So first things first when starting a painting project, you should always establish what us painters call a shop area as seen below. Simply an area to put all of your equipment. It's good to be a little organized. Us professionals are working in people's houses where they live, so it is very important for us to clean up periodically throughout the day and especially at the end of the day.
In the next picture below you can see some very wide areas where I have cut in with my brush and mini roller. This is necessary so when the big roller is used there is no problem with having to try and get very close to the edges. We don't want to bump anything we are not painting.
Now I'm going to show you the difference between my paint job and a less experienced painter. Below you see where I have brushed on some paint next to some trim. This is satisfactory by my standards. The difference is if you are working with any paint that has a shine to it you should use a mini roller to eliminate as much of the brush strokes as possible or they will show up which can look ugly to some.
To avoid this happening you can either roll very close to the edge with the big roller, which as I said before can be problematic. Or you can use a mini roller like I do which is easier to control. To use this method you have to get all the excess paint off the roller like I have below.
Then proceed to work it in
Now lets talk about using your brush to cut in. If you are simply dipping it and putting the brush directly against the edge of the trim you have taped off this would be incorrect. What you need to do is similar to what I showed you above with the mini roller. Get all the excess paint off the brush by first wiping it on the sides of your bucket and then spread the paint a little above the area.
Proceed to work it in.
At this point you may be asking yourself why can't you just mush it in since there is blue tape? Well you can actually, but you are taking more of a risk of the paint seeping through the tape. This is why I try to pretend the tape is not there. For me the tape is for splatters of the roller, not because I can't free hand cutting in next to the trim. I have done jobs where I mushed the paint up on the tape and it seeped through, but other times it has not seeped through. A lot of times it depends on what tape you use and who is doing the taping. We use 3m blue tape.
Another trick of the trade is using these mini rollers in corners of walls. It eliminates the need of a brush and saves a ton of time. Don't forget you need to make sure it is one with the fibers on the end though.
Since this was a hallway we have some handrails. It can save you some time, prep materials, and effort by just taking them off. If you have already thought this far ahead, then I have another tip for you. Don't take it off from the wall. Leave the bracket on the wall and take it off from underneath the handrail. This is because a lot of times the screws won't go back in and tighten up sometimes or other times the drywall will actually come off with the rail making for even more patchwork.
Ok last lesson for today. If for instance you have a corner where there is two colors that meet from different rooms. Typically you should once again get the excess paint off your brush close to the edge.
Proceed to pull the paint towards the edge. Now you don't have to worry much about the paint wrapping around the corner. If some does go around the edge keep a damp cloth with you to wipe it. This is much more efficient than taping the other side you don't want to get paint on. Take one more pass with your mini roller and done a nice crisp dividing line between rooms. I hope at least one of these tips helped!!! Happy painting!!
