Totally get that, @davis.jason. A good brush makes all the difference.

My friend used to run this amazing little bakery with these hand painted cookie designs. Then she got big online and had to pump out hundreds weekly. Suddenly all her cookies were just smooth fondant with printed edible images from a template. Lost all those cool cracks and brush strokes that made them special. Honestly saw the same thing happen to her caramel apples too, went from lumpy homemade looking to perfect glossy clones. Kinda sad how everything just looks the same now.

Hey, careful with that advice. The mud soaks up paint differently than the wall around it, so even on small patches you can get a shiny spot that shows through later. I learned this the hard way when my "perfect" repair started flashing under certain lights after a few weeks. A quick coat of primer seals the patch first and avoids that problem.