How to Paint Window Trim Without Tape
Painting windows and french doors without tape saves time and money. Follow this easy video tutorial for how to paint window trim without tape.
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Why Paint Window Trim Without Tape?
Have you ever painted wood trim and spent hours taping only to peel off the tape and discover bleed through?! It is such a let down to see all your time, hard work, and money go down the drain on that type of time consuming project. That’s why I set out to find a way to paint window trim without tape!
Windows Before
When we first moved into our current home, we were faced with painting the wood trim in an over 4,000 sq ft home. That’s a lot of wood trim.
So I set out to find the best painters tape, the best paint for trim and the best paint brush for trim to make my life a little easier.
Turns out, I only found one of those three “bests” that I truly loved.
I spent a full 30 hours painting our basement trim myself before hiring out the upstairs to be painted by a professional. The only problem was I waited too long and by the time we hired him it was too cold to paint the window itself because of condensation and issues drying.
So we had half painted windows for about 8 months and while many choose to leave their window trim stained, I was craving that crisp white! That means I got to paint more trim this summer! Yippee! {Cue the sarcasm…}
Lucky for you, I DID discover the best painters tape to use when painting wood trim: None.
How to Paint Wood Trim Without Tape
First step in any DIY project is to gather your materials.
Painting Materials
For this project you will need:
- Best paint brush for window trim
- Trim Primer & Paint of choice
- Utility Knife
- Glass Scraper
- Vacuum for cleanup
3 Easy Steps to Paint Window Trim Without Tape
For an easy visual tutorial, watch this step by step tutorial on my YouTube channel. Follow me on YouTube to stay up to date on all my project tutorials!
Step 1: After preparing your window trim for paint, paint your trim with primer first and then your trim paint.
Don’t worry, you will paint directly onto the glass in this step. You can try to keep it as tidy as possible for less work later. Let dry fully.
Step 2: Score your paint along the edge where the window meets the trim with your utility knife.
Step 3: Scrape the dried paint off the window using your glass scraper. This will create super clean lines!
Use a vacuum to clean up the dried paint scraps and you’re done! This method does require some elbow grease, so be prepared. And because I know you’ll ask, the paint color I chose is White Dove by Benjamin Moore.
I believe this is the best white paint color for trim and doors. It is a soft white with warm undertones and I’ve used it now in two of my homes.
Painted Windows, After
Seeing these beautiful white painted windows makes my heart happy. It draws the eye to our beautiful back yard and all that gorgeous greenery. I can’t believe I waited 8 months to do this!
In total, this huge picture window took me about an hour (excluding paint dry time) to paint and scrape clean. If you are doing a huge project with many windows, I would highly recommend getting a glass scraper like this one that is more high quality.
Spending a little more on this tool will save your fingers and make life a little easier!
Interested in a HUGE DIY?
I hope that this tutorial on how to paint window and door trim without tape has been helpful! If you’re really interested in seeing what this dining room looked like when we moved in, make sure to check out my dining room renovation post! There may have been an indoor spa we had to contend with. 😉
Did you paint the walls the same colour as the wood trim and windows?
You can! That would be called color drenching. But trim and windows can be painted any color you want. This is just a design preference.
WOW! Nice
Amazing tip! I wasn’t even aware that paint would come off so quickly and easily from the glass. I’m just a bit worried about accidentally scratching the glass while removing the excess paint. By the way, mentioning that the windows should be washed before proceeding to paint is a step that many people obviously overlook. It is particularly important in terms of preventing scratches because the remnants of dust and dirt can scratch the glass when using a scraper to remove the paint.
Did you paint the lock and cranks for your windows? or were they already white?
Mine were a taupe that didn’t stick out too badly, so I left them as is. 🙂
What did you do to prep before priming?
You can either sand or use a deglosser! I prefer deglossers for trim. 🙂
I’ve painted windows your way and it was so much easier than taping everything off. Taping off is my least favorite part of painting. My brother came down and helped me paint inside our new-to-us home last year. He’s a bit of a perfectionist, and there being a method to my madness I knew he’d do a great job. He did. Tons of rustic wood trim to tape around. Two rooms took him 3 days. The hardest part of my job was buying all that tape!
I agree! It’s so much less hassle. But how wonderful to have the help on your project! 🙂
Do you prefer oil based or latex trim paint?
I personally prefer latex for ease of clean up. If I were painting outdoors I would use oil based but indoors I use latex. 🙂