Any one of you who has been out shopping for DIY products over the last few years will have noticed the appearnce of a new painting tool - the paint pad. Every hardware store aisle that you walk down these days has some of these painting pads in stock. Are paint pads just a clever television marketing campaign success or are they an actual useful home decorating tool? Why would you want to buy some of these pads?

Paint pads are just that ? pads that can hold paint. They are very effective for cutting in around wall edges and getting a straight line near the ceiling. Some people feel that they don't always do a super job on painting entire walls, although a lot of manufacturers recommend them for that purpose. Personally speaking when you use paint pads with a little effort and some care you can achieve a finish that can rival any paint brush - and in a fraction of the time. I've often been able to give an entire room two coats of paint in about 5 - 6 hours with paint pads. This is normally a two day job with plain old brushes.

However, used in combination with a roller, they are a very useful little tool to have. Edge areas with the paint pad that you'd have difficulty reaching with the roller and then roll the walls, making sure to roll a little over the line from the paint pad to blend the whole thing together.

A few tips for getting the most out of your paint pad tool:

* Always go in one direction, just as you would with a paint brush . This means that you shouldn't slide the pad back and forth. Instead, slide it across the surface you are painting and then lift it up to place it beside the strip you just painted to resume painting. Sliding it back and forth makes the finished job look anything but smooth.

* Be careful when you are applying paint to the pad. The whole point of this tool is how easy it is to get right up to the edge of a wall without getting paint on the ceiling or trim. If you slop paint onto the edges or spacers, you've just lost the ability to do this.

* Clean the pad right away when you are done using it. To me, it seems a lot harder to get paint out of one of these when they are left to dry than a paintbrush. They aren't super cheap, so I like to be sure I get more than one use out of them. However, if the paint does dry and you want to go ahead and just toss them, make sure you don't throw out the handle, too. Most of these tools have replacement pads and buying them is cheaper than buying the whole thing.

Paint pads are a definite must for any home decorator. They can help speed up any painting job and definitely reduce the amount of mess and clean up work you have afterwards.