How to paint trims without wrecking your wall colour

You can spend a fortnight picking a wall colour and then lose the whole effect on the skirting boards, because the trim is the bit your eye lands on when you walk into a room, and when it is chipped or yellowed or the wrong sheen the wall behind it never looks as good as it should.

Most of what I know about painting I have picked up by getting it wrong first and then asking somebody who knew better, so here is what I have worked out about trims and why the paint that goes on them matters more than people expect.

What trim paint is actually doing

Trims, doors, window frames and architraves cop more contact than a wall ever will, because they get knocked with the vacuum, kicked by shoes, leaned on and wiped down, so the paint on them has to be harder than the paint on the wall next to it. That is the whole reason enamel exists as a separate product rather than everybody just using wall paint everywhere.

Haymes Ultratrim is a water based acrylic enamel, and the two things that matter most about that are that it stays white instead of going yellow over the years, and that it cleans up with water rather than turps. Older solvent based enamels yellow as they age, which is why so many houses have skirting boards that look faintly nicotine coloured against a fresh white wall, and once you have noticed it you cannot unnotice it.

Picking the sheen, which is where people get stuck

Ultratrim comes in high gloss and semi gloss, and there is a low sheen as well, so the choice is mostly about how much you want the trim to stand out and how forgiving you need it to be.

• High gloss is the toughest of them and the easiest to wipe clean, and it reflects the most light, which means it shows every bump and every filled nail hole underneath it. Good on a well prepared door, unkind to a rough old skirting.
• Semi gloss is the middle ground and it is what most people end up on, because it still wipes clean and it hides a bit more of what is underneath.
• Low sheen is the quietest of them, and it suits a room where you want the trim to frame the wall without pulling the eye at all.

If you are not sure, semi gloss is the safe answer. We mix and tint to order in store from the Haymes range, so you are not stuck with whatever white happens to be sitting on the shelf.

Prep is where the finish comes from

Most bad trim jobs come down to prep rather than paint, so this is the part worth slowing down on.

• Wash the trim with sugar soap first, because years of skirting board dust and hand grease will stop paint sticking and you will not see the problem until the paint lifts.
• Fill the dents and the old nail holes with gap filler, let it dry properly, then sand it back flush.
• Sand the whole trim lightly, even the bits that look fine, because a glossy old surface needs a key for the new paint to grab onto.
• Wipe the dust off before you open the tin. Sanding dust in wet enamel looks exactly like sanding dust in wet enamel.

Cutting a clean line

An angled sash cutter is worth the few extra dollars over a straight brush, because the angle lets you run the bristles along the edge without holding your wrist at a strange angle for an hour. Load about a third of the bristle length, tap the excess off inside the tin rather than scraping it on the rim, and pull the brush along in one movement instead of dabbing at the line.

Masking tape helps if your hand is not steady, and the bit most people miss is to pull the tape off while the paint is still slightly soft rather than leaving it until the next morning, because fully cured enamel tears at the edge as the tape comes away.

Two thin coats beat one thick one every time. A thick coat of enamel runs on a vertical face and it takes much longer to harden, so you end up with a soft finish that marks the first time anything touches it.

How long before you put the room back together

Touch dry and properly hard are two different things with enamel. It will feel dry within a couple of hours and it keeps hardening for days after that, so do not push furniture back against a freshly painted skirting the same afternoon, and do not shut a freshly painted door hard against its frame either, because the two faces will stick to each other and pull the paint off when somebody opens it. That is the kind of thing nobody tells you until it has already happened.

Shop related products

• Haymes Ultratrim Enamel Semi Gloss White 1L. The safe middle sheen, and a 1L tin covers a decent run of skirting.
• Haymes Ultratrim High Gloss Enamel 2L. For doors and frames you want hard wearing and easy to wipe over.
• Smooth Coat 38mm Angle Brush. The angled brush that makes cutting a line along a skirting far easier.
• Uni-pro Masking Tape Pull Down Drop Sheet. Tape and sheet in one, so the wall above and the floor below are covered in a single pass.

Did you know we also stock Ultratrim low sheen and the bigger 10L tins in store, along with sugar soap and gap filler. They are not all on the website, so give us a ring on (08) 8536 4333 to check what is on the shelf.

We mix and tint paint to order in store from the range we stock, and there is more about that on our paint mixing page.

More on painting

• What is the difference between high gloss and semi gloss enamel?
• What is low sheen paint, and what is it used for?
• Preparing a room for painting

I am still learning this stuff the same as everyone else, so if you want to talk a job through before you start it, ask me in the shop, I am usually there.

Candeece

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