How can I make the paint line neater?

mich1972

Good morning everyone. Can you please give me some advice. I decided to step out of my comfort zone and paint a feature wall in the living room. More like our young blokes chill out area 😆

I have NEVER done this before. Once the second coat was dry I slowly and carefully pulled off the painters tape.
Unfortunately the tape pulled off the original ceiling paint from the cornices. As frustrating as that was I sanded it down, painted affected areas with Zinsser primer and then painted with the ceiling paint again. That was a good learning experience for me. Can I ask how I can make the black line straighter, that meets the base of the ceiling cornice ? It looks bumpy. Is there a special painting tool I could use ? I think it’s bumpy in parts because I had to fill in so many movement cracks. 🙂 Kind regards Michelle.

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MitchellMc

Hi @mich1972,

Apart from the unfortunate and possibly unavoidable issue of the paint peeling off with the tape removal, it looks like you should be advising us on how to get straight paint lines! Those lines are crispy straight, and you've had no bleed-through, which is a common issue. Have you ever wondered why home renovation shows don't show close-ups of pin-stripping on walls? It's because even professionals see bleeding under the tape, and I don't think I've ever seen a transition turn out as nicely as yours. I really couldn't provide much advice on improving your work.

The only image with an imperfection is the first, where you have a little misalignment. Did you start a new piece of tape there?

As a rule of thumb, getting the tape off the wall as soon as possible is best. If a day will pass between your next coat, removing the tape and retaping the next day is a good idea. This has more to do with stopping your painted coating from skinning over and drying on top of the tape. This creates a solid layer and can pull the new coating off the wall. I remove my tape immediately after painting whilst the coat is still wet. That has nothing to do with the paint peeling off the cornice, though.

The paint on the cornice is likely degraded and not well bound to the substrate. You should be able to pull the painter's tape off without issues. If you are to tape onto the cornice again, I'd recommend going with the most delicate version of painter's tape, the Scotch 24mm x 55m Delicate Surface Gentle Removal Painter's Masking Tape. It has the least aggressive adhesive.

Depending on how "bumpy" the rest of your lines are, it might be best to just touch them up by hand with a small brush.

If it wasn't for the slight mishap with the cornice, I think this would have been better as a write-up on how to get straight paint lines rather than a call for assistance. I'm very impressed.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell

Dave-1

Afternoon @mich1972

Im goingto have to agree with @MitchellMc with this one 🙂

As an example of straight lines with no bleeding through yours comes up nicely. I generally leave my "tape" on too long as as MitchellMC says it forms a skin, to the point I run a stanley knife along the edge but shhh dont tell other that! hahaha

That first "jag" is just tap misaligned and we all do it, the more painting we do the more we are cautious I find.

btw when I painted my screen door I had the same issue with the old paint lifting even tho I thought it was solid as a rock.

Dave

mich1972

Here is another photo, it’s not good 😆

Yes @MitchellMc I couldn’t do one piece of tape, I broke them up.
I didn’t even know you could get a more delicate painters tape. But I am definitely going to try it out. Thank you for your feedback, I truly appreciate it.

mich1972

Thank you @Dave-1 Im loving all of these great tips and advice I get from you guys !!!!! 😃

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