painting dilemma

[pia1x]

I'm painting my living room, now I'm ready for the baseboards but have no idea how to do this? Is there a way to do it without a mess or is there a painting tool I can use that would be easy?

[Phelps]

I like to use these cheap 89 cent paint brushes bought at Mautz paint...er, um..maybe they went up to $1.09?...anyway, they are not a fat paint brush. There are less bristles across the width. This allows the tip to be able to come to a chisel point. You can paint with such a brush, without the aid of any type of paint guard. (At least *I* can.) I just painted baseboard up against a finished hardwood floor without getting any on the floor, with this type of brush. I used the 2 inch wide brush.

If you are not comfortable painting next to something you don't want to get paint on, you can tape it off, or, in the case of carpeting you can buy an edger, which resembles a piece of Venetian (mini) blind, or use any other type of edger that has a thin flat surface. You could even use a 12 inch long sheetrock mudder's broad knife for example, to squish down the carpet fibers.