What to do - grease splashes on wall

tinkle

Hi

After some help!

On the wall behind my cooker I have a glass splash back, which stops majority of splashes. However, to either side of the glass, I have greasy 'splash' marks on the wall. I was hoping to paint over them, but have been told these will show through the paint?

I am trying to avoid tiling! Any help appreciated.

Thanks

erichamster

I had this exact same problem in our house, couldn't afford tiles/didn't want a repeat of the nightmare tiling in the bathroom (very unflat walls-another story) so painted the wall between the cupboards and within 9 months they were looking rather sad.

I just repainted my walls and they look much better, none of the greasy marks showed through and it came up like new. Admittedly I did paint the whole area between the cupboards black (which I'd recommend or at least a dark colour, looks like tiles or splash back from afar and doesn't show any dirt!) But I also painted the side walls over in cornflower white and that covered the greasy marks too.

So I'd go for it, what have you got to lose? I just thought well it can't possibly look worse and I already had the paint leftover.

tinkle

Great, thank you! There is some hope! The walls are magnoilia, not sure if I should risk doing it magnolia again or should try a darker colour? The marks dont' bother me so much, but thinking about trying to sell house - so feel I need to do something.

Thanks

nickcc

Use gloss top coat then paint with emulsion. The gloss needs to be oil and not water based, this will seal the grease marks.

tesuhoha

Try cleaning them with Barkeeper's Friend before painting.

erichamster

Well when I painted mine black, everyone commented on how much nicer and professional it looked to have a contrasting but complementary colour between the top and bottom cupboards where you would have tiles or glass splash back so in my opinion it might help sell it, but then I hate magnolia so maybe I'm not the best person to ask!

What colour are your kitchen cupboards and worktop? Do you have any colour theme in the kitchen (certain colour accessories etc)? Also what colour is your glass splash back and will you be able to paint behind it?

tinkle

Kithchen cupboards are bog standard, light browny colour, no idea how you'd describe it! Not real wood. Worktops are almost black - I have red accessories, so red may be an option. But not sure if it would be OTT.. And also if I were to paint the grease splattered bits, I would need to keep painting around underneath all the cupboards, above teh sink...... and then it meets the main wall - so think it would look a bit odd just to stop the red paint - does that make any sense!?? I can try and post a pic later

erichamster

Mm in that case and as your trying to sell a subtler colour might be best as red I believe is notoriously hard to cover, maybe a pretty duck egg blue? Should complement the magnolia and red accessories nicely and is quite inoffensive but should give a sort of shabby chic feel to the kitchen which often appeals.

Yes what I did in my kitchen is I only have one bank of wall cupboards so I just painted under all of those up to the worktop obviously and then stopped in the corners where it joined to the other wall, I don't think it looks strange because it's where you might stop tiling anyway, you want to get a neat edge, I just masked it all. How do you post a pic on here?

tinkle

Thank you so much! Duck egg blue sounds really nice, not a colour I would have though of. Ps.. No idea how to post a pic!!

Edwardia

I went mad with big patches of red emulsion from tester pots all over front end of sitting room and husband used BIN to seal so they didn't show when he painted over. I'd suggest trying distilled malt vinegar on the grease.

tinkle

Thanks Edwardia,

What is BIN? Will give the distilled vinegar a go, although the greasy stains have been there for months.... Will give it a go anyway!

Thanks