Please don't paint over your receptacles.
It might be easier to just paint over the receptacles but the time saved is not worth the challenges you'll face in the future. Yes, it takes a bit more time to remove the covers and carefully paint around the electrical devices but it can save you much more in the long run.
Please don't paint over your receptacles. It creates a fire hazard, and it has the potential to destroy the devices. When you paint over a receptacle, you do two things. One, you get paint inside of the device that will prevent anything you plug into it from making solid contact.
If a male cord end makes a minimal contact in a receptacle it can create an arc situation that not only has the ability to destroy what is plugged into it, but it can also cause a fire.
The second thing you do when you paint over devices (receptacles and
switches) is that you make it nearly impossible to get the cover plate off of it for a future technician who is servicing the device. In the photos to the right, you can see the evolution of a repair. The first picture is the painted device. When the cover-plate screw was removed the plate would not come off.
When a little pressure was applied to the cover it broke free and brought the front of the receptacle with it. That exposed the powered parts to the technician who was servicing it. The arc that it created tripped the breaker, but it could have just as easily lit the wallpaper. It destroyed the receptacle and the cover-plate.
Please, don't paint over your receptacles and switches. You might save a few minutes, but you also may burn your house down for that savings. It's not worth it, and it only takes a couple seconds to remove the cover-plate and cover the receptacle with a piece of painter's tape. Take the smart route and save your home from a potential fire hazard.
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