I think they make a low-tack blue painter's tape that you can use on wallpaper. Not sure I would try the acrylic trick, as that might create problems with pulling off the tape and damaging the edge of the border paper.

The low-tack "delicate surfaces" tape is lavender. There's also a very-low-tack masking that is brown paper with a post-it-like adhesive on the back, but I don't think it works as well. Make sure you really burnish the edge down with the back of a spoon to prevent paint bleeding under the edge. When you peel the tape off, don't peel it straight off, at a right angle to the wall, but double it back on itself and sloooooowly pull the tape parallel to the wall.

Long time no see! :-)

Thanks! I spend summers on the Garden side of the forums. I also have a seasonal business and am seldom home until winter. Then I am housebound doing paperwork; that's when I launch new home decorating schemes¡Kor continue where I left off last winter! It's nice to know someone noticed I wasn't around! There were an awful lot of projects left hanging. My paint for this dining room with the border is a year old now: hard to believe I've lived with the clashing colors where my old DR color (raspberry) meets my kitchen color (dark seafoam green) for that long. Not to mention the pile of stained woodwork in the basement so-called "playroom", or the new front door standing up in the home office. Surprised the family hasn't gone on strike.

I used the brown paper with a post-it-like adhesive on the back before, and I did have bleeding. I found the best use for that is not when masking off a part of a flat surface: it works great for the ceiling where it meets the wall: where 2 surfaces meet at a right angle. My husband would always hit the ceiling with the roller before when painting the walls. The brown tape is wide enough to take care of that problem.

I will look for the delicate surfaces tape. les917, I see what you mean by creating problems if using the acrylic trick, with pulling off the tape and damaging the edge of the border paper. Come to think of it, I think they were using that only when masking a painted wall surface: no wallpaper involved. Good thing I asked here first!

I've done the acrylic treatment along a wall paper border edge. I taped off the border surface using the Scotch "safe-release" tape. Then, I painted the edge with the clear acrylic, let that dry, and then painted the wall. Before taking off the tape, I went around the edge with a craft knife, to make sure the paint didn't lift. It was a bit time consuming, but it worked great.