TIP OF THE DAY: PAINTING STRAIGHT LINES

If you have rounded corners on your walls, and you've tried to paint two different colors on each wall, you've probably been frustrated with the results. You're left with a jagged line that looks a bit shabby, right? Like this:

Here's a paining tip to save the day. Following these steps will transform that jagged mess into a crisp line that makes your wall look finished, like this:

This also works for when you want to paint crisp stripes on a wall, or diamonds, or some other pattern that requires a sharp, finished line in the end.

First, paint your base color. In my example here, I have beige meeting up with red. I painted the beige farther than I wanted it to go onto the red side, so it would be my base. Or if you're doing, say...matte and glossy stripes of the same color on a wall, paint your matte color on the entire wall.

When your base paint is dry, put some painters tape on the wall where you want the line to be. You have to put it on perfectly straight because it will create your straight line. Draw a light line with a pencil (using a level) if you don't trust the steadiness of your hand, and put the tape on that line. **hint: If you don't want to see that light pencil line afterward, put your tape on one edge of the pencil line so that when you paint your next coat, it will cover the pencil.

Next, and this is VERY IMPORTANT! Do not skip this step! Paint your base color on the edge of the tape that you will be painting your next color on. This way your base color seeps under any microscopic gaps between the tape and the wall, creating a barrier so your next color won't seep under the tape. Skip this step, and your line will be jagged still rather than perfectly crisp. So, in my example, I painted beige on the edge of the tape since beige was my base color. Or if you're doing glossy/matte stripes, put some matte paint on the edge if your base is matte.

Once that paint is dry, paint your second color up to (and a little bit on) the tape. You may need to do a couple of coats, depending on the color you choose. In my example, I painted the red up onto the tape. It took 3 coats since it was deep red over beige. If you were doing glossy/matte on a wall, you'd be painting the glossy now.

Last, and this is important!!! Strip the tape off right after your last coat of paint, when the paint is still wet! You may have a little bit of your base paint come off with the tape (like in this picture below) and have to do a tiny bit of touch-up, but I found that if I take the tape off when the paint is wet, I have far less touch-up to do.

You should have a perfectly straight line now.

Yeah, it's a little time consuming (painting always is), but if you can understand my directions, it's really simple and it makes the job look professional and finished. No more obnoxious jagged lines! Ever!