Long, and I mean LONG forgotten post: Painting Tips

I'm chuckling to myself right now.  Would you believe it if I told you I wrote this post in June of 2008?  I was 4 months pregnant with Ryan!  It's on a completely random topic too.  In continued attempts to get my blog current I gave a quick glance through the handful of "drafts" I had written, never thinking it was necessary to look back past 2010 until I came across Brady and Sara's wedding post from October 2009.  I probably ought to finish that one now that they've been married for a year and a half and are expecting their first child!  Anyhoo, not long after stumbling upon theirs, I found this post, which I wrote even longer ago than that!  Completely forgot about it, obviously.  I almost immediately deleted it, but then decided it was still useful, and, if I went to the trouble to write it why not still share it?  So often when people came to our house (in CO) they'd comment on my painted walls and ask how I got such straight and perfect lines. Believe it or not, it's not so difficult to achieve.  And so, 3 years later, here are the steps.

Originally written 16 JUNE 2008

I am anal about a lot of things.  Anyone who knows me knows that.  Painting is no exception. I've done more of it lately than I'd like to say, and thought I'd share a few tips while it's all still fresh in my head!

Does it drive any of you crazy to have gone to the trouble of taping an entire room (and spending quite possibly an hour and a half or longer doing it) only to then pull it all off (once you've finished painting) and find countless spots where the paint bled, requiring you to then spend another hour touching up? Perhaps you're so tired of painting by this point that you don't care. Or perhaps it bothers you, but you figure you'll put it off for another day. Well why not get it right the first time so the removing of tape is the final step of the process!?

Follow these steps, and I guarantee you'll be happy with the results!

With a damp cloth, wipe down the trim (baseboards, doorways, and whatever else you'll be taping). The tape won't stick if it's applied to a dusty surface, so this is a crucial step if you don't want bleeding to occur.

Depending on the condition of the trim, you may even want to take it a step further by applying to it a fresh coat of paint. Sure it's more work in the long run, but the end result makes it very worthwhile. I naturally do this before I paint any room, because I feel it gives the final product a more complete look that the room wouldn't otherwise have had I painted the walls but left the trim as is.

Okay, so once your trim looks fresh and clean:

1) Tape along the trim. Line the edges of the tape as close to where the wall begins as possible. Rub the tape down as well as you can to ensure a good firm stick!

{Now this will sound weird, but stay with me - this is the most important step of all}

2) Say you're painting the walls green. So at this point, you'd normally apply your first coat of the green along the trim, right? If you were to do this, there's a good chance some green would still manage to sneak under the tape in areas, resulting in an occasional bleed. To prevent any bleeding, with your brush you're going to first apply a light coat of the baseboard paint along the trim. Now I know you're thinking, "Wait a minute! First you tell me to apply a fresh coat of trim paint to the trim before taping! And now I have to apply another coat of trim paint, after I've taped? How does that make sense if the wall color is green? Basically what happens here is the trim color bleeds in the areas under the tape where the green would have bled had you applied green straight over the freshly applied tape. However, because the white was applied first, you'll not only never know where it bled (because it's the same color), but that trim color, once dry, is going to seal in every space that exists, so that when you finally apply the green paint (in the next step), there's no chance of bleeding! (Sorry, I don't have a picture to accompany this step)

3) Once the trim color is completely dry (give it at least 2 hours), with a different brush, apply your first coat of green.

As far as the ceiling goes, I don't tape. I use a slanted brush and wing it. I find I get better results doing it that way than taping but I was also blessed with a steady hand. If you feel more comfortable taping along the ceiling, steps 2 and 3 can still be useful.  Same idea if you're painting one wall one color and the wall next to it a different color. 

Hopefully this all made sense and saves you some time on your next painting adventure!