Painting and decorating success

Want to know the real secret to a successful decorating project?

Preparation.

There, I've said it. Now you can go away all bright eyed and bushy-tailed to start painting and decorating your own home

Not really. You need to know what to prepare.

Stare at stuff

The best advice I can give is to look at the room and look at each aspect of it. Start with the ceiling. Crane your neck back and stare at it. You will see all sorts of undulations and cracks. These undulations and cracks will need filling. Use a water based filler designed for walls and ceilings. Apply the filler using a filling knife and sand down with glasspaper once dried.

Again, do the same for the walls. Stare at them. If you do it for long enough, you will see what needs filling and making good. Again use a water based filler to make good any defects and smooth out the wall.

Woodwork. Or trim (as our American friends call it)

Woodwork requires a bit more staring. It also sometimes requires sanding down first to allow the fillers and caulk to adhere, especially if the previous finish is a gloss finish. Filling woodwork is sometimes a more time consuming task.

Woodwork fillers

Use appropriate fillers for the task. I use caulk for filling long gaps between architraves and door linings and across the tops of skirtings (baseboards) where it meets the wall. I also use 2 pack wood fillers for the majority of filling. These are usually a solvent based filler mixed with a hardener. Only mix very small batch at a time because it dries in about 5 - 10 minutes.

2nd Filling

What more filling! Yes, and sometimes a 3rd fill. This usually happens once you have painted everything once. Go around again and see what needs filling and re-fill. Once you have done that, sand down to a smooth finish and touch up with your chosen paint with a small roller for the walls and ceilings in their respective colours. (Yes I spell colours the English way). Once you do this, the walls and ceilings are ready for a 2nd coat.

2nd filling the woodwork

With the woodwork an additional filler is required. In some instances you would have missed sections which will require the 2 pack filler. Overwise choose to use fine surface filler. This is water based filler (usually) and allows for finer filling of nail heads and defects. After your first coat of paint on the woodwork, it will show up all sorts of defects that were not there when you 1st filled. Don't be disheartened, this is a normal process. Again, fill with your fine surface filler, sand down to a smooth finish and touch up the filler (very important), ready for the 2nd coat of paint.

So the real secret to a good decorating finish is to STARE, FILL, PAINT ONCE, STARE AGAIN, FILL AGAIN, PAINT AGAIN, and so on and so on...... until you get the right finish.

That's what us decorators do