Paint Walls Near a Ceiling
The space where your wall meets your ceiling is rather tight, and if you do not take the proper precautions, you can easily get smudges and specks of paint on your ceiling when you attempt to paint along the top perimeter of your room. Before you paint your walls near the ceiling, make sure that the room is prepped for painting and that any paint you want to apply to the ceiling is already on. Use painter’s tape to keep paint off undesired areas and apply paint to the top two inches (five centimeters) of your wall using a painter’s brush. Do this before you attempt to paint the rest of your wall space.
Steps
- Remove everything from the room. Anything hanging on the walls should be the first to go, but everything that can be removed should be, including other decorations, furniture, electrical switch plates, and phone jack covers. Even though you may not bump into these items as you paint the upper wall along the ceiling, you will need to remove them later in order to paint the rest of the wall. Moreover, paint could drip onto these objects as you paint the upper wall. For these reasons, you must remove them first before applying any paint.
- Cover the floor with plastic sheets. You will not be working with a lot of paint all at once as you work on the area of the wall near the ceiling, so your odds of dripping paint onto the floor are not as high as they will be when you paint the rest of the wall. Even so, some risk still remains. Play it safe by protecting your floor before you break any paint out.
- Paint the ceiling first. If you are painting your ceiling as well as your walls, you should paint the ceiling first. Painting the ceiling is more difficult, and you are more likely to make errors than you are while painting the walls. Additionally, paint from the ceiling may drip down onto the walls. If you painted the walls first, the area nearest the ceiling would likely need to be redone after you applied ceiling paint.
- Wait until the ceiling paint has finished drying. You will need to apply tape to the ceiling, and partially damp paint is more likely to come up than dry paint. Depending on the brand and type of paint you use, you may need to wait anywhere from a few hours to overnight before you can start work on your walls.
- Cover the ceiling near the wall with painter's tape. Apply the tape in 2- to 3-foot (2/3- to 1-meter) strips. Strips longer than this may be difficult to work with.
- Place one end of the first strip in the corner of the ceiling, right where the ceiling meets the wall. Press down on it firmly until it lies flat against the ceiling.
- Slowly drag the tape along the length of the ceiling in a straight line, pressing it down firmly until it lies flat against the ceiling. There should be no pockets of air. Otherwise, you run the risk of paint seeping beneath the tape and onto the ceiling.
- Repeat the taping process with as many strips of tape you need. By the end, your entire ceiling should have a ring of tape around it, directly where the ceiling and wall meet.
- Pour 1 or 2 cups (250 to 500 milliliters) of wall paint into a small bowl. Using a standard painter's tray will only make the task more difficult, since these trays tend to be bulky and may be difficult to maneuver while standing on a ladder. A small bowl, in contrast, can easily be held in one hand, and a few cups of paint are all you will need to start with.
- If you do need more paint to finish the space around your ceiling, you can refill your bowl when you step down to move your ladder.
- Dip a small angled brush into the paint. Most of the paint should be on the bottom 1/2 inch to 1 inch (1.27 to 2.54 centimeters) of the brush. With a bulkier brush, excess paint from the top edge of the brush could rub against the ceiling as you move along the wall. A flat painter's brush that angles in will allow you to apply paint to the surface of the wall without accidentally applying paint to the surface above your brush.
- Lay your paintbrush flat against the wall, starting at a corner of the room. The bottom edge of the brush should just barely touch the painter's tape to ensure that the paint extends up to the highest point of the wall.
- Drag the brush down 2 inches (5 centimeters) from the top of the wall. Applying paint with a paintbrush is more time consuming, but also more accurate. Painting 2 inches (5.08 centimeters) down gives you a little breathing space later on, making it easier to paint the rest of the wall using a roller without needing to get too close to the ceiling.
- Use the brush to paint along the entire perimeter of the room. This process is often called "cutting in," and even professionals use it to safely apply paint to the tight area of your wall where it meets the ceiling. When you finish, you should have a solid 2-inch (5.08-centimeter) line of paint along the top of each wall.
- Proceed with painting the wall as usual, but allow the paint to dry before removing the tape.
- As you paint the rest of the room, only allow the roller to reach as high as your initial 2-inch (5.08-centimeter) strip of wall paint. Do not push or drag the roller all the way up to the ceiling.
- After your entire wall dries, you can remove the painter's tape. Removing it beforehand could smear the paint on your wall, ruining your efforts at keeping paint off the ceiling.
Tips
- If your efforts at keeping paint off the ceiling fail, you can attempt to smooth out the space in between your ceiling and wall by applying a 1/4- to 1/2-inch (6.35- to 12.7-millimeter) line of caulk around the perimeter.
- You should consider "cutting in" the paint along your floorboards and corners, as well. These areas are all tight and could easily look sloppy if you attempt to paint them with a large roller.
Warnings
- Only paint in a well-ventilated area. Open doors and windows, and run electric fans if necessary.
Things You'll Need
- Ladder
- Painter’s tape
- Angled painter’s brush
- Paint
- Small bowl
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