How to Paint Concrete Floor Borders

Vacuum the floor thoroughly before starting each application to remove dust or dirt that otherwise will become bumps in your trim paint. Use a damp cloth to wipe down each section of floor, near the wall, as you work your way around the room.

Measure from the wall to the inside edge of your new border. In other words, just beyond this point you will begin to apply trim paint. Speed the process by marking the distance on the ruler. After you mark a number of points you can lay the ruler down between them to establish a straight line.

Apply painter’s tape along these points to establish the inside edge of your border. This means that the far edge of the tape — the tape edge farthest from the wall — will be the edge that connects the points. Press the tape down lightly, so you can lift it as needed to correct the line. Continue laying tape around the room.

Repeat this process to establish the line for the inside border edge, again measuring from the wall. For the second strip of tape, the edge closest to the wall defines the border edge.

Press both lines of tape down firmly, working slowly and carefully. Make sure the inside edges are smoothed down tightly all the way around. This will create a crisp clean paint line.

Paint one thin coat of the underlying paint color — the larger floor color — between the two lines of tape, to seal the tape edges for a crisp line. Allow that paint to fully dry. Apply two coats of your accent color to create the border, allowing ample drying time between coats.

Create a two-tone border, with a center contrast stripe, by first painting two coats of the secondary accent color between the two strips of tape after Step 5. Allow this color to fully dry. Apply painter’s tape down the center of the border. Paint another thin layer of the secondary color, to seal the new tape edges. Then apply two coats of the primary accent color.

Remove the painter’s tape — carefully and slowly — after the border has fully dried. Simply pull the tape or, before pulling, score the tape edges with a razor blade. Repair any fuzzy edges by laying down fresh painter’s tape on the border and touching up the bleed with the required paint.