Cutting In

Can anyone offer any tips to "cutting in" when painting ... Tried & failed miserably on a couple of occasions.

Whats best way to paint skirting so i dont get gloss or silk (havent decided yet) paint on the carpet.

ANy feedback appreciated

comfortably_numb said:

Whats best way to paint skirting so i dont get gloss or silk (havent decided yet) paint on the carpet.

ANy feedback appreciated

Click to expand...

remove carpet, or failing that, dust sheet

2" masking tape along the edge of the carpet.

When cutting in, I start with a brush along the edge of a wall.
I then use a small roller thats designed to paint behind radiators to expand this to a few inches across.
Then I can use a full size roller to my heart's content.
I cross back and forward over the area I painted with the small roller to make sure its all blended in.

I do the edged in sections as well so they don't dry before I can get the roller to the area.

If it was me, I'd paint the skirting boards off the wall probably putting up new ones.
Thinking about this though, my skirting boards are going to be getting a little bit higher each time to hide where the previous boards came to...

i found a good tip was to lay the paint on leaving a few mm between the desired cutting in line,it makes the brush glide nicely when you go back over it

Thanks for responses ... much apprecioated

get a decent brush. I usually use a 2" brush. Load the brush with paint but not so much that its dripping off. gently start drawing the brush up to the line to cut in and let the paint in the brush do the work to get the line. Dont worry if you muck a bit up you can always touch it up later. Practice practice practice.

Before you paint your walls I presume you would be giving the ceiling a coat of paint too, bring the ceiling emulsion onto the wall a couple of inches, then when you come to cuttin in the wall paint will flow easier along the ceiling line of the wall.
Dont have your paint too thick either, as can cause a dragging effect.

Do your cuttin in top, sides and bottom on one wall at a time, then roll, then go to the next wall, for the DIYer this will be a better way for them.

For the skirtings, mask up the carpet with wide masking tape, and place protective covering on the carpet.
When you come to painting your skirting, and you are cutting in on the bottom of the skirting (where the masking tape is) dont load your brush, just go lightly, cause if you do it too heavy, the paint can seep into the masking tape, and when you remove it, you can get an ridge, dip your brush into your pot, remove the excess, then go along the flat of the skirting a few inches, that will take the majority of the paint from the brush, then before your due to dip in again, just curve the brush at the bottom gently along the masking tape, and you wont get any bleeding into the masking tape.