How to Cut In on Tall Ceilings

Tall ceilings can be majestic and give your home a spacious feel. They're wonderful right up until the point where you have to paint them. The toughest part of this job may be what's called "cutting in" along the edges. While you can just attach a paint arm extender to a roller for the rest of the ceiling, you can't do that and get good edges. There are a few tricks, though, that will help make cutting in along a tall ceiling less challenging.

Dropcloths
Scaffolding
Painter's tape
Paint brush
Small edge roller

Instructions

- 1
  Remove all furniture from the room. Cover the floor with dropcloths and secure them to the baseboards with painter's tape.
- 2
  Set up the scaffolding in one corner of the room. Make sure it's high enough to allow easy access to the ceiling.
- 3
  Climb up the scaffolding and apply painter's tape to the joints between the walls and the ceilings. Move the scaffolding around as you work to get all of the walls.
- 4
  Cut in with the paint, using a small edge roller. Start in the far corner of the room. If necessary, use a brush to get into the edges, but roll this paint out to remove your brushstrokes.
- 5
  Paint the rest of the ceiling immediately. If you allow your cut in marks to dry before painting the rest of the ceiling, this will leave what is called a "hat band" or "picture frame" effect where you have a visibly darker line around the edges of the ceiling.

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