Day 683: Whitewashin'

So what do you do with fresh plaster. The answer is nothing. Give it as long to dry as possible. We gave it about 2 weeks before Carolyn insisted on getting her sitting room back. We grabbed a new bucket of ScrewFix's finest new plaster paint. This was the stuff we used on the kitchen and it worked a charm. Below is the rest of the kit - an ever growing stock of poles, trays, liners and brushes. Every time we paint something I feel the need to pick up something new. 

First step was the cut in .. basically painting all the tricky parts with a smaller paint brush before moving on to the roller to move a bit quicker.

Now some people enjoy painting ... they are typically called "artists" but for the rest of us it's not the most interesting of chores. However, in painting the room, I had a bit of a Tom Sawyer moment .. For those that have no idea what I'm talking about, click the link below...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xZm2UOam74

The dialogue went something like .. 

"Daddy what are you doing?"
"Painting"
"Can I do some painting?"
"I don't know, it's very tricky to get right. And I'm very picky with my painting"
"WAAAAAAAAAA!"
"OK, OK, only if you are really careful"
(add a second kid and a wife, with roughly the same dialogue)

And before you knew it, I had a small army painting the room white.

And the pink room was now a white room. With a lovely brownish trim across the top.. But that is the subject of a future post.

Day 677: The pink room

Long time, no post. Before you think that we've been neglecting our DIY obligations, let me tell you that things on the Surbubiton project have been progressing. Things on suburbitonproject.blogspot.co.uk have however been neglected. I think our blogger should get the sack ...

So onto .. er .. um .. September....

We just returned from holiday in Canada to a freshly plastered lounge.. The walls were pink and smooth and much, much less cracky. There were apparently some drama moments with the plastering, but that's another story.

The plaster was still a bit wet in some areas, so we'll need to leave it be for a bit longer to dry. I did however need to clear out all the plaster from the light and power sockets in order to get things plugged back in. A little TLC with a Stanley knife and this was quickly sorted.

The challenge now is how long we can bear having a pink room .. I suspect my stamina is longer than Carolyn's. 

Day 340: A family painting day

Now that the walls are plastered, time to get on with the painting. We've given the plaster about a week so it was dry to touch but still not thoroughly dried. I picked up special bare plaster paint from ScrewFix that both provides sufficient priming to newly plastered walls but also allows them to continue drying. I picked up a bunch of other materials as well to complete the job.

First step, preparation. The walls were good but not perfect. Some minor imperfections needed to be be filled using some fine surface filler. As stated on the tin, this stuff goes on smooth. A I learned however, don't chuck too much on as it's a pain to sand down afterwards.

After the walls were prepped, on went the paint. I enlisted help from the whole family for this. Some paint actually made it onto the walls. I think the kids enjoyed helping out - Ash especially.

So I was pretty impressed with the "No Nonsense" bare plaster paint. No watering down needed, good coverage properties and goes on nice and thick to hide any minor imperfections. 20L was enough for 2 coats on all surfaces of the kitchen. It's very white however. Our kitchen looks much brighter, albeit a bit clinical.

Next up, the floors .. 

All the materials needed ...

For the minor blemishes...

Caitlin did actually paint .. just not when the camera was on

Ash was right into in however ..

Fascinating ..

Covered in paint .. and loving it.

Attention to detail

One very white kitchen

From a different angle ..