Every Professional Painter I've Ever Interviewed Uses This Painters Tape

I've been painting rooms since I could hold a brush. My parents were DIY enthusiasts before it was trendy, and I often helped them with painting projects in my childhood home, which they still live in today. From an early age, I loved seeing how color can bring a room to life.

I've since painted countless rooms in apartments, movie sets, and even the homes of friends who are too scared to take the DIY plunge themselves. I've also interviewed professional painters for DIY and home design articles throughout my career, and they all have one common piece of advice: Always use Frogtape painters tape.

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A good painter (professional or not) knows the importance of adequately prepping a room before beginning a project. You'll need to budget at least one day to clean and dry the walls, pick up your painting supplies, lay out your drop cloth, and tape off anything that you don't want painted, such as baseboards or trim.

There's nothing worse than doing all that prep work only to have your generic painters tape lose its stickiness and fall to the ground overnight. Take it from me: It's not worth saving a few dollars to use cheap painters tape. Here's why Frogtape has never let me down.

It's a perfectly strong adhesive.

A good painters tape is sticky enough to stay put throughout a project but gentle enough to remove once the project is done without causing damage. Frogtape does just that.

While it's powerful on its own, Frogtape's adhesion is actually activated when wet, so when your paintbrush comes in contact with it, it clings to the wall even more. You can jumpstart this by running a damp cloth along the edge of the tape if you're worried about any paint bleeding through.

It's always fresh.

If you're in the habit of doing multiple DIY projects over a period of time, you might not want to order new painters tape each time. While other tapes will age over time, Frogtape comes in a clear container for easy storage. But that easy storage also serves another purpose: It keeps the adhesion fresh and strong for your next project.

It eliminates touch-ups.

While it's no big deal to touch up paint, I'd rather not. To avoid using touch-up paint in tricky spots, I use a wider version of Frogtape to give me a little more wiggle room for mistakes. I also use this to tape off the edges of my ceiling so that if I accidentally get a little loose with my brush strokes, I won't have to go back and correct it.

You can count on it for crisp, clean lines.

There is no feeling quite like finishing a paint job, then slowly peeling away the painters tape to reveal a perfectly crisp line, which I always get with Frogtape. There's no bleed-through, no paint chips, or damage to the wall, just fresh paint and clean lines.

How to Apply Painters Tape

If you're using painters tape for your baseboards or trim, make sure the baseboards are clean, dry, and free of dust. Start your Frogtape at one end of the wall and slowly apply it along the length of your baseboards, making sure the edge of the tape is snug against the wall in a straight line.

Is a geometric mural more your style? To apply painters tape to the wall, opt for a version of painters tape for delicate surfaces.

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Use a laser level to project the mural lines on your wall, then slowly tape off each section. Paint the mural one section at a time, and allow it adequate time to dry (usually 24 hours) before taping off a new area to paint.

For me, painting is a joyful and nostalgic experience, and to keep that positivity afloat, it's worth taking the time to use the best painters tape so that my prep is productive and the payoff of crisp, clean lines is guaranteed.