Easy painting tips

Professional straight lines at the ceiling
Those white walls have driven you mad and you have decided to put your favorite shade of chartreuse on that big wall in the living room. You got all the tools from your favorite hardware store, paint tray, can opener, brushes plastic drop cloth, roller and tape. The paint is poured into the tray the roller hits the wall and its smooth sailing. "Who can't do this" you think to yourself as your boring white wall transforms magically to the vibrant pop of color you have imagined for so long. You get your handy dandy brush out to cut in the edges and start slapping on the paint only to find that some of it is leaking onto the ceiling and perhaps the adjacent wall. The perfect paint job just got ruined by the not so perfect line at the ceiling.
Well don't despair, there is a great trick to achieving that perfect ceiling line. No, it's not that edge tool that you've seen on tv. It's much more simple than that.

When cutting in the edges of your wall the only tool you need is a good angled brush. I usually like to use a 2 inch brush, it's not too big, but big enough to hold some paint. Don't try and use a big paint can full of paint or a messy tray while trimming, get a smaller container that is easy to hold in your hand and has a good edge to scrape some of your paint off your brush with. Most likely you will be using a latex paint which is water base and means you can thin it with water. That is exactly what I do. How much water is the key. Some paint will be the perfect consistency for trimming right out of the can, but most of the time I add a little water. What you are looking for is the consistency of chocolate syrup (you know what that's like don't you?) or maybe a little thicker. The important thing to remember is not to add so much water that when you put the brush up to the corner it runs down your arm. The point is that if the paint is too thick, you will get clumps instead of a nice bead of paint.

Once you've mixed your paint to the right thickness, take your brush and dip it only halfway up the bristles. Never dip all the way to the ferrell(metal band) because that will ruin a good brush fast. Touch your brush to the side of your container. This should take some paint off the brush. Next take the brush and put the flat side on the wall about an inch away from the ceiling. Give it a little push into the wall. You may notice some bubbles come out at the tip of the bristles, that's good, those air bubbles will ruin a good straight line every time. Now you can move your brush to where you want your edge to be, however, the trick is that you keep your edge about 1/8 of an inch below corner. Yep, it’s that simple! By keeping your brush loaded with paint that’s the right consistency (typically slightly thinner), removing the air bubbles, and aiming for an edge that’s about 1/8 of an inch from the corner, you can achieve a perfect edge with no unsightly leaking into the ceiling where it doesn’t belong! Give it a try and see what a difference it makes!