Two colors of paint at corner

[tomtheelder2020]

The only way I know to paint a clean, straight line where two colors of paint come together at a corner is to paint one color a little beyond the corner and then put painters tape on that color to paint a straight line with the other color. I seem to recall that, where the corner itself is not sharp, putting the tape a little to one side or the other will give a straight line with the illusion that the line is at the corner even though actually offset a bit. Does it matter which side the offset is on? I'm thinking that having the darker color lap slightly onto the lighter side might give the better illusion. Does anyone have experience with this?

 

[bud16415]

I’m not a big fan of the accent wall thing but have met colors like that. Is it an inside corner or outside corner? Likely an inside corner and in that case it is like where the ceiling meets the wall, often a color change.



I go right down the middle of what should be the corner freehand or with tape depending how I feel that day.

My dad when I was a kid in the 50’-60s used to paint the ceiling white and down the wall a few inches 3-4” and then would mask the wall with 2” tape and paint the wall leaving a 2” white stripe around the top. Kind of made the ceiling float. I think it was the atomic age look of the time along with star burst clocks and sputnik lights.

 

[tomtheelder2020]

Is it an inside corner or outside corner? Likely an inside corner and in that case it is like where the ceiling meets the wall, often a color change.

I go right down the middle of what should be the corner freehand or with tape depending how I feel that day.

Inside corners are the problem and, yes, particularly at the ceiling. Not visible in the photo but that wall/ceiling joint is slightly rounded and the rounding is not uniform: some places the corner approaches a sharp 90 degree angle and other places it is almost a 1/8 inch round. Because of that, a line down the middle will look wavy. Guess I will try bringing the white slightly down onto the wall - mostly because taping a line on the wall will be much easier than taping the ceiling. Using more of the decorative molding isn't an option - it would have to be custom milled.