Home > Painting basics > Painting skills > painting a skirting board (baseboard)

Painting sequence

• Brushes required. 1"(25mm), 2"(50mm). In general use the size of brush you feel most comfortable with. A  1½" (38mm) brush will suit most people for painting frames, skirtings and windows.
• Firstly make sure the skirting is properly prepared and free from dust.
• Work from right to left if you are right-handed and from left to right if you are left-handed. This ensures you are not working across your body.
• Start by carefully cutting in the top edge  next to the wall  for about nine inches.
• Then cut in the bottom edge next to the floor for the same distance.
• Then paint in the middle part leaving off from left to right.
• Always check back over your work for runs especially with moulded and ornate skirtings.

Tips.

• Use a piece of stiff card or paper to protect the floor or carpet. Caution: paint has a nasty habit of creeping under a piece of card so you might need to keep renewing it. It is a good idea to put a strip of masking tape on the carpet along the bottom of the skirting. Besides making it easier to cut in, it will prevent you from picking up fluff on the paint brush.
• For added protection, even on gloss paint finished skirtings, apply one or two coats of clear polyurethane varnish.