Baseboard Painting Tips
Painting baseboards can instantly add life and vibrancy to your baseboards. Whether you are adding new baseboards or painting over with a fresh coat of the same color – you will be happy with the results of your home improvement project.
Best Paint For Trim Molding
Acrylic-latex paints do show brush marks. The flatter the sheen, the less visible the brush marks will be. Gloss: Gloss is an important feature in the trim paint. Glossier paints have a tighter molecular structure, meaning smaller pores for dirt and other debris to work into it. We'll show you how to properly prep and paint moldings and trim so you can complete the look of your space. More 'how to paint' information may be found at h. Purdy 144152325 XL Series Glide Angular Trim Paint Brush, 2-1/2 inch. Purdy brush has a great. Purdy Clearcut Glide Brush. Material: Nylon/Polyester. 1' to 2' – window and other small trim. 3' – glossy paints for doors and cabinets. 4' – large, flat areas. Brush End Types. Chisel Trim Brush - slanted bristles produce a good, straight line for trimming in corners and edges. Square Trim Brush - the ends of the bristles are cut square and used primarily for applying paint over flat areas.
While all baseboard painting projects require paint and a brush (or roller or sprayer), you might be surprised to find a few baseboard painting tools you didn’t think of.
Generally, we wrote this assuming you would be painting in place. However, even if you are using a sprayer or a roller brush in the garage – many of the tools here will still be applicable.
- If you are installing baseboards, check out 26 Awesome Baseboard Tools for your project for a list of installation tools.
- If you are looking for more information on painting baseboards, check out the following articles:
Preparing to Paint
1. Tape (Painters Tape, Masking Tape)
Is It Required? No, it is not required, but it should be. Only professionals or very experienced painters should try painting baseboards without any tape.How Will I Use It? Tape primarily protects against the surrounding areas of the baseboard. Areas can include carpets, walls, door casing, or hardwood floors. Painters tape also serves as a guide for your painting. It is designed to be peeled off easily so you can use it to ensure you get accurate, clean lines.
2. Drop Cloth
Is It Required? No, a drop cloth is not required, but it will come in handy.How Will I Use It? Dropcloth creates an excellent place to set the paint while you are painting. With drop cloth, you don’t need to worry about spilling on the floor. It also works as a ready towel in case something does happen where you need to clean up paint quickly.
3. Rosin Paper
Is it Required? Rosin paper is not required, but paint is all about preparation and rosin paper is a great way to go above and beyond when prepping to make your job run smoothly.How Will I Use It? It is a great, quality way to cover your floor and surrounding areas in the process. It is inexpensive, large, and durable. We recommend lining it up along the baseboard on the floor, so you have a consecutive space to paint without having to stop and move the cloth as you go.
4. Sanding Pad
Is It Required? It is hard to envision a baseboard painting project without the need for any sanding.
How Will I Use It? A sanding pad is a great ergonomic way to sand your baseboards. If your baseboards are being painted by hand while they are installed, a sanding pad will help you get more leverage in your limited angles. Buy different grits to be safe, start with a higher grit and work your way down to a lower grit.
5. Fill Stick or Spackling (Paste)
Is It Required? Whether your baseboards are brand new or already installed, they probably have some dings and dents. Don’t expect the paint to do the job. Fill sticks or spackling paste work better than caulk because they don’t expand and contract throughout the year.How Will I Use It: Anywhere you see dings, dents, you will want to use a fill stick or spackling paste. What’s more, if you need to do any work on the baseboards, like adding nails or removing any pieces and reinstalling, you are going to want to have some ready.
Painting
6. Brush (Angled)
Is It Required? Yes, you need a brush. Angled brushes are preferred.
How Will I Use It? In most cases, you will need a brush to apply the paint. Brushes help apply the paint in any position. We have discussed using the right type of paintbrush and paint combination previously.
7. Paint Guide
Is It Required? A painting guide is not required, but this inexpensive tool can save you from much additional work later.
How Will I Use It? Use the paint guide to help create edges for your painting. You can use them above the baseboard, on the floor, on the casing – or wherever you don’t want the paint touching.
8. Knee Pads
Is It Required? They might be! Knee pads can provide much-needed relief over the duration of your project. Especially if you have hardwood floors.
How Will I Use It? Kneepads will save your knees. Painting baseboards in place can be a time-consuming project. If your knees don’t mind at first, they might by the time you finish.
9. 5 in 1 Tool
Is It Required? Do yourself a favor and get one – they’re cheap.How Will I Use It? For everything. A 5 in 1 Tool has a ‘C’ shape on them specially designed to help scrape excess paint from a roller brush. They can help open paint cans, remove caulk or dried paint.
10. Work Light
Is It Required? You can’t paint baseboards in the dark.How Will I Use It? Having a light nearby can help apply the paint. Throughout the course of the day, natural light may come and go, and the lights in your home are not designed to illuminate your baseboards. With light applied directly on your baseboards as you go, it will help prevent blemishes, paint build-up, and other eye-catching problems.
11. Edging Pad
Is It Required? You don’t need an edging pad to paint the baseboards.
How Will I Use It? Edging pads are helpful to paint and blend the paint on the walls or surrounding areas. We do not recommend them for painting the baseboards.
12. Tape and Paper Dispenser
Is It Required? No, it is not required, but if you want to make the job faster and limit clean seriously consider picking up this tool.
How Will I Use It? The dispensers are made in different sizes for larger and small tape and paper selections. Upon choosing the tape and paper that best suits your job, follow the instructions on the dispenser and load it with your selected tape and paper. The beauty of the dispenser is that it overlaps a portion of the tape on the paper as it is reeled off. To get started, unreel 6 or so inches of the tape and paper from the dispenser and place along the edge of your soon to be painted baseboard. Once in place, you are good to go.
World of warcraft for mac os x. All Images are courtesy of Amazon or Manufacturer.
Want to know about the best paint products for painting trims, baseboards, and moldings? Let's talk about that.
Contents
- 4 Top 8 Best Paints for Trims and Baseboards
- 5 Trim and Baseboard Paint Buying Guide
Introduction
Trims and baseboards can get dirty or smudgy after a while because of dust and debris that flies around during cleaning. That's why repainting them is essential and needs to be done using the right paint.
There is a huge variety of paint types and manufacturers out there claiming to be the best. That's why finding the actual best paint for your baseboards and trims can be a little difficult.
If you're one of those people who're looking to smoothly get that perfect painted finish on their window and door trims along with baseboards, then this article is for you.
Who needs this product?
Hiring a painter to get that professional finish on your baseboards and molding may be what most people go for, but that's far away from the best quality and costing painting solution.
These trim and baseboard paints are meant for the people who're looking to find the perfect paint choice for their house moldings and trims and who want to be a little artistic and save a lot of money by painting the trims themselves.
What Readers will learn?
You might be wondering, what paint is the best for trims and baseboards, and how do I choose the right one? Well, in this article, I'm going to talk about the top 8 best paints for trims and baseboards, explaining their key features and reviewing them completely.
I'm also going to provide you the perfect buying guide for finding the ideal paint for your house trims and baseboards. So, make sure that you read this article till the end to make the right paint buying decision.
As a painting expert, I've tried and tested most of these paints. In contrast, a few that I haven't tried, I've scoured the internet for expert reviews and customer feedback to capture the essence of how they work accurately, so the review you're going to get will be completely accurate.
Top 8 Best Paints for Trims and Baseboards
Finding the best trim and baseboard paint can be difficult. That's why I've created a list of the top 8 best paints for trims and baseboards you can find in the market in terms of features and value. Let's take a look at each of them.
- BEHR Premium Plus Semi-Gloss Enamel: Best Moisture-Resistant Paint
- VALSPAR Corporation Interior Latex Semi-Gloss Paint: Best Rust-Resistant Paint
- Rust-Oleum Gloss White Enamel: Best Corrosion-Resistant Paint
- Majic Paints Diamond Hard High Gloss Paint: Best Low-Odor Paint
- Glidden Interior Latex Ceiling Paint: Best Spatter-Resistant Paint
- Rust-Oleum Protective Enamel Paint: Best Low-Gloss Paint
- Diamond Brite Paint Semi-Gloss Latex Paint: Best Grease-Resistant Paint
- Rust-Oleum Stops Rust Brush-on Paint: Best Value for Money Trim Paint
BEHR Premium Plus Semi-Gloss Enamel: Best Moisture-Resistant Paint
Aptly named, the BEHR Premium Plus Semi-Gloss Enamel is surely premium quality when it comes to finish because of its mildew, moisture, and wear and tear, and resistance. It will be perfect for any trim and molding.
Features
- It is a semi-gloss enamel which makes it smooth, reflective, and perfectly easy to clean.
- The BEHR Premium Plus Semi-Gloss Enamel is a low-odor interior paint that serves as a trim paint as well as a primer.
- It is truly one of the best interior paints to use in trims, moldings, baseboards, and cabinets.
Reason to Buy
Best White Baseboard Paint
The one thing that makes Premium Plus Semi-Gloss irresistible is the mildew and moisture resistance, making it the perfect paint choice for high-moisture areas.
VALSPAR Corporation Interior Latex Semi-Gloss Paint: Best Rust-Resistant Paint
With a generous price tag, VALSPAR Corporation offers you one of the richest, shiniest, highest-quality interior trim paints with latex semi-gloss sheen that allows you to beautify your house without spilling or causing a mess cleanly.
Features
- The Semi-Gloss paint is richer and more gloss retentive than other competitor paints.
- VALSPAR Corporation Interior Semi-Gloss Paint is smooth and offers great durability.
- The white-colored version of the semi-gloss paint offers the perfect elegance you require from your trims.
Reason to Buy
The best thing about the VALSPAR Corporation Semi-Gloss trim paint is that it is highly rust-preventive. This means it is more durable and offers better protection against moisture and rust to the surfaces.
Rust-Oleum Gloss White Enamel: Best Corrosion-Resistant Paint
One of the oldest and most popular interior paint companies, Rust-Oleum brings you their incredible Gloss White Enamel Paint that provides a beautiful glossy coating on the trim and baseboard surface and comes at a good value.
Features
- The Gloss White finish is a vibrant and shiny color that truly pops in the presence of light within the room.
- A great feature of this paint is the surface usability since it can be used on both metal and wooden trims and baseboards.
- The paint is very durable and will last quite a long time before you need a new coating.
Reason to Buy
The Stops Rust series of Rust-Oleum paints come with a corrosion-resistance that is unmatched. The glossy white finish offers shine and finesse along with that, which in my opinion, is amazing.
Majic Paints Diamond Hard High Gloss Paint: Best Low-Odor Paint
Majic Paints Diamond Hard High Gloss Acrylic Enamel Paint is a great option if you're looking for amazing color retention and incredible value. It is great for all kinds of surfaces, and the coating glossy and elegant as well.
Features
- It comes with all-purpose usability, which means it can be used on wood, metal, brick, drywall, steel, glass, vinyl, and many other surfaces.
- The Diamond Hard High Gloss Paint is incredibly durable and long-lasting, making it very valuable.
- The colors of this variant provide superior gloss retention, which is better than the competing interior paints.
Reason to Buy
The Majic Paints Diamond Hard High Gloss Paint is a great choice because of the low-odor, non-flammable water-based solution that its formula uses and the amount of gloss the coating provides.
Glidden Interior Latex Ceiling Paint: Best Spatter-Resistant Paint
Glidden is considered one of the more popular brands of interior trim paints. Their Interior Latex Ceiling Paint is exactly what you need to put an even and flat luscious coat of paint over your home trims.
Features
- The Latex finish makes Glidden Interior paints very glossy and super color-retentive.
- The Interior Latex Ceiling Paint comes with minimal surface imperfection feature along with strong durability.
- It offers an even coating and comes with a very mild odor keeping the environment fresh and clean.
- Reason to Buy
One of the best things about the Glidden Interior Paints is that it is spatter-resistant, which will prove a major help if this will be your first time doing your own trim paint job.
Rust-Oleum Protective Enamel Paint: Best Low-Gloss Paint
Another entry in their Stops Rust series, the Rust-Oleum Protective Enamel Satin finish paint, is one of my personal favorites. It offers a stunningly simple but elegant look with the perfect coating.
Features
- The oil-based solution of this trim and baseboard paint allows it to be highly corrosion-resistant.
- It is superior in durability, longevity, and coverage as well.
- You can expect no abrasion, chipping, or mess when you're using the Stops Rust Satin Finish Protective Enamel Paint.
Reason to Buy
The Satin Finish of this paint offers a low gloss and low sheen look to the painted trim, which is perfect if you're not going for a high gloss and reflective baseboard and trim paint coating.
Diamond Brite Paint Semi-Gloss Latex Paint: Best Grease-Resistant Paint
Diamond Brite Paint Semi-Gloss Latex Paint is one of the best value interior paints on this list. It offers all the amazing features of semi-gloss trim paint and more for a fairly reasonable price.
Features
- The semi-gloss finish provides a powerful glossy look that is very reflective.
- It can be applied on drywalls, trims, baseboards, cabinets, and many other surfaces effectively.
- It is very durable, long-lasting, but at the same time has a very mildly low-odor.
Reason to Buy
One of the things that drive me to want to try this paint is the dirt and grease resistance that it comes with, which is quite helpful, especially for baseboards prone to dirt.
Rust-Oleum Stops Rust Brush-on Paint: Best Value for Money Trim Paint
This is the same Rust-Oleum Stops Rust Brush-on Gloss White Enamel Paint but a quart can of it. This gives much more value in terms of paint and money in comparison to the smaller canister.
Features
- The Gloss finish brings a unique shine to the coated surface.
- It is very highly resistant to chipping, fading, abrasion, and dirt because of the gloss texture.
Reason to Buy
Much more overall volume and richness. The Quart pack surely provides a better value, and I'd go for this one if I want my trims to get a gloss white finish with longevity and durability.
Trim and Baseboard Paint Buying Guide
If you're thinking of painting your own trims and moldings with an artistically fine touch and a massive amount of saved money instead of hiring an expensive painter, then learning about the factors that make the ideal paint is important for you. That's why I'm going to talk about some of the major elements that will help you buy the perfect trim paint on the market.
The Perfect Kind of Paint
From my own painting experience and according to the painting gurus of the world, the best kind of paint for trims and baseboards is none other than semi-gloss.
It is easy to clean, looks nice, has a smooth and shiny finish to it, which really pops the entire room's color, and is available in a huge array of different colors. So, if you're thinking of doing your own paint job, you should surely go for semi-gloss finish paint.
Picking the Right Color
Choosing the right color for your baseboard, window, door, and other trims is essential if you want your house to look beautiful and elegant. Now, there are two approaches you can go for. You'll go for a matching tone that means you'll try to find a color that is a shade of the color the wall is.
The second approach for painting your baseboard and other trims is to go for a contrasting tone. Heroes of magic and might for mac. Contrasting colors between your wall and baseboards would look pretty stunning if you choose the right color depending upon your liking.
Quality of the Paint
Many different companies are claiming to make the best trim and molding paint out there in the market. What matters the most and makes the true best paint is the quality of the solution.
If you're using high-quality paint that comes with longevity, cleaner-look, durability, and easy cleaning, it will serve you better for your painting job in comparison to a brand-less lower-quality paint solution which you absolutely shouldn't opt for.
Frequently Asked Questions
I searched on the internet to find out if you painters were having any problems with your queries, and surprisingly I found that many of your questions related to trim painting were unanswered. That's why I took the most frequently asked questions and decided to answer them.
Question. How to paint trim without brush marks?
Answer. It's fairly simple. You need to find a small brush that fits the height of trim around 3' to 8,' and you need to make sure that brush has soft bristles. The softer the bristles, the lesser strokes, and brush marks you're going to see on the trim and baseboards.
Question. Can I use trim paint on walls?
Answer. It isn't ideal to use trim paint on walls. Cemented walls are better off painted with Masonry paint. However, if you're talking about drywalls, trim paint can be used to paint them effectively. That won't be a problem, and the paint will stay on and look good without a doubt.
Question. What color to choose for baseboard paint?
Answer. This truly depends upon your judgment and liking. But if you're not sure at all, I think a better way to make your house look more elegant and beautiful is to go for a contrasting color scheme between your walls and your trims; it will work perfectly.
Question. Can trim paint be used on doors?
Answer. Trim paint which is most commonly semi-gloss finish can be used on doors and door trims. It can be used not only on doors but also on windows, trim panels, and crown moldings. So, let your imagination take the wheel and pick the right shades to beautify your house.
Conclusion
In my opinion, Rust-Oleum's Satin Finish Enamel Paint is the best paint for trims and baseboards out of all the listed paints. However, depending upon your choice, you can choose any one of these and feel great about your decision. I hope you have an amazing time painting your trims and baseboards.