TIPS & TRICKS

If you’ve ever watched a professional painter work, you might have wondered something:

How do they paint perfectly straight lines without using tape?

In this article, I’m going to walk you through exactly how we do it and explain the mechanics behind cutting clean lines with a brush. Whether you’re a homeowner in the Greater Moncton area curious about how professionals work, or a painter looking to improve your skills, this will give you a better understanding of what’s really happening behind the brush.

My name is Remi Boudreau, Licensed Painter, Color Consultant and owner of Expressions Painting. We proudly serve homeowners throughout Moncton, Riverview, Dieppe, and surrounding communities in Greater Moncton.

The Brush We Use 

One of the first questions people ask is what type of brush we use.

The brushes we primarily work with are from a Canadian brand called Zachary Brushes, specifically the Royal 2½‑inch sash brush.

Now, I want to make something very clear:

The brush does ...

If you’ve ever tried rolling walls yourself, you know it’s not as simple as dipping a roller in paint and going up and down. Uneven coverage, lap marks, inconsistent sheen, and color surprises are common frustrations.

In this article, I’m going to show you exactly how we roll walls at Expressions Painting — the same process we use in homes throughout Moncton, Riverview, and Dieppe.

My name is Remi Boudreau, Licensed Painter, Color Consultant, and owner of Expressions Painting. Since 1997, we’ve been refining our systems to deliver smooth, consistent, professional finishes.

Whether you’re a DIY homeowner in Greater Moncton or researching before hiring a painting contractor, this guide will help you understand what separates a professional result from an average one.

VIDEO VERSION AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE

The Wall Paint We Use (And Why It Matters)

Our preferred product is Sherwin-Williams Opulence (known as Cashmere in the United States).

We typically use the Low Sheen Eggshell f...

When homeowners invest in professional interior painting, the difference often shows up most in the details — especially on baseboards, door frames, and trim.

At Expressions Painting, we follow a very specific system when painting trim in homes in Moncton, Riverview, and Dieppe. The goal isn’t just clean coverage — it’s long-term durability and a refined, smooth finish that holds up to daily life.

Why Trim Paint Quality Matters in High-Traffic Homes

Baseboards take more abuse than almost any other painted surface in a home.

They’re regularly hit by:

•  Vacuum heads
•  Shoes and boots
•  Cleaning products
•  Pets and everyday traffic

Because of this, we don’t treat trim like wall paint. It requires a different product and a different application method to ensure it looks great not just immediately after completion — but years later.

The Trim Product We Trust for Long-Term Performance

For the past several years, we’ve relied on Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel by Sherwin-William...

If you’ve ever tried painting a ceiling yourself, you already know—it’s a completely different challenge than painting walls. Between working overhead, managing roller marks, and keeping a consistent finish, ceilings can quickly become one of the most frustrating parts of a painting project.

My name is Remi Boudreau, licensed painter and color consultant, owner of Expressions Painting, proudly serving homeowners throughout Moncton, Riverview, and Dieppe. In this guide, you’ll learn seven tips to make ceiling painting faster and easier. There's also a video version below with more information and demonstrations. 

Tip 1: Spot Prime Repairs

Always spot prime ceiling repairs before the final coat. This prevents uneven absorption and patchy areas.

Tip 2: Use the Right Roller Nap

We recommend a 15 mm nap for homeowners and an 18 mm woven nap for professionals. A thicker nap holds more paint and reduces roller marks.

Tip 3: Keep the Roller Properly Loaded

Avoid stretching the paint too...

If you’ve ever tried to fix holes or imperfections in your walls, you know how messy and time-consuming drywall repair can be. At Expressions Painting, a professional painting company in Moncton, NB, we’ve developed a method that delivers flawless results without the need for sanding, saving time and keeping your home clean.

In this blog post, I’ll walk you through the exact steps we use for drywall repair, sharing tips that both homeowners and professional painters can apply.

Step 1: Prepping the Repairs

Before applying any compound, we go through the room and prep the repairs. This involves:
- Checking for loose drywall or protruding nails
- Pushing drywall paper into the holes
- Ensuring the wall surface is flush with a utility knife or 5-in-1 tool

Prepping first allows us to focus on filling the holes in a second pass. It’s more efficient, reduces tool switching, and ensures a smooth final finish.

Step 2: Choosing the Right Compound

One of the secrets to a flawless finish is the...

When it comes to interior painting in the Greater Moncton area, there’s more than one way to get the job done.

At Expressions Painting, we’ve developed a process that ensures high-quality finishes, minimal disruption, and true-to-color results for homeowners in Moncton, Dieppe, and Riverview and surrounding area.

I’m Remi Boudreau, a licensed painter and color consultant. In this post, I’ll walk you through the 5 steps we follow on almost every project, explain a common—and costly—color illusion, and show why our method helps homeowners fully leverage the transformative power of color in their space.

Step 1: Repairs

Before any paint touches the walls, we start with repairs. This includes drywall patching, filling nail holes, and caulking. While it may seem obvious to start here, by doing repairs first, we also contain the mess before laying down drop sheets, making the process cleaner and more efficient.

Step 2: Ceilings

Next, we tackle the ceilings. Many DIY painters make the mi...

After more than 26 years in the painting industry, one thing is clear: there is no single correct way to do the job.

Every painting project is influenced by location, materials, budget, and client expectations. That’s why professional painters often work differently — and still deliver excellent results for their clients.

Over the years, we’ve developed our own proven systems through real-world experience, testing, and continuous improvement. These methods help us deliver high-quality results while staying efficient and customer-focused.

In a recent video (see below), I explain the problem I noticed with how to videos and what I've decided to do about it.

To read the full article visit:
https://www.expressionspaintinguniversity.com/blog/here-s-the-problem-i-noticed-with-how-to-videos

If you’re in Moncton, New Brunswick and looking for professional interior painting services, we’d be happy to help.

Contact us today to discuss your next project.

"Everywhere you see that YELLOW... 

I want that gone." 

I remember in the early 2000s, every job seemed to have a color with some yellow or gold undertones for the main color. This particular one from Sherwin Williams called Blonde SW6128 was quite popular

Basically, it seemed like everywhere you looked, there was this yellow goldish beige color serving as the main tapestry for most houses. We used to call it the builder's beige since at the time every new house was getting painted with a color along this line.

To go with those colors, we would often see burnt oranges or reds often with sage greens.

Kind of like this (see image)

But that trend changed in 2011...

I remember this so vividly because it's almost as if from one year to the next, everything changed.

From then on out, it seemed like every time I'd walk into a client's house to give an estimate, one of the main things they would say is this  "everywhere you see that yellow, I want that gone".

Seems like people had had...

We are excited to announce that Expressions Painting will now offer the service of CARPENTRY along with our main service of interior repaint.

For years, we have noticed this trend where finding trades people to do small projects getting harder and harder for our clients. Most people tend to be quite busy and it's tough to leave the job site to go and do this tiny small job, which is understandable.

But since we have been doing carpentry for years now, it just made sense for us to offer this service to our clients.

This means, while we're there repainting your home or office, if:

• A door frame needs to be changed
• Some doors need to be realigned
• Some hardware or new door handles need to be replaced
• You want to replace the metal shelves in a closet and install a bunch of customized shelf to increase your storage.
• You’re getting your kitchen cabinets refinished and there there's a piece of molding that's missing or you'd like to add a piece of trim.

Whatever it is, as long as i...

With 2025 now behind us, I thought I'd take a moment to share with you which colors we've actually ended up applying most in our client's home this past year.

Number one: Agreeable Gray SW7029 (Sherwin Williams)

This is a wonderful, gray/beige color and depending on the environment you put this color in, it will lean more towards the gray or towards the beige, especially depending on the lighting. In a lot of cases, this is a color we put in homes where the floors might have a bit of a goldish or amber undertone to it (a bit of yellow or orange tint in the wood color).That tends to remove a bit of the attention from the floor and makes this gray/beige color turn a little bit more on the gray side during the day... and, a bit more on the beige side come evening since the light tends to have a bit of more of the yellow hue in the evening. So it's a nice color, versatile, tends to tie in together all sorts of different wood colors. If you have different color wood like more on the red o...