Stain of the Year

BEHR paint has named its exterior stain of the year, and it’s Tugboat.

2023 was the inaugural year for BEHR’s annual celebration of popular stains. That first year, the award went to Cordovan Brown, a darker brown stain.

“The sentiment from BEHR’s first-ever Color of the Year in 2023 was overwhelmingly positive,” said Erika Woelfel, Vice President of Color and Creative Services at BEHR. “BEHR aimed to make the color selection process easier for consumers by announcing an Exterior Stain Color of the Year annually.”

This year’s winner, Tugboat, is more of a brownish gray hue.

“Tugboat stood out as its versatile in that it looks beautiful on its own, such as adorning a fence, or it can compliment other colors on a deck/patio for an outdoor living space,” Woelfel said.

She even suggests using Tugboat as an accent for last year’s Cordovan Brown.

“Tugboat and Cordovan Brown complement one another, with the lighter brown tone of Tugboat creating a beautiful contrast with the darker Cordovan Brown.”

Painter’s Tape Hack

Have you seen the viral painter’s tape hack that’s going around social media?

If you haven’t, you can check it out on Instagram here.

The video shows someone using painter’s tape to protect the baseboards during wall painting. They apply painter’s tape as normal, then run a wet rag over the top of the tape where it meets the wall.

“The water in the paint is supposed to activate the gel barrier and generally does a great job, but not always,” the original poster writes. “If you wipe some water on the tape line before painting, you’ll know you have a nice seal before painting 

It doesn’t work with all brands of painter’s tape, though. “I haven’t tested it with every tape brand, but I know this is how and why it works for FrogTape.”

Is this a real thing, or just engagement bait by a DIYer? Let us know in the comments.