crafty

the amazing textured wall paint trick

*phew*   While the title might not astound you, if you’ve ever tackled the art of painting textured walls, you’ll be sitting on the edge of your seat for this one!

Our house has quite a few “insets” in the wall. Some are for storage and some are, well, just there for art or something. While they certainly add architectural interest, they don’t quite stand out until you highlight them with color. Mr. M and I have been excited about adding that splash of color, but after my experience with painting one wall in the guest bedroom, I was not too thrilled with the prospect of trying to perfect straight lines. But that was before I googled myself the answer to this dilemma…

Ta Da! Paint covered tape!

Step 1: Tape up your lines as you normally would

Step 2: Paint over the edge of your tape using the SAME COLOR as your current wall (This allows the wall color to seem under the tape and make a seal… setting up your perfect line!)

Step 3: Paint your section with reckless abandon and the wildest colors possible!

I’m very happy to report that this method caused an EXTREMELY limited need for touch-ups and was really quite breathtaking considering my previous experience pulling up the tape. The only caveat is that you do need to have some of that background paint on hand to help… but otherwise it’s smooth sailing!

7 Comments

  • Ellie

    We, too, have a ton of inset walls. I was definitely intrigued by your orange wall, and have been thinking about doing some brighter colors on the insets.

    But how do you decide what color?!

    • kimberly michelle

      @Ellie
      That is the BIG question! We saw a lot of colors used in model homes with our same “cochise” paint, so we knew what wouldn’t look completely crazy. And there’s always looking through Pottery Barn’s seasonal palette to find a fun color as well! :) It’s a bit safer than the paint chips section of the hardware store… a dangerous beast to painters everywhere!

  • Melanie

    Amazing indeed! Thanks for the tip! I found your post when searching google for how to paint inset walls. My walls are also that horrible bumpy texture. But now thanks to this trick, my inset accent wall looks perfect!

  • Janet

    I just wanted to say I found your tip when looking for ways to paint a rounded corner. My walls aren’t really textured but the edge would be visible right at the front door and required it to be perfect. So I used you tip and it IS perfect.

    Thanks SO much!