Bag the Toilet to Paint the Wall Behind It

The Problem

The wall behind a toilet is the worst few square feet of any bathroom paint job. The gap between tank and wall is too narrow for a normal roller with you behind it, cutting in around the tank's curves from an awkward crouch invites drips onto the porcelain, and masking a toilet's shape with tape is its own project.

The Technique

1. Cover the toilet with a plastic bag — a large trash bag over the tank and bowl. The whole fixture becomes a drop cloth in the shape of itself, sealed against splatter with nothing to tape.
2. Roll the wall behind and around it. A slim roller on a short handle reaches down the gap behind the tank; with the toilet bagged, the roller can brush right past the fixture without consequences. On installs where the tank sits too close to the wall for any roller, a flat painting pad slides into the gap instead.
3. Pull the bag off once you're done. Any paint that grazed the toilet leaves with the bag.