# Forum Home Renovation Painting  Cornice Painting

## spartan

I have been painting my house for what seems like an eternity.
Generally speaking I've been really happy with the results from the walls, and disappointed with the results from the ceilings and cornices. 
I have formulated a plan for getting better results on the ceilings, but I need to re-think my technique on the cornices. 
How are the experts out there painting cornices. 
Brush/Roller/ Really good brush etc.
Horizontal strokes, vertical strokes.....???

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## Trav

Not that I am an expert, but I achieved good results using long horizontal brush strokes. Use a good quality brisuh (I like the rotacota brushes) 
Be careful with the one-coat ceiling paints as they are much thicker and harder to get a good finish (IMHO). I used Haymes paints and liked them a lot. 
Trav

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## johnc

Just a brush, but a crap brush usually means a crap job with loose bristles and poor paint pickup. A good quality sash cutter brush, although some of the dearer synthetic brushes for water based paints work well. I paint cornice first then roller the ceiling in after. Better to have roller marks over brush marks than the reverse I reckon but I'm no painter. 
JohnC

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## PuppyPaw

what problem are you having specifically?
are you finding coverage to be bad?
brush strokes? 
if you can tell us what the exact problem is you may get a better answer.  
Good quality brush and paint are only have of the equation.
The person holding the brush and paint will ultimately determine the quality of the finished job.

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## sol381

Professionals almost always spray the seiling and cornices . then cut the wall in below the cornice and spray and roll the walls. Pretty hard to get a good finish with paint brush and roller on cornices.

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## Gumby

I thought the same actually - a roller on cornices ??

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## PuppyPaw

it depends on what his problem is, rolling will give a semi alright job, but you get banding. 
to get a good job on reguler concave conice its better to do multipul thin coats having watered down the paint slightly using water, then using a good brush, move the brush along the length of the cornice. 
however if its something more ornate (sp?) then once again more watered down but use a much small brush and do section individually. 
You can get a very good job done using a brush on a cornice you just have to take your time!

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## spartan

I guess it hard to sum the problem up.  
Poor coverage probably, I have been using a bursh and then a small cut in type roller to try and get better coverage. 
I have been using the dulux celing magic paint, the stuff that goes on pink and then dries white.

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## mic-d

You need to dilute the paint down a bit with floetrol or water and use a good brush.  Best to do ceiling and cornice first and then cut in the wall colour last as mentioned above. 
Cheers
Michael

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## Ian007

> I guess it hard to sum the problem up.  
> Poor coverage probably, I have been using a bursh and then a small cut in type roller to try and get better coverage. 
> I have been using the dulux celing magic paint, the stuff that goes on pink and then dries white.

  
well the problem is as plain as the nose on your face. 
If you use a brush instead of a bursh that should make all the difference  :Biggrin:   :Biggrin:

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## kiwigeo

I get SWMBO busy on the cornices while I do the "hard" stuff with the roller and tray.

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## PuppyPaw

bad coverage would be a combination of things. 
cheap brush (doesn't pull up enough paint) 
get a good brush natural hair brushes are good, horse hair or something like that.
however synthetic can be good if you get a high enough quality. 
also if you can water down the paint and do more coats, going over the brush strokes at 90 degrees to the previous layer of paint application. 
also if your just sick of painting get an electric paint sprayer!

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## Deems36

Ive allways cut int he cornices while cuttin the ceiling - two coats then go over the cornices with roller after doing the ceiling. 
Trick is not to have an overly staurated roller (when doing cornices) 
Im no expert but this method has served me well on many an occasion.

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## spartan

Well all done (again), I think the trick was adding some water to get better coverage.  
The dulux ceiling magic is quite thick, so I added some water gave it a good stir and used a better quality brush and I got an almost perfect finish.. 
Thanks for the ideas guys.

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## Trav

I think the one coat stuff is a real false economy. You get a much better finish with two coats of normal ceiling paint.   
Glad to see you worked it out spartan. 
Trav

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