Painting in Princeton NJ 08540: Didn't your mother ever tell you, "don't cry over spilled paint." (no? mine either...)

Let's "paint" a picture...

Your excited to paint your dining room ceiling after a long awaited income tax check has come in the mail. It's just the sprucing up that would make your family dinner's bright and alive again.

You take a trip to your local hardward store on Saturday and get everything you need to take on this little project. Here's the list you wrote on your napkin from your stop at the local lunch spot...

Two gallons of ceiling paint (check)
Two inch nylon brush (check)
Roller pan (check)
Roller sleeve and roller (check)
Small container of spackle (check)
One tube of caulk (check)
Cool painters hat (check)

Excited to get started, after you swipe your card (that's right, no chip here) - you head right home to try on your painter's hat and put on a pair of "play" clothes. You open your can of paint, pour it into the pan, and it splashes up over the edge! Immediately you realize that you forgot one SUPER important item - a drop cloth! Arghhh.

Now there are paint spatters all over your hardwood floor. What a disaster! Your thoughts race. You run to the sink to get a wet rag, but after a few wipes you realize that it's only made the mistake worse.

Next, you start to think of a way out?...

Homeowner's insurance claim (what?! no.)
Getting your hardwood floors refinished (bye bye income tax... no!)
Calling Bob Vila (where is that guy now anyway?)

You've drawn a blank, but the solution is really quite simple. Learn how to restore hardwood floors plank by plank to their original beauty after a painting mishap in 5 simple steps....

First, you identify and tape off the effected planks with 1.88" blue painters tape...