You may have seen the adverts on shopping channels – this morning I saw Tommy Walsh (from Ground Force and challenge Tommy Walsh) advertising one called The paint wizard pro. It’s the type of roller that you fill with paint on the inside, therefore no need to have a paint tray.
It’s the sort of review I think will be useful because you never want to spend the extra money on something you’re not sure of. Well, spend the money! This is the best thing ever!! The study was the first room in the new house I painted, and I did it with a ‘One coat’ paint with your normal roller and tray system. Yes it did cover in one coat (though it really could do with another as it was on textured lining paper), but it took forever. The whole time I was constantly re-loading the roller and it really got on my nerves.
When it came to painting the living room I decided to buy the Paint Runner roller I’d seen on a shopping channel on the telly. Except I actually bought mine from ebay for £10 cheaper! Anyway, on to the point: I was amazed! I can’t tell you how much easier it is. It’s so much quicker – you really can just keep going. I’ve just done the dressing room – about 7′ by 8′, one door and one window to go round, and a full roller did the whole room in less than an hour. My biggest worry was that it would put the paint on too thickly or unevenly – but it doesn’t – it’s much better than a normal roller in this respect. The paint goes on very smoothly and the easy extension poles it come with mean you don’t have to go around with a ladder.
However, of course nothing is as good as it looks on the telly. They say in the advert you can do it in a suit. Well you can’t really because the process of pouring the paint in can still be messy and it goes on your hands when you close the cap. And it can splatter very slightly on your wrist. I found the small roller intended for the edges was useless. The raised plastic edges meant there was never enough pressure to get the paint going, so I still use a brush for going along the skirting and window frames etc. Also, on very shiny smooth surfaces the roller could occasionally slide instead of roll so I had to do those areas more slowly.
NB The instructions say that you should fill the provided pouring container to the first line with paint, and then to the second line with water. Don’t. It makes the paint far too thin and it actually drips out of the roller everywhere. It was a messy business the first time I used it as I had to pour some of it out into another container while I thickened up the rest to use. So my advice is only add about 3mm of water on the top of your paint and then mix it up. The cheaper the paint, the less you should water it down I think. I used Farrow & Ball in the living room; the first coat watered down quite a lot; the second coat just a little, and the walls look fabulous. I’ve just used Crown Period Colours in the dressing room (which I wouldn’t ordinarily class as cheap paint) and it took 5 only slightly watered down coats to cover the walls. It may have been less if I hadn’t watered it down at all, but I don’t know if the roller would have worked as well.
You should also note that the Paint Runner one I bought says in the instructions you can’t use ‘One coat’ paint with the roller. However, the Tommy Walsh advert said all types of paint can be used, including varnish. It sounds like this is the better upgraded version, though they looked identical on t.v. Though I’ve just read the reviews of that one and they aren’t as good. Some of the reviews for the Paint Runner aren’t so good either, but I think they may have been hasty. They said that the roller is heavy when it’s full – this is true, but I just saw it as a good workout. I certainly didn’t struggle and I’m not muscley! Some also complained that the paint didn’t come out and when it did it was patchy. Well, the coats of paint I did on the floor weren’t watered down and it did take longer and more pressure on the roller to come out, but eventually it did and then I whizzed away with the rest of the floor done in minutes. I really do highly recommend this product! Click on the picture above to buy and let me know how you get on.