I think tape and paint is being a bit unkind. It's more usual nowadays to see plasterboard white side showing, in France and UK, the joints being tapered, the joints are taped and filled, allowed to dry filled again and finally overfilled with a finish coat once it's all dried it's rubbed down with a 120 grit paper (horrible gob). The same process is applied to the lines of nails (of screws). Have a look at the Lafarge UK site there's some nice explanations of the process if I remember and a downloadable Pdf document. There are French finish plasters available, but you don't see them used on board by the French much, it's all a matter of taste really. The taping method if done well will give an extremely flat surface which could be seen as too regular, so a skim finish might sometimes be preferable, it seems to have a bit of depth somehow. Good luck. Pat http://www.chez-robineau.com