Painting help needed please.

[markthedoc]

Hi

I'm painting my living room walls with matt emulsion.
I am painting the walls cream & I'm gonna do the chimney breast a deep red. I was wondering the best technique for where the cream meets the red cos this will need to be perfectly straight or it wont look very professional. When I try to mask it, it takes the paint with it. Should I try a fine art brush or what?
Any help gratefully received... Thanx

 

[breezer]

why not paint the lighter colour first, let it thoroughly dry and then use masking tape such as this as when the paint is dry this tape is not supposed to stick to paint, this also assumes the area which wa painted is clean and free from dust, otherwise the paint will come off

 

[Ant]

You can either use low tack masking tape - the tack is always slightly more than needed though especially on fresh paint. Also corners of walls are hardly ever exactly square so positioning the tape can be a bit difficult. I always made the mistake of using a small brush thinking it would be easier - use a bigger brush with plenty of paint side on so you are painting with the narrow profile of the brush. You can use the wall to steady you hand if in a corner. It is tricky to get right and you may need to retouch a few bits afterwards.

 

[ripvan]

easiest way is to use a paint edger as in the link below. We have a similar looking model readily available in australia at the local hardware or paint shop, so should be available in uk.
Just use a straight edge as a guide.
I'll edit this a little ... I don't have a chimney, so don't have a breast either, lol (in fact I don't know what a fireplace breast is) but the paint edger can be used if it both colours are on the same flat surface (with straight edge to make a straight paint line) or if one surface butts up against another surface at right angles.

http://shop.store.yahoo.com/hectors876/painedwitwhe.html