Because Matt and I were taking the time to paint pretty much the whole house before we moved in (two living rooms, the kitchen, two bedrooms, the bathroom and my closet), I thought I'd give a paint edger a whirl. Taping and edging a room with a brush takes foooooooooooooofreakingever and I hate, hate, hate it. So I decided to give the Shur-Line brand edger a try.
I wound up buying two Shur-Line edgers: This one from Amazon for just under $5, and this one from Lowe's for about $6. The Lowe's one had wheels and little "retractable guides" to cover them (more on that later); the Amazon one did not. We basically used the Amazon one once and tossed it. The Lowe's one was far superior, so that's the one I'll focus on from here on out. (I also bought a ton of these refill pad thingies from Amazon. They're about $2.50 for a two-pack, and they fit the Lowe's edger just fine. Matt and I were feeling both lazy and wasteful, so we just tossed them out as we went. I suppose you could wash them out, but it would take next to forever. I tried one, just for kicks and giggles. There were no giggles involved.)
Anyway, getting an edger was pretty much the best decision I ever made in regards to painting. It was as easy as dip, scrape, swipe, swipe, repeat.
A lot of Amazon commenters complained that the paint went on too "goopy," so I made sure to use the following method: Lift the retractable guides (so important to remember, or you'll have a line of paint on your baseboard/ceiling). Dip the pad in paint, soaking thoroughly. Scrape off excess paint on the edge of your tray. Slowly and with steady-but-not-too-firm pressure, swipe the edger along your chosen edge. Go back over the extreme end of your edge (where it meets the still-white wall) with a light brushing motion, as the edger sometimes "beads" extra paint there. That's it! I could do the entire length of a 13-foot wall in under 90 seconds once I got my rhythm and pressure figured out. In some areas I pressed too hard, so I had to go back and do a second little coat. But with the right amount of pressure and the right amount of paint on the pad, this thing is a freaking godsend!
Of course, there are a few cons. The beading was an issue at first, and I may or may not have dripped paint onto the baseboard a few times before I got the hang of it. And our baseboard was really thin, so it took a bit of extra concentration not to slip down onto it. But the retractable guides and wheels were simply superb against the ceiling and the thicker window/door trim. Also, because of the way it's designed, corners are a challenge. Matt had to go back through with a brush and get the very innermost parts of the corners after I hit them. But still. We were able to finish each room in probably a third or even a quarter of the time it would have taken to tape and edge by hand. No lie.
What's your take on painting? Is it a chore that must be dealt with, like it is for me, or do you find it therapeutic and rewarding, like my friend Jen does? Have you ever used an edging tool, or do you prefer the tape-and-brush method?
