Help: Fastest, Cheapest way to magnolia a house?

BrandNewDay

Hiya! I'm hoping some of you can help us.

We are selling a very cheap house on a sink estate. The estate agent recommended that we merely throw magnolia all over the walls and maybe rent a Rug Doctor, as we're looking for a quick sale at a low price.

We've never painted a house, before, and I was hoping that we could get some advice from you fine folks.

First, we have to paint at least two radiators that have been drawn on by children (no, it won't wash off. I've tried.) Then, we have to paint all the walls, including some that have rather darkly-patterned wallpaper. The painted walls have grubby kids' marks and scribbles on them, but there isn't any grease or nicotine discoloration.

What is the fastest, cheapest way to get the place magnolia'd from top to bottom? What sorts of paints should we use? Do we need to worry about things like scrubbing all the walls with sugar soap or anything like that?

Homersimpson

A bucket of paint and a firework!

Seriously, if the walls are ok and the paper will take being painted over I would just buy a few of the 10l tubs of B&Q magnolia and roller the walls. (Best to do the ceilings in white before you do the walls).

BrandNewDay

Ooh, yeah... the ceiling. It's that textured stuff. I forget what it's called. Anyway, since there's no smoke or grease discoloration, we're probably just going to leave it alone. It may not look great, but it's probably going to have to do.

jcb208

And if theres felt tip pen marks on the wall you will need to seal them in with a stain block or undercoat otherwise they burn through the emulsion

BrandNewDay

jcb208 wrote: »

And if theres felt tip pen marks on the wall you will need to seal them in with a stain block or undercoat otherwise they burn through the emulsion

I did not know this! Anything else of that sort we need to watch out for? Is this stain block/undercoat just something we can daub on the problem spots?

lynzpower

One risk you might find is that when you paint the walls anew- the ceiling will look grubby and old in contrast. I would budget and prepare to do this too. Do you mean Artex?

BrandNewDay

lynzpower wrote: »

One risk you might find is that when you paint the walls anew- the ceiling will look grubby and old in contrast. I would budget and prepare to do this too. Do you mean Artex?

Yes! That's what I mean.

We have no budget. Is there a cheap way to paint Artex?

lagaaa

You can just use white emulsion paint. It really soaks it up so in an ideal world you would want to do a couple of coats but one should do it for a freshen up.

jcb208

BrandNewDay wrote: »

I did not know this! Anything else of that sort we need to watch out for? Is this stain block/undercoat just something we can daub on the problem spots?

Stain block is available in a spray so just apply to problem area.Oil based undercoat is an alternative If you have some available and saves you a fiver for the stain block

ormus

always paint the ceilings. white.
it makes a huge difference.

get some rollers on sticks. makes the job simple.

keystone

BrandNewDay wrote: »

Ooh, yeah... the ceiling. It's that textured stuff. I forget what it's called.

Artex.

...........we're probably just going to leave it alone.

As you should do for the rest of it too.

It may not look great, but it's probably going to have to do.

Yes it ALL should - your EA is speaking out of his fundamental. The first thing prospective buyers think when they walk through the door and see (and smell probably) that its all been freshly painted is "what are they covering up?"

As you are selling it cheap anyway don't bother - it won't make a ha'pporth of difference to the price you get for it.

Cheers