Jon and Desiree Rajala, founders of Rajala Group, have developed a simple yet brilliant tool that will help painters save time and energy while painting walls. Roller Bumper attaches easily to a paint roller frame and prevents the roller from touching the ceiling. After extensive prototyping and testing, the tool is now ready for prime time – and Rajala Group has launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund an initial production run.

A general contractor by trade, Jon's moment of inspiration came when he saw a worker continually bumping a textured ceiling as he used a paint roller to paint a wall. That area of the ceiling would have to be touched up – a painstaking task that ought to be avoidable. When Jon got home, he and Desiree did some research into whether a product existed to solve this particular problem. Finding nothing, Jon headed to the garage to build the first prototype of Roller Bumper.

According to Jon and Desiree, the Roller Bumper prototype functioned exactly as expected. So, their next step was to secure the patent and test some more refined versions. At the National Hardware Show in May 2015, they received a strong response from industry insiders – motivating them to keep pushing forward. 

"We've been working together with designers and plastics engineers to develop the market-ready version of Roller Bumper," says Jon. "We've developed many new working prototypes and rigorously tested them all in painting jobs. Then we made changes and started over until we had a final product that functioned as we envisioned – we didn't want yet another painting accessory that hindered the normal painting process, or didn't function as promised."

Roller Bumper attaches to any ordinary roller frame, and the stopper component snaps on and off quickly. The tool uses gravity to maintain the perfect position while painting, but also to be out of the way when reloading the paint roller. With Roller Bumper, painters spend less time cutting in with a brush near the ceiling – and no time touching up ceiling mistakes. Roller Bumper works equally well on any kind of ceiling, including sloped, suspended and textured ceilings, and most crown moldings. 

"This exceptional product will definitely make painting easier and faster," explains Desiree, "so we are seeking Kickstarter funding to help make this dream a reality. This funding will help pay for our first product runs and serve as a test to receive market feedback from the users. Our manufacturing partners have allotted the proper time to do production runs, so campaign backers can expect timely and smooth deliveries of our product." 

After the Kickstarter campaign and initial production run, the next hurdle for Rajala Group will be getting Roller Bumper into big box retail and home improvement stores. Based on feedback the company has earned so far, that goal isn't unrealistic. 

More information is available at www.kickstarter.com.