Spike Carlsen: Hi my name is Spike Carlsen. I am a Contributing Editor with Family Handyman Magazine, the number one Do It Yourself magazine on the planet. Other than a 160 year old house and over the last few years of remodeling it, I think let's cover about every square inch.

I have run into a lot of tough situations, and even though a lot of painting is just painting four square walls. Chances are, if you paint long enough, you are going to run in some tough situations too.

One of the first things you have to do is round up the right tools. When your best friend is a good high quality painter's tape, I am using a FrogTape, it's got a special coating on it which creates clean lines. You often times need a utility knife, to kind of clean up those lines as you tear the tape away.

Depending on the situations you have, if you're smoothing out an existing wall surface you are going to need some dry wall compound and a putty knife. If you are doing a textured ceiling, you are going to need a long nap roller with a long handle. Lots of tough situations involves going over existing surfaces and rough surfaces, and to get the best job you are going to want to use either a hand sander with a sanding block or even a random orbital which will help to get the job done faster and smoother.

And so there is some of the tools you need and let's look at some of those tough situations we'll be looking at.