Decorating Advice Needed

mto

Hi everyone :wave:, this is my first venture onto the DIY board.

I am going to have a go at redecorating what was a dining room next week and I need two bits of advice.

1. The room is currently papered, so I'm planning on getting the paper off and then painting. However the walls are very uneven. I was thinking of hiring this http://www.hss.com/g/5231/Drywall_Sander_Kit.html to try and smooth everything out, but i'm not sure it will be suitable. Can anyone advise.

2. This is more of an interior design question. The room is North facing and although it has a fairly large window, gets very little light. I'm hoping for some advice on what colour to go for to try and make it look brighter. I have been banned from using white (or off white) by OH, however I am not very good with colours and can't tell what is warm or cold - I'm assuming it would need a warm colour.

BTW it is a large room with high ceilings in a Victorian house, but will probably be used as an office/study.

Thanks

Fizog

If your house is over a hundred years old you may find the plaster will crumble as you remove the current wallpaper! The wallpaper is probably all that is holding the plaster up if your house is anything like mine.
I would hire a steamer to remove the paper gently with a scraper and then assess the state of the walls. You maybe able to get away with a few repair jobs on your own with plaster or you may have to hire a plasterer.

On colour definitely a light reflecting hue - avoid blue/purple too cold - my north facing rooms are painted : sunshine yellow, cream, a turquoise green and pale sage green.

TheOne

Well OK, going to get a bit technical here, hopefully not too technical for you. If you have a room with poor light, you might want to consider a paint colour with a high 'Light Reflectance Value' or 'LRV'. Don't know much about other paints but I can tell you how it works with Dulux colours:
LRV explained: (The higher the number, the higher the LRV)
http://www.icipaints.co.uk/colours/duluxtrade/palette/notation.jsp
Some colours:
http://www.icipaints.co.uk/servlet/ColourSchemeHandler?name=banana_dream_4 (LRV 83)
http://www.icipaints.co.uk/servlet/ColourSchemeHandler?name=buttercup_fool_6 (LRV 86)
http://www.icipaints.co.uk/servlet/ColourSchemeHandler?name=amber_queen_4 (LRV 72)
http://www.icipaints.co.uk/servlet/ColourSchemeHandler?name=lilac_spring_4 (LRV 63)
Unfortunately, I think anything with a high LRV is going to be some sort off 'off white' wether it be in the yellows, reds, oranges, greens, or blues etc..

Regarding hiring stuff, I'd have a good hunt around for prices, and depending on how long you are needing the equipment for, ask if they offer discount for same day return. If hiring stuff from HSS they may also charge you a 15% damage (and theft I think) waiver. Now, if you don't want to pay that, and if you're pretty sure you're not going to break anything and return the equipment clean, it may be worth asking not to take up the damage waiver.

Doozergirl

That sander looks like a bit of a joke to me. I think you're going to find that the plaster starts coming off if it's already in a bad way; it's just a fact in older properties. Once you have a lovely new skim of plaster on the walls you will wonder why you were bothering with a sander. It is worth the money, especially if you're staying for a while.

If you go to the Dulux paint mixing stand in any of the DIY stores they split the colours into moods. One of them is 'warm' so you can't go too far wrong. I went to art school and still don't really understand it as you get cool and warm shades of the same colour so it isn't simply about avoiding shades of blue etc.

never_enough

If you can feel the wall is uneven through the wallpaper it sounds as if getting it skimmed is not only the easiest, but really the only option. Plus you'll love the perfect smoothness of it, once it's done (just had one of mine done & it's lovely!) So I'd save the money for that.
Colours are a bit more difficult as it's so personal. I wouldn't necessarily avoid blues/purples (for example if they're your favourite colours) just steer clear of the very grey side of both of these. Kevin McCloud (bod from Grand Designs on ch 4) designed a range of paints for Fired Earth that were suited to the light we have in this country (& lack of sun). I've just checked & they don't seem to be selling them anymore which is a shame as there were some lovely colours, which might've given you some ideas. Dining rooms in period houses are often green or red. If you have high ceiling I'd definitely go for brilliant white ceilings/cornice/picture rail (if you have them). Maybe you could use a large mirror to reflect light into the room too?
I would also advise sorting out decent lighting if it's dark & you plan to use it to work in, especially if you will be using a computer.

misgrace

When you use the steamer, dont keep it on the same spot for too long, if your plaster is old, it might blow the plaster underneath, you can tell if you have blown it, as you will hear a plop, when you hear that, quickly move the plate away.
I find the best way to strip old paper from old walls is whilst your steamer is heating up, get a big bucket and very hot soapy water and a big brush.
Get a scraper blade or a knife, and do big criss crosses all over the paper of say one wall.
Then slosh the soapy water onto the wall.
By then your steamer will be firing away, start at the top, but keep moving the plate over the area a few inches either way, dont have the plate on the one bit for too long.

By you doing the crisscrosses, and previously soaking it, when the steam gets at it, it should come off very quickly.

Keep a kettle on the boil, then after 20 mins, stop,and fill the steamer up with the boiling water, then you can start again.

You can if you want, still slosh ahead of you, as this will make a lot of difference when you get round to that bit with the steamer.

mto

I took a photo last night to try and play around with colours in a picture editor and the uneveness of the walls really stood out.



Looks like half the plaster has come away next to the fireplace and been redone badly. It isn't really noticeable in natural daylight, maybe because the colour is so dark at the moment.

So anyway, I have decided that getting it skimmed is probably the best advice.