Over the years, I’ve become a pretty good painter of my home’s interior, yet I’m still glued (sorry) to painter’s tape. I would love to NOT use the stuff, but psychologically can’t let it go, so I end up taping everything – the ceiling line (and hoping my 3M blue painter’s tape doesn’t wreck the ceiling paint, which has happened before.), the baseboard, even inside the window wells. All told, it’s a LOT of tape. I love the perfect crisp line that tape gives, but it slows everything down and is a huge hassle.
The big box retailers sell a lot of gizmos that promise to make painting crisp lines fast and easy, but I’ve never found one that works well, certainly not any of the straight edges or paint brush attachments. I’ve got good (though not great) hand-eye coordination, but giving up the tape is hard. Maybe I need a 12-step group for recovering 3M customers.
Question: Isn’t this really a matter of accepting that painting along a ceiling line by hand isn’t going to yield quite as perfect results as tape, but it will be good enough for the non OCD homeowner? I’ve looked at the lines painted by professional painters. Looking at it very closely, there is some slight up and down along the paint line of a ceiling or baseboard, but from a few feet away, I guess it’s acceptable, especially if the wall color doesn’t differ too much from the ceiling color. BTW, I use quality Wooster or Purdy brushes.
I’ve also seen that a lot of professionals on, say, YouTube move their brush faster than I do. I’m so intent on painting as straight as possible, that I end up going too slowly – and controlling a very slow paintbrush is harder than one that is moving somewhat faster. At least, that’s my theory. Make sense?
You may see the uneven lines but nobody else will. Even if you point it out to them. That’s a DIY effect. You notice every little imperfection. For everyone else those details are removed by their brains as unnecessary information and don’t exist.
Also, there’s a simple trick to painting like a professional. All you have to do is spend several years painting as a full time job and painting a straight line will be easy as pie.
I don’t know if this helps, but its my experience.
Whenever I’ve used tape, I always got ‘bleed through’ where the paint would seep under the tape or as I pulled it off, there would be a drip that caused consternation.
My wife randomly picked a paint brush one time and we were amazed at how easy it was to paint the needed edges.
Result of this data point: Its not the tape that is best for me…Its a high quality brush that gives me the best results.
I recently helped out my BIL with a bunch of remodel work to house he was flipping. When it came to the painting, my inclination was to go for the tape. But my SO, who grew up in a construction family, showed me her technique for what she referred to as “cutting” (not sure if this is the technical term or not). It was how to paint up to a border (ceiling, window frame, etc.) without crossing the border. What she showed me is that you 1) angle your brush so you’re pulling with the narrowest “footprint” - so not the flat of the brush, and then 2) you start a little away from whatever border, and you stroke toward the border 3) once you find the line up to the border, you can then pull the rest of the stroke. For a newbie it is time consuming, but once you get the hang of it, it goes faster. In the long run I believe it would end up being faster than taping.
I think the typical mistake is to try to start too close to the border. So by “approaching” the border, you get a better feel for how to stroke to stay on the right side.
I’ve always heard it referred to as “cutting,” or more like “cutting in” and I don’t come from any formal construction background. I just think that’s the standard term for it.
I opted to repaint our rental property for our new tenant.
Not only did I not use painters tape, I pretty much just used whatever leftover “white-ish” paint I could find to cover over any obvious wear and tear.
As far as paint jobs go, it kind of looks like crap.
My wife and I call it cutting, and “feathering” the paint brush. I was taught to do that in a high school maintenance job. Paying attention and taking your time still takes considerably less time than taping. Your savings in tape will allow you to buy decent brushes.
Painting tape is not fool proof either. It bleeds around the edges and can cause issues when you pull it off.
Your best bet is to paint the wall and ceiling as best as you can, then use either an angled fine brush, if you have steady hands, or a cutting tool which is just a piece of plastic that you can hold against the edge, paint and wipe off. Picture a peice of cardboard or plastic that you hold in the corner, paint and pull away.
Also keep in mind that it’s usually less noticeable to get paint on THIS surface than THAT surface. You mention seeing a wavy line, for example. If you paint crown molding and get a little paint on the ceiling, hardly anyone will notice it. You have to look up at the ceiling to see it. But if you fail to get the paint on the molding all the way to the ceiling, it will indeed look like a wavy edge to anyone viewing it while standing in the room.
I sometimes use tape, the new blue stuff is much better than plain old masking tape.
I think the key is holding it not so much by the handle, but the ferrule (the metal that holds the bristles). Thumb on one side, three fingers on the other, handle rests in-between your thumb and index finger. A good high quality brush is needed.
Aside from two accent walls in my house, I just paint everything the same color. That’s the easy way out. Only two paint colors in my house.
I hate using tape as it always bleeds in my experience. I think I lack the patience to stick it down properly. I do the cutting-in thing with a good quality paintbrush, and I do it quite quickly and confidently. The slower you go, the shakier the hand, I’ve always found. Go faster, and go over the same area a number of time leading up the the edge.
I paint my house in all sorts of contrasting colours, and have no problems with this. If my hand slips, I just dan the ceiling/skirting etc after the paint has dried.
You can paint the ceiling color a 1/2" or so down the top of the wall. It’s easier to get a straight line on the wall than the ceiling, walls don’t always meet the ceiling nice and evenly. It will look fine, people generally won’t look closely enough to ever see it.
Also, there are narrow rolls of wallpaper that can be applied at the top of walls to make the whole process easier.
Worked nicely. I think I usually do this, but it takes me a little time to remember how. I hope I have plenty of time to forget it again before next painting session.
We do too, but I spent the weekend repainting the kitchen (we’re partway through a remodel), and it is no fun painting white on white on a surface above your head. I still feel glareblind!
When you try cutting in, start in a less-conspicuous area. That way you won’t be worried about doing it perfectly from the very first moment. That’s also true even if you’re experienced. It may take a little while to get your technique back and the muscle memory working again. That goes for many home tasks like painting, caulking, doing drywall, etc. I often find that my technique at the end of a job is much better than at the beginning even for things I’ve done many times before.
I use blue painter’s tape around trim and baseboards. I seal the edges with clear caulk to prevent any bleeding. Remove the tape after finishing a section to avoid paint setting up. This process is faster for me than cutting by hand, and yields better results.
For ceilings, I use a Shur-line edger. Takes some time to learn the tool. It leaves a crisp eighth of an inch or so ceiling paint border on the walls. They look perfect to the eye and I’ve received many compliments about the look. My buddy is a purest and cuts everything in by hand. I just don’t have the patience or skill to do that efficiently.
If your walls and ceiling are very, very smooth and even, an edger paint-pad:
Can do an excellent, quick job.
But… they are very hard to keep clean, and once they get paint splashed on them, they stop working very well.
