How to Paint a Perfect Stripe on a Textured Wall

On Saturday, Kali and I set about painting a single brown stripe and a single white stripe on two of her newly-pink, textured walls. Fears of running paint and ragged edges caused me to remember a tip I'd seen on "While You Were Out," on TLC years ago. And lo and behold, nearly perfect stripes were had and enjoyed by all.

The secret? It's easy!

First, mark the boundaries of your stripes with blue tape. Then, on the inside of the tape, where you will be painting the colored stripe, paint a thick layer of paint in the current wall color. This will seal the edges, and prevent the new color from running underneath the tape and ruining your straight line.

Once the current color has dried, paint the stripe color over the top. After that's dried, use a straight-edge or razor blade to help remove the tape from the wall. I found it was easiest to hold the razor flat against the paint right at the edge of the tape, and then pull the tape off. This prevents the tape from taking pieces of paint off with it. Then, step back and enjoy your handiwork!

Stripes, before blue tape is removed.

Clean edges as tape is removed!