill mixer attachment, and a 5 gallon bucket of joint compound (the kind with the green lid).

My plan for this project was as follows:

Step 1: Lightly sand walls with 80 grit on a pole sander (to remove sheen from paint so joint compound will adhere better)
Step 2: Clean walls with TSP solution (to remove dust)
Step 3: Begin skim coating thin layer #1 (roll on with paint roller and smooth with magic trowel)
Step 4: Lightly sand with 220 grit on pole sander
Step 5: Skim coat thin layer #2
Step 6: Lightly sand with 220 grit on pole sander
Determine at this point if the walls are smooth or if they need additional skim coat.
Step 7: Prime walls with oil based primer/sealer
Step 8: Paint walls (I used latex Sherwin Williams Superpaint)

Before I get into the process, here are pictures of what the kitchen looked like before in all it's gross peanut butter wall glory:

I followed the advice of the forums and use plastic drop cloths and painters tape to seal off the kitchen so I wouldn't get dust in the other rooms. This was a very messy project!

Because I would be sanding paint, it was very important to wear a dust mask!

I had safety glasses on to avoid getting dust in my eyes, but after awhile the dust was preventing me from seeing so I took them off. I started the process by first sanding the walls with a pole sander to roughen up the surface so that the joint compound would adhere better. I then cleaned the walls with TSP to remove all of the dust created by sanding. I mixed some joint compound with warm water to thin it out in a 5 gallon bucket and mixed it with the drill attachment. I began by trying to roll on the thinned joint compound with a roller, but found that it was too thick so I ended up spreading it on the wall with a putty knife and then smoothing it out with the magic trowel. Here is what the wall looked like with one thin coat of joint compound:

Whew. This was going to take awhile. I decided to put the second coat on a bit thicker to make the process go faster. The idea is that you build up the layers of compound to create a smooth surface, and it generally takes at least 3 coats. After about 3 coats it was looking pretty good!

I ended up doing a section of a wall at a time and moving my way around the room. Luckily, there isn't a ton of wall space due to the doorways and cabinets. By the end, my shoulder hurt for a few weeks. All of the reaching up with the magic trowel took a toll on my arm. So worth it though!

After the walls were skim coated with about 3 coats, I let them dry and lightly sanded with the pole sander. I wiped up all of the dust and got ready to prime. I taped off the cabinets and counters and used KILZ primer because it also acts as a sealer for the joint compound. I had a fan in the window because KILZ is super strong smelly stuff.

It looked so much better! Even though my kitchen was a disaster for a couple days. After the primer dried, it was finally time to paint. I picked a super fun color for the kitchen.

I was a little scared at first because it was so vibrant. It turned out really beautiful though! Stay tuned for final pictures!