BM Aura Bath & Spa is a bathroom paint that I used for my walls. It is a matte finish. I have Aura satin for the door and case work. But I may have purchased another line from BM for the cupboard I painted in satin. It really is a personal preference. I can't stand the tactile texture of a matte finish, so I don't rub my hands on my walls :) I love a smooth glossy finish to touch, so I like it at the doorway. But, I love the velvet LOOK of matte. For me it also depends on how many shiny surfaces I have. I like to play off of flat with a little shine and vise versa.

We just went through a living room update because of a large crack in the ceiling drywall. The job included the dining room, foyer, and adjoining hallways We removed the popcorn and had the builder stomp the ceiling followed with the slightest knock down. Then came the recommended semi gloss white paint. We said excuse me? He said your going to love it. We are early 50’s people and may be a little flat on current trends so we bargained to let him show us with the reassurance that if we did not like it the primer and flat paint are on him. He said deal. We absolutely love it and so does everyone else. Never would have considered it but for this job it is amazing.

Okay - I know I asked a lot of questions but there are so many things home owners and builders do to their homes it pays to find out all you can - especially if you are troubleshooting. Based on what you said - you probably have latex wall paint and a latex semi-gloss on your trim. Molding should be caulked if it is not. Thsi bleeding under the tape is usually caused by not firmly pressing the tape edge down and by pressing a fully loaded paint brush into the tape edge hoping to get a good cut in line. In my experiance you should only cut into a taped edge with a brush that is not dripping with paint. Let brush below the tape line a few strokes before getting right into the tape edge. This will help keep loads of paint from pressing into the tape edge and encouraging the seepage under the tape. Lightly paint up to the tape edge, going over the tape edge with a lightly loaded brush - don't glob it in there trying to cover in one stroke and coat. Build the color at the tape edge. Hold you brush straight up and down. Tilting the brush will encourage paint to go where no painters wants it to go. For you - I would tape off the new wall paint and repaint the part of the trim that has the bleeding paint. This should go fast as you don't have to paint the whole molding and if you follow the tips above, you shouldn't have to worry about additional seepage. Take your time - make a good tape line and don't over load your brush. It may take two coats but it beats trying to clean up right against the newly painted wall with deep colors. Make sure to use high quality painters tape. Good luck.

jn3344, paintguy22, David Jensen, lazy_gardens, carolb_w_fl - Thank you for your recent advice. I am tempted to buy one can of Homax Wall Grade Wall Texture in a can to help with the smooth areas. I am worried that the lack of texture on this part of the wall will make the rest of the paint job look funny. I started using a sander because after watching of our subcontractors easily take the stain out of wood with his heavy duty machine, I thought I could do the same with the wall. Well, I was very wrong. So chronological plan is - Wash walls with TSP, spray with texture, add primer (possibly two coats?), then paint. I hope this sounds okay. Perhaps I need to wash that particular area of the wall again after adding spray texture and before primer(?) I made things a lot more difficult but chalk it up to a learning experience. If you have any helpful tips, that would be appreciated.