Hello, i am new to the forum and this week discovered a trick that worked great for painting my stairway woodwork without removing the stair carpet. Hope it isn't already well known or I will look a plonker. I used 2 inch brown parcel tape to mask the carpets. I put the tape in place on the carpet going about 1/4 inch up the wood work avoiding pressing it back to stick to the woodwork. I then used a bluntish knife to push it down between the edge of the carpet and the woodwork. It was a doddle, I could easily get to all the woodwork surface to paint and then I let my water base gloss dry, a quick go round with a blunt knife incase paint had stuck to the tape then peeled it up in no time look perfect. The 2 inch tape was wide enough if i got a bit clumsy with the brush, on some of it I used a small piece of hardboard just overlapping the tape to stand my paint tin on. One roll did the entire staircase, dead cheap too. Hope this helps someone wanting to avoid removing carpets for a quick bit of repainting[/b]