How should you go about painting the trim in your home? Trim painting is arguably the trickiest part of interior painting. We’ll take you step by step through this process. We will teach you how to paint like a professional painter in Temecula.
As always, let’s first go over the painting equipment that you’re going to need:
- 2-inch masking tape
- 3.5-inch angled latex brush
- “Cutting pot” or container for trim paint
- We recommend using a latex semi-gloss enamel paint for trim.
If you’re going to be painting windows and you need to tape off the glass, follow these instructions:
- Run blue masking tape around the edges of the pane, press firmly.
- Trim off the excess tape with a razor knife.
When painting baseboards, mask along the top and bottom edges. As you are masking the carpet below the baseboard, push the paper and tape up against the baseboard and jam it right under the board above the carpet with the tip of your fingers. For baseboards in rooms with hardwood or tile flooring, be sure to get the edge of your tape as close to the bottom of the baseboards as possible. Press the tape down firmly to keep any paint from dripping underneath.
Once you have the doors removed, the baseboards and door trim masked off, it’s time to start brushing the trim.
Divide Your Trim Painting
This is a key concept that will apply across the board (no pun intended) to any trim you’re brushing or painting.
- Divide your trim into “legs.” If you’re painting a door frame, the three “legs” would be the top horizontal section and the two vertical sections on the side. Lay your paint onto the top section first, and before you move onto the underside of the door frame, line your brush up with the angle that the top and side legs create and do two final brush-off strokes from both sides towards the middle. This allows the brush stroke to blend together and hide any “start” marks.
Brush the paint onto the underside of the door frame, performing the same final brush-off strokes from each side towards the middle once again. The same concept will apply when painting the vertical sections of the door frame. Use an ample amount of paint when brushing trim. Use the same “leg” technique on window frames.
Where the Trim Meets the Wall
Now for the trickiest part of the job – painting the edge of the trim where it meets the wall.
Of course you’d like to make this line along the trim as straight as possible, but how can we make that line against the wall perfectly straight? Many painters in Murrieta will try to use tape, but unless you apply a ton of pressure when sticking that tape to the wall, the paint will more than likely bleed out underneath the tape and ruin your line.
Door Trim
However, no matter if you have the shaky hand of a newborn chimp or the smooth precision of a neurosurgeon, if you error on the side of the trim with your paint, you’ll be able to create that perceived straight line with just a little bit of attention to detail. You’re able to do this because when you’re viewing the trim from a perpendicular angle (like most people are going to) you can’t tell if you didn’t paint perfectly along the wall. You’d rather have the wall paint slightly on the trim instead of the trim paint slightly on the wall. If you do waver and get a little trim paint on the wall, a damp rag wrapped tightly on a putty knife can straighten it out.
Baseboard Trim
When painting the baseboards, do the opposite described above and run the trim paint slightly up onto the wall instead. On longer trim, always do your final brush stroke back into your wet edge before moving on.
Pull the paper and tape out from under the baseboards 20-30 minutes after painting to ensure the paint doesn’t form a “bridge” at the bottom of the baseboard.
Are you a homeowner in Murrieta and need an interior painting estimate? Call us at (951) 695-5588 to hire a painter in Murrieta and get a free quote! we pride ourselves with our customer service and quality interior painting, but you don’t have to take our word read our reviews on Yelp and Google.
