"Harlan Messinger" wrote in message
...
Last weekend, I masked the edges of my bedroom walls with green painter's
tape, painted the ceiling, and took down the tape after the paint was dry.
So far so good. Yesterday I masked the edges of the ceiling and painted
the walls a different color from the ceiling.

This morning I took down the tape. As expected, there are places where the
second taping went slightly beyond the edges of the ceiling paint, so I
have some gaps to fill in. What's the best way to do that?

Also, along just one wall, the tape brought a couple of narrow strips of
ceiling paint down along with it. How can I best fill those channels? I
guess in both cases an important concern is filling the gaps to the same
depth as the finished surfaces. Or higher--I guess sanding afterwards is
an option.

Any tips for the future on preventing these problems? I'm going to be
tackling the trim next so I'm wondering how I can avoid these glitches.

You avoid them by not using tape.

Paint the ceiling first. If a little ceiling paint gets on the wall, don't
worry about it.

Next, you "cut in" the walls. This is done by using a good brush, loading
it with paint, then making a horizontal stroke across the joint. You start
out just below the ceiling, bring the brush up to it, and pull straight
across. It will be very close to perfect. Does perfect matter? no.

It is a visual thing. They eye will easily see that ceiling paint that is
1/4" down on the wall. The eye won't notice the wall paint that comes up a
tiny bit at the ceiling joint.

Just use a small brush to go over the spots that you pulled down. After it
dries, I doubt you will see the imperfection. None of your guests ever
will. Oh, sanding will probably make things worse.
--
Ed
http://pages.cthome.net/edhome/