As a trim carpenter, I try to stay as far away from painting as possible. Occasionally, however, I have to pick up a paintbrush. One trick I have learned to decrease my frustration is to tint spackling compound if I need to fill holes in walls that aren’t painted white. That’s because using white spackle on a wall with some color to it requires at least two coats of paint to conceal the patches.

I have discovered that I can tint the vinyl spackle that I use (made by DAP) with acrylic paint. I set out a given quantity of spackling and leave it exposed to let it airdry slightly. Adding paint wets the spackling; I want to achieve the original consistency after I’ve tinted it. I let the spackling stiffen slightly, and in a lidded plastic container, I add the desired paint color and mix thoroughly. The spackling lightens the color of the paint; to achieve a closer match, I use a darker base of the same color.

I apply the spackling with a putty knife and remove as much excess as possible. This way, I usually can get by with only one top coat. The less I have to hold a paintbrush, the more I can go back to what I enjoy: making sawdust.

Todd Leback, Charlottesville, VA