How to Paint Along Edges

Cover the floor and adjacent areas where you are painting with drop cloths. Either take the furniture out of the room or move it to the center to gain the most space in which to work. Tape all areas like flat woodwork edges, window frames, outlets and thermostats. Mix the full batch of paint for the project together in a 5-gallon bucket on top of plastic drop cloths to avoid paint seeping through cloth. Pour paint from this batch into the hand-held kit.

Start just below the crease of the ceiling, applying paint to the wall slowly and steadily using the angled brush and the hand kit. Use the 1-inch roller and a pan to apply more paint to the outside edge and feather it once the inside edge is cut in solidly. If you take your time you won't need to do any major touch up. Keep a wet rag at the ready to clean any errant splatters.

Paint the room corners next, again using the angled brush slowly and steadily. Move on to the outline the window frames, outlets and other objects. Paint along the baseboard last. Use the 1-inch kit with the floor pan to keep a consistent feathered edge for the final large roller finish job.

Finish up the edging job by feathering out with the wide roller. For most rooms you can do this with a roller and a short extension handle if needed. Load the roller with paint, and while the cut-out edges are still wet, blend in a strip of framing paint parallel along the top edge, the corners, other straight edges and the bottom edge. Box in all outlets, boxes, windows, brackets, wall hardware and thermostats.

Check the outlined areas for accuracy before moving on to the center area painting. Use the wet rag on drips before they dry. Use thinner for oil-base paint spills. A 5-in-1 knife with a paint rag wrapped tightly around it is great for removing half-dried or stray dry paint spot from woodwork.