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I bought a condo and all the walls are neutral colored. I'm repainting one room that has wall-to-wall carpeting. I want to repaint the baseboards, but how do I effectively/easily do that without getting paint on the carpet that is flush with the baseboards? I found "Carpet Shields" by Z-Pro at Home Depot, but they're very difficult to work with. I've tried to insert the shield in between the baseboard and the carpet, but the shield doesn't stay in place (the carpet is so snug up against the baseboard, it's difficult to insert). As I'm painting, the shield wiggles it's way out of the crevice between the carpet and baseboard.
Are carpet shields the best way to paint base boards in a carpeted area or are there other solutions, work-arounds?
I found that using a very wide putty knife or scraper stuck down between the board & carpet then using my brush to paint the wood trim does nicely. Of course you'd do a few strokes of paint then move the knife/scraper on down for the next few strokes of paint. It takes a while but seems very efficient.
Cambium is right. I use an 8 or 10 inch 'joint' knife, what the plasterers use for seams in Sheetrock. It's long enough and has a sturdy handle for leverage. Keep an old news paper handy to wipe it off on every few feet.
You don't have to paint the baseboard all the way down to the floor, just below the top of the carpet.
A wide plastic wallpaper spreader works well, too.
Andy P
I use 1-1/2" or 2" blue painter's tape all around the edge of the room so that the carpet can't spring back up and get wet paint on it after you remove the putty knife. If you use the tape, you don't have to be so careful about wiping the putty knife off. When the paint is dry, take the tape off.
