How to Paint a Straight Edge'Cutting In' Walls

How to Paint a Straight Edge - 'Cutting in' Walls

How to paint a straight edge - How to do cutting in on walls...

I know a lot of people will know how to do this and this post is therefore not for them. However, I also know that a lot of people don't know how to do cutting in as I have seen enough wobbly and blobby paint lines, hence why I always do all my own painting.

I didn't know how to paint a straight edge or line before someone taught me. It was always something unnerving and perplexing....how do you put the brush onto the wall and end up with a nice neat edge?! One of life's conundrums. 

Well, it's not difficult once you know how and, once you have learnt the art, you'll feel much more confident in your DIY skills and will save yourself a lot of money when painting your home.

Watch the video below to see me doing some 'cutting in'. But, in short, all you need to do is load up your brush well (but not dripping or clumpy), squash the brush onto the wet paint, slowly drag the brush along the edge at a slight angle so one side of the brush creates the line and go over the area again until the line is well defined. You can go backwards too to fill in any crevices. 

This skill will enable you to paint straight edges between different areas of wall, between wall and ceiling, between wall and skirting and between wall and skirting board.

To paint neat corners, creates the edges as well as possible and then poke the brush into the corner and twist a little to create a point. I will make a video doing this when I next do some painting.

Gold Spray Paint by Coatings Tor

Gold Spray Paint

Tor Costings is not paying me to say that their 'Quick Colour' gold spray paint is an excellent product with great coverage and realistic gold colour....but I'm saying it anyway because a good product deserves free promotion. It's so hard to find a good gold paint that covers well, doesn't go brown and is a nice gold. I tried another brand recently....two times the price and useless. This cupboard was a freebie so, with the cost of the paint, it's cost me £5. Not bad! It was a quick job too....a light sand, wipe out and spray. No undercoat used so it's a thin layer so you don't lose the details or the grain. I will have to be careful though or I'll spray my whole house gold....it's that good!

This vintage corner cupboard was a freebie given to me along with several other items of furniture. The spray paint 'Quick Colour' is excellent. I'm using spray paint on this cupboard because I want to be able to see the grain of wood and I want this to be a quick job. It was a very dark piece of furniture and nothing special so it's ok to be a bit daring with it.

I picked up this bamboo table for ten pounds from a charity shop. It had a brown glass top but I've made a replacement plywood top, which now needs painting. I have found that the best way to paint bamboo, wicker or furniture with lots of relief is to spray paint it. Use a good spray paint though or you can end up using several cans! I've used Quick Colour on Lloyd Loom bedside tables, a wicker chair and a mirror. It provides excellent coverage, doesn't go dull and doesn't scratch....not yet anyway!