I just had the same problem when painting my closet. The paint leaked under the tape along the bottom of the wall. I even made sure that I ran my finger all along the edge of the tape before painting. Coincidentially, I was at the end of my roll too. I wouldn't think that would matter because the end of each roll was once connnected to the beginning of another roll in the factory. Did you use 3M brand? I have had worse problems with leaking, and ripping off of paint, when I used the Ace hardware brand of tape. Regardless, the wall looks great!

Yeah it was the expensive 3M stuff.

i think you are supposed to run a putty knife or some other flat thing along the tape after you stick it on, to make sure it's burnished along the edge. you are supposed to take the tape off before the paint is dry.

i skip the tape altogether and freehand with a 2" angle brush.

I freehand as well and I get the best results. Taping takes too long for my taste anyways, I'm impatient.

I like the magnetic wall, I think I might do a chalkboard wall for my craft room. I'm not sure yet.

i've never had great luck with paint bleeding. if you look in our apartment where we painted, you'll see mysterious little red and blue blotches where we had carefully taped.

have fun getting the red off, you'll end up with about 15 white coats of paint.

I don't know what caused the paint leakage, but the walls are very pretty, lady :) Good job!

I freehand too, but with a 1" angled nylon brush. I can control a smaller brush better. Amber, you're a graphic artist ... I *know* you can paint a straight line. It's so much faster than all that taping and you don't get any of those smaller blobs that taping produces.

Cool wall!

Yeah, actually I usually freehand it, that's what I did in my kitchen, but the red was really hard to clean off the gray walls so I wasn't as confident.

paint these days is so cool! I want a chalkboard wall in the kitchen, and now I want a magnetic wall in my office!

You inspire me Amber!

Gah, I love you. That last shot cracked me up. But I LOVE the magnetic wall deal. That's genius. My sister has a section in her 1st grade classroom with the paint on it, but for whatever reason, I've never even thought to do it in my own home. You've got me all kinds of thinking...

And the tape business, I've used tape from the beginning, middle and end of the roll -- I always get a little leakage.

to eliminate the bleeding through of the paint pull the tape as it's wet and make sure before you paint it AND when you set the tape that you keep on pressing it down.

I really like the magnetic wall! And I've always gotten the leakage too. Thanks for the saucy tip.

I like it - although I guess I don't get it. Why not just tape posters to the wall? Is it to prevent tears or to make them easily interchangeable?

My walls are plaster so tacks don't work, and tape tears posters and ruins paint.

I feel your problem on the paint leaking, i too have had this happen. Like several others have commented, I choose to freehand.

BUT, if you do want to use tape, follow these steps and from my experience you will have no paint leakage:
1. tape your edges
2. purchase a paint color that matches the border/base coat that you are painting over. With a brush, paint a strip of the base color (half over the tape, half over the wall to be painted the fun color).
3. Once this base coat is dry proceed painting with your chosen color as you would have in the first place.
4. peel off tape as usual

the idea here is the any leakage that happens under the tape will match the color of the wall it is leaking onto. Once this "okay" leakage takes place, your fun color is safe!!!

try it, it worked for me

hey! I love your tips, you have such great ideas.
Another trick you can use, that I've had lots of success with, is to buy a paintable caulk. They come in toothpaste size containers and cost $1 or $2 (anywhere paint is sold).
After taping, you squeeze out a small line of caulking on the edge of the tape. then, you run down the tape with your finger, which spreds the caulking down as well. This seals the tape, just like painting.
The only trick here is not to use too little, or too much.
too little, and you get paint leakage. too much and you get while caulk leakage- which is only okay if the wall underneath is white too.

I just say that some company makes a pink caulk which looks really easy to see. As it dries, it turns white- then you can see when its okay to paint. I am planning to buy that the next time i paint.
btw, your wall is excellent, and cool

Here's the secret to no-bleed paint: PAINTER'S CAULK. Yup. It's awesome. Basically you tape off your area and then run a bead of Painter's Caulk along the tape seam. Then run your finger over the bead like if you were caulking tile. Then paint like usual and let dry. When you pull off the tape you will have the cleanest sharpest lines in town! It's what the professionals use and you can get it at Home Depot.

Erm... maybe I should read other people's comments before post? (So embarassing!)

Anyway, I love the magnetic wall.

I haven't tried this myself, but I've heard of doing the same thing Jessie said, but instead of matching paint, just use acrylic medium. That way you wouldn't have to worry about matching the paint color underneath, if you don't have it any more, and it still creates that same seal.

If you run the back of your fingernail all along the edge of the tape and really burnish it well, it won't happen. I painted some huge 80's stripes along one wall in my old condo, and that was the best solution. The first stripe before I learned that trick was ug-ly. The rest of the stripes were perfect.
Great use of the magnetic paint. I might have to try that in the Husband's office.

Very cool that this is on Apartment Therapy's website!!

The wall is awesome, as is your taste in music!

By coincidence I happen to be in the middle of magnetizing a door.

First I used the Rustoleum primer. There wasn't a lot of magnetic attraction, so on top of the Rustoleum I used an additive that comes as a powder and you have to mix with a latex primer. The additive was significantly more textured when dry (this isn't desirable as you want a flat surface) and didn't really provide a more magnetic base.

Anyway, I'd recommend the Rustoleum primer over additive bases. The only thing with the Rustoleum primer is that it dries almost black, so you'll need a good number of top coats to cover it.

Any way you go be prepared to accept the fact that the magnetic paint just won't have the magnetic attraction as the steel door of your fridge.

I did use the Rustoleum primer. And yeah, it dries almost black.

The only problem I see: what happens when you want to take those super strong magnets off? Get a stronger magnet and basically drag the magnets off?

Hey,.. This is a great idea. I'm looking to redo my bedroom and this idea is prefect for one of my walls. Maybe I can even paint it, to give the posters a background colour.

lifehacker.com having a link that leads me to an american nightmare poster was one of the last things I ever expected.

K-
You could do that, or you could just pull it off with your fingers. They're not permanently stuck to the wall.

sweet posters.

What a great idea for a craft room, or a rec room, or definitely a kids room! Ranks right up there with chalk board paint! :)

I'd like something light, portable, and large to display frig magnets that I plan to sell. Can't figure out what would be appropriate. Any ideas?

Fantastic idea! Thanks. I was thinking of doing chalkboard paint on one of my office's walls but mmmm magnets--magnetic one and chalkboard another! Good times. Good times.

The trick to not getting leakage under tape is to apply a wet brush *well away from* the taped edge. Avoid the tape when applying the paint. Then, when your brush is almost dry, paint over the taped edge.

The important thing here is the almost dry brush. You will have to brush harder to get the last of the paint onto the wall, but when you pull the tape off later, you won't have a problem with seepage.

Apply a second coat using the same method, then remove the tape while the paint is drying. I worked as a painter's laborer for a few months and this method worked every time.

I also recommend using paper tape that has adhesive along only one edge. Masking tape tends to be *too sticky* and it can be hard to remove. Before you paint, go over the tape edge with a plastic putty knife to make sure you have a good seal.

"The only problem I see: what happens when you want to take those super strong magnets off? Get a stronger magnet and basically drag the magnets off?"

Nah. Even "super strong" magnets don't stick too well to the small amount of black iron oxide in the paint. You should be able to pull them off without too much trouble.

as a painter, not the artistic kind, i've found that the easiest way to use tape without messing up this lines is this: press as hard as you can when setting the tape, then paint your line, and then pull the tape before it dries.

hopefully you haven't put the paint on too thick, and when you pull the tape, your line will be perfect.

the problem i've found with leaving the tape on until the paint dries, other than the bleeding, is that sometimes it pulls up the paint you've just applied. either that or it makes a noticeable rough edge where the paint dried up against the tape.

also, someone else may have said this exact same thing on here, and if so, i apologize.

I love your blog! I got here totally by accident and have ended up reading forever. My friend is WW and will love your recipes. I eat lowcarb and some of them look pretty darn good to me too. Your magnetic spice and wall ideas are awesome! I'm so inspired!! I'm wondering, what ideas did you come up with for a metallic flat (long flat?) something to put on (the wall?) to stick all those to, if you weren't using the stove? I'm trying to think of what would be a real thin flat piece of metal I could say, run vertically in two stripes down the wall next to my kitchen doorway for example. I considered sticking them to the side of the refrigerator but that would hide them from me while cooking due to my kitchen layout. Thanks again for all the great stuff here!

I painted house for a couple of years.
I stopped using tape in corners, just use a large 4" brush and as much paint as it will hold without dripping. You can cut a line several feet before reloading, it will be slightly wavy but will have more character that a taped line and no tape trash.
If you must use tape, use 1" 3m blue tape and Alex Plus brilliant white caulk. Tape, caulk, wipe excess (have wet rag handy), paint and remove tape soonish. If caulk and paint dry, pulling off tape will often peel up caulk.

Very cool wall. I love that it is for your office. LUCKY!

My work cube hipness is limited to Ugly Dolls and a Lebowskifest bumpersticker that reads "The dude abides".

Thank you so much for the magnet recommendation! I just received mine yesterday and it turned my magnetic wall from a mild disappointment into the miracle I thought it would be when I bought the paint!

My topcoat is chalkboard paint - double fun!

I am an artist and have a lot of experience painting hard edge paintings with one color next to another color. Masking tape is used to get a straight clean edge between colors, but the real trick is to push the tape down good with your fingers and then give the edge of the tape a coat of flat painter's medium. It is a clear, thick, flat varnish that will seal any small seeping points under the tape. After it dries and you paint the colored paint to the tape, the seeping points are already plugged with the clear medium and the color has nowhere to go under the tape. Peel off the tape and you get a perfectly straight clean edge. Instead of colored paint leaking under the tape, there may be places that the clear medium got under, but they are clear and you don't even see them.

Here's another tip. I have a web site at www.lyt.com where I sell my Magically Magnetic Paint Additive. It's a dry powder that you can mix with any kind of paint and make it a magnetic paint just like the stuff you buy premixed, but at less than half the price of the stores or on line. Even better, my magnetic aditive can be mixed with a white paint or primer and it will stay white. It is then easy to cover with a coat of your colored finish paint. The premixed brands are all dark gray or even black. My Magically Magnetic Paint is mixed fresh every time you use it and it works great. You can even use a left-over can of paint you might have laying around to mix with my additive.

I LOVE the magnetic wall idea. I've been trying to think of a good way to create a display wall that I could frequently change posters around on, and this is perfect!

Here's a thought: I have a bunch of dry-mounted posters. Do you think that if I attached the magnets to the back of them, the magnets would be able to hold them? I know the dry-mounting doesn't add a lot of weight, but it adds some. I just think that would be a great way to constantly put new posters up.

We usually tape off the baseboards, trim, and ceiling and then run over the edge you would like to "seal" with a glaze (typically used in faux). The is a little bit white in color, but dries clear and helps seal the tape. Works especially well if your walls tend to be textured.

Ugh. I just found your blog after ATTEMPTING to paint a magnetic wall in my kitchen. After FOUR coats my fridge magnets still would not stick and so I called the manufacturer and was told that you need to use the entire can on an area no larger than 16 square feet. My wall is 20 square feet and so I bought another quart. I'm on my 8th coat now! My fridge magnets BETTER stick when I'm done.

And I agree that painter's caulk is the way to do tape for edging. My husband is a contractor and that is the way the professionals do it. I've been doing the cutting in by hand for 20 years, but after learning the trick with the caulk, that's the only way to go!