How to Paint Ceiling Corners

Co-authored by Patrick Coye

Last Updated: September 16, 2021 References

Painting your ceiling corners is a finishing touch you need to do before your paint job is complete. Protect yourself and your floor by wearing old clothes and laying down a drop cloth.^{[1]
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Expert Source

Patrick Coye
Painting Specialist
Expert Interview. 22 July 2020.} Start by painting the entire edge of your ceiling by hand. Then, use a loaded roller to paint the corner you’re interested in.

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Protecting Yourself and Your Home

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Remove any furniture that you can from the room. Trying to paint ceiling corners with a bunch of furniture in the way will only make a hard job even harder. Plus, you risk dripping paint on your furniture by accident. Pull furniture away from the walls and move it to the center of the room before you get started.
- If you’re painting the whole ceiling and not just the ceiling corners, remove your furniture to another room entirely.
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Tape the edges of the wall.^{[2]
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Expert Source

Patrick Coye
Painting Specialist
Expert Interview. 22 July 2020.} Lay blue painter’s tape along the entire perimeter of the wall where it meets the ceiling. This will prevent the paint you’re applying to the ceiling from accidentally getting on the wall.^{[3]
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- If you apply a lot of paint where the paint meets the ceiling, score the edge with a razor blade before removing the tape so the paint doesn’t peel.
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3
Protect your floor.^{[4]
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Expert Source

Patrick Coye
Painting Specialist
Expert Interview. 22 July 2020.} Lay down a drop cloth before you start working. If you don’t have a dropcloth, use an old set of sheets.^{[5]
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- If you’re only painting ceiling corners, you can probably get away with just laying down some thick cardboard or a layer of newspapers beneath the corner in question.
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Wear old clothes or overalls. Painting ceiling corners can be messy. Wear heavy overalls or old clothes when painting. Do not wear new clothes or anything that you might be concerned about if it got paint on it.^{[6]
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- Disposable rubber gloves might also be useful.
- Wear a hat, too, to protect your head.

Part 2

Part 2 of 3:

Applying Paint

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Use a paintbrush to paint towards the corner. To start the process, dip a 3 in (7.6 cm) paintbrush into your paint of choice. Move the brush along the ceiling in one continuous direction, painting a 3 in (7.6 cm) margin of the ceiling.^{[7]
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- Use a ladder to reach the ceiling. Place your bucket of paint on top of it. If the ceiling corners you wish to paint are too tall to reach with a ladder, erect scaffolding.
- Paint the edge of the ceiling as thickly as possible without the paint dripping.^{[8]
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- If the ceiling is textured, push your brush into the grooves to ensure all the nooks and crannies get painted.
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Paint away from the corner. When you reach the corner of the wall, begin painting another continuous margin along the adjoining wall, heading away from the corner. Use your paintbrush to paint this strip, too. This second margin along the ceiling should be just as wide as the first strip you painted.^{[9]
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Paint toward the corner with a loaded roller. After painting a strip of paint across the entire perimeter of the ceiling, dip your loaded roller into the paint of your choice. Roll it towards the ceiling corner you’re interested in painting in such a way that it overlaps a bit with the area you just painted with the paintbrush. Roll in one direction toward the opposite side of the room.^{[10]
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- Back roll over the overlap to avoid leaving lines on the ceiling.
- Do not place the roller directly overhead or you risk dripping paint on yourself.
- Use a roller with a nap of more than ½ inch (one centimeter).^{[11]
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Reload your roller with paint as needed. You’ll be able to tell that you need more paint on your loaded roller when you notice that it is no longer applying paint evenly to the ceiling. When this happens, dip—but do not submerge—your roller in paint.^{[12]
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- Don’t let the roller get too dry or you’ll end up with lines on the ceiling.

Part 3

Part 3 of 3:

Painting the Rest of the Ceiling

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Move in parallel strips to cover the ceiling. After your first corner has been painted, paint the ceiling in strips that touch each other, and that run parallel to the direction in which you painted the first corner. For instance, if you painted the ceiling corner by pushing the loaded roller from the front to the back of your room, continue applying paint by moving the loaded roller along a front-to-back axis.^{[13]
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- In this way, you’ll paint 2 corners, then the rest of the ceiling, then the final 2 corners.
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Evaluate your work regularly. As you paint the ceiling, step back and examine your progress. Look for areas where the paint has been applied unevenly (that is, areas where the paint is too light). Roll the loaded roller across these areas when you detect them.^{[14]
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Let the paint dry before deciding if it needs another coat. If you decide to apply a second coat, use the same method you did the first time—use the loaded roller to apply the paint in parallel strips—but move in a direction perpendicular to the strips you applied the first time.^{[15]
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- If you do apply another coat, paint in a different direction that you applied the first coat. This is especially helpful if you have a textured ceiling.

Community Q&A

Question

How do you paint on top of a textured painted wall?

Jack Pierce_26

Community Answer

Get a ladder, step-stool, or anything else that will elevate you up higher, use a smaller roller to get exactly into the corners, it might be hard to do though. For corners, use a suitable corner roller brush.

Warnings

You should have plenty of air circulation and ventilation in the room you will be painting. Use an oscillating fan for additional circulation.

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