How to Paint Over Dark Stained Trim
How to use white paint over dark stained trim successfully with no stain bleed through.
Adios…Au Revoir, Farewell, Arriverderci… I am saying my final goodbye to the last of the brown stained trim molding in my house.
Hello… white and ready for a new decorating style to take over.
All of the brown stained trim is finally on its way out from my kitchen and dining area and even in the hallway that I call the hallway of darkness.
I have been working over the weekend to get the last of all the brown stained trim and baseboards… gone! I have something else in mind planned for the brown stained doors. I will be posting about that soon, but before I can get to it, I have to get the brown gone everywhere else first.

We plan on adding new flooring over this vinyl, but until we get around to it, I decided I would get a head start on getting the brown stained trim painted. When we update the floor, all I will have to do is replace the base shoe molding with a new length that I will buy already primed and painted white.
After I washed the baseboards and trim with hot sudsy water and let them dry, I used a few rolls of FrogTape® brand painter’s tape, which made the job of painting all the brown trim much easier. I didn’t have to worry about getting paint brush strokes on the floor and once the tape is removed the line between the shoe molding and floor will be sharp and crisp.
I used FrogTape® on my first staircase redo in my previous house. (I am still working on the staircase in this house and will post that when I get it completed.) I loved that I had no paint bleed, not even a little on all the steps I used FrogTape® on.
It is the only painting tape treated with patented PaintBlock® Technology that really does keep latex paint from seeping under it so you get the sharpest paint lines possible. For this particular project, I used FrogTape® Multi-Surface, but this tape is also offered for delicate surfaces.
I needed a lot of it since there is a lot of brown trim and baseboards…
…in every room…

…around doors…

… high and low. Brown trim molding everywhere.
It is now history.
One of the most frequently asked questions I receive about painting is:
How long should you wait before removing painter’s tape after painting something?
The answer: Right after you are finished painting or soon after. If you wait until the paint is dry, you run the risk of the paint drying to the tape and when you remove it, you may take some of the newly painted finish off with it. This is especially true with latex paints.
Removing Painter’s Tape Tip: When you remove the tape, pull up a 12″ – 18″ section of the tape at a time. As you are pulling the tape, ball up the used tape in your hand. Removing it this way keeps the tape away from the wet paint and makes it easy to toss in the trash.
Once the tape is all removed you are left with a very clean edge with no spots where paint seeped under the edge of the tape.
I will show you how I painted the doors in this hallway of darkness in my next post. With all the brown gone…the hallway is starting to look like a bright and happy space.
For more inspiration for your upcoming paint projects, check out FrogTape® painting inspiration Pinterest board!
