How to Paint Room Trim

Hi! I am Mark Osbourne, the founder of Manor Works Painting, and today we are talking about how to paint the interior of a bedroom. We have already finished our walls and were ready to move on to the last step in the painting process and thats to paint the trim. Trim is a generic term. Trim is encompassing of a variety of different pieces of wood and molding that might in a house.

In this case, we have baseboards, doors, doorframes, windows, and window casings. All of those things are specific items, but they generically called trim, and one of the reasons for that is because they are usually painted with the same color and in the same sheen. Again, as we talked about with the wall, you have variety of sheens to choose from when painting the trim. Most of the time a trim is going to be painted in a higher sheen than what you choose for the walls.

In this case, we are going to be using a latex based product in a semi-gloss finish, although there are other sheens that are available. The other thing to note when painting a trim is what color its going to be painted? Basically you have three choices. You can paint it in the same color as the wall or be it in a different sheen, you can paint in a darker color than the wall or you can paint in a lighter than the wall. Irregardless of what color you choose, those are the three patterns that you can follow. In this case, we are going to be painting with white, which obviously is a lighter color than what we choose for the wall. This allows the room to appear wider and longer, because your eyes are actually drawn to the darker color and by not painting the trim in dark color it doesnt define the limitations of that room. It also gives a little bit more of an elegant or professional look by not painting in the same color as the wall.

So that we finished, we are ready to get started on actually painting the trim. Painting trim is just like painting the cut line between the wall and the ceiling, obviously it has to be straight. So, we are going to talk about a few techniques that could be done. One technique is to apply blue painters tape to the wall in a straight line. This will allow you achieve the straight line without worrying about getting excess trim paint on to your freshly painted walls. Of course, you are going to have to wait a sufficient amount of time for the wall to dry before you do that. If you have the skills, which is what we are going to be doing in this particular application. You can free hand this application. Of course you need a steady hand to achieve that straight line.

As we discussed when the cut the line between the wall and ceiling, one technique can be used, its not applicable in every situation, but can be used is to create a slight V valley by cutting it with a small utility knife and what that will allow is for the paint on the trim to roll into valley and not go up on to the other side of the valley, thus achieving a straight line between the trim and the wall. Sometimes its important to do what we call splitting the difference, because unfortunately the line between the trim and wall is often times is not straight, and so the painter has to improvise to create the appearance of a straight line in those areas. Now that we have the trim done, its the time to put the room back together, and see how it looks.