After the caulking is throughly dry, you can paint the wall very fast because the tape serves as a mini drop cloth so to speak and tight cutting with a brush is not required-you can slop the paint onto the taped edge if you wish without worry and without having to slow down the cutting in process.

Sound like alot of work? You bet it is, but the final finish is cleaner and more precise than cutting in with a brush alone! After the wall paint is throughly dry, when you remove the tape (carefully and slowly of course) the final effect is awesome! (See the example red-white edge picture above right)

The importance of prepping correctly can't be under-looked. Many homeowners of course are looking for the least expensive way to paint. If you are getting ready to retire into your new home you don't want to have to be re-painting every two years.

The process mentioned above makes interior paint last for years to come because of the addtional cleaning and sanding prep, priming, tape and caulking used. You have to remember most all paint jobs are only as good as the surface its applied too. Cleanliness and extensive prep is essential for any lasting quality paint job!


Picking interior colors.

As a rule, light colors will make a space feel bigger; go light or white if you want claustrophobic areas to feel more spacious. To the eye, light colors seem to recede, making rooms appear larger and ceilings higher. Whites and other light colors are great for a nursery or childs room. In any room light colors form a neutral background that won't compete with your furniture. Colors sheen from rough surfaces to smooth can effect lightness of any color. Smooth surfaces using gloss paints will show any defect in your walls whereas a flat sheen hides imperfections much better but is a less durable finish. Eggshell is my favorite pick for most rooms because the sheen is softer to the eye and a more durable finish than flat paint.

Dark Colors

Darker colors create the illusion that walls and ceilings are closer together than they really are; they're ideal for shrinking a too-large room, or a room that doesn't contain a lot of furniture. Dark color is also favored for framing a window when you want to make the outside view a focal point of the room. Natural light also plays a role in how a room feels. Rooms with windows facing south get the most direct sunlight, whereas rooms with northern exposures get none, and the same color might look much different in one than the other. Thus it's safer to try darker colors in a south-facing room for a more intimate room, and lighter shades compensate for the absence of the sun in a room facing north.

Have you ever seen a paint job on a wall where you could see the roller marks and brush strokes dried differently? Be careful with darker colored paints and roll immediately over brush lines that can easily show when brush lines dry faster than rolled areas. The darker the pigment of a paint the faster you will need to work to weld the paints drying time evenly together. Best bet, use two painters on the same wall at the same time when painting dark colors and re-roll over the painted brush strokes as close as you possibly can get without damaging adjacent surfaces.