Painting skirting boards when you’re planning to replace carpets

[WellTidy]

Our hall, stairs and landing carpets desperately need replacing. The whole area needs to be redecorated including painting spindles and skirting boards etc. There is carpet down now.

How do you go about painting these when the carpet needs to be replaced? Do you pull it up in readiness, paint, and then live without the carpet until the new carpet is fitted? What about the little sharp things that keep the carpet in position - unsafe to expose these with children?

Or do you paint what you can with the old carpet down?

Or do you paint when the new carpet goes down, and risk getting paint on the new carpet?

If you're getting the new carpet soon then pull up the old carpet and paint without. It will look much better.

Pull up the carpet and put some thick cardboard over the spiky things. You do not want to step on those 😬

Alternatively, on the stairs where it may not be safe to cover those strips with cardboard you can also take a Stanley knife and just cut off the edges of the carpet

I think cutting the edges is the way to go, thanks. And that guarantees that we can’t then change our minds about whether we need new carpet or not!