Is it worth DIY painting a flat?

pinkteapot

I painted every room in our house except the hall (has a high section above the stairs). Got a recommended local decorator in and wish I'd done it myself.

He slapped the paint on far too thickly and his cutting in (going in a straight line down the side of door-frames etc) was far worse than mine.

To the comment about masking taking ages, don't bother. It takes longer to mask than to cut in, and with most masking tapes you get a bit of bleed under the edges anyway.

moneyistooshorttomention

redonion wrote: »

Oh please do go into it, you gave me a needed laugh already

Not on a public forum....just in case he can read (I'm not exactly joking there either by now....). The absolute mildest example of his "standards" was him having to be told "Don't wash out your brushes in my brand new sink here...do it in the old one that I will be replacing at some point there". There was the "Use my darn dustsheets, as you didn't even bring your own with you" (not best pleased at having to subsequently wash them again). But the worst examples of his stupidity were WAY worse and that's the ones I wont put up on the forum, as he'd recognise himself instantly if he can read and saw them...

japmis

I completely re-decorated before I moved into my new place in May as it was pretty grotty..... I had a friend who went and did all the undercoating for me whilst I was at work, then I did all the second coats, cutting in, radiators, masking tape for edges, coving, doors, skirting boards..... (after I had sugar soaped everything and washed down the walls - like I said, it was pretty grotty)

that took us 7 days from prep to job done, and we only did 2 bedrooms, sitting room and hallway (leaving the kitchen and bathroom battle for another day)

it looks REALLY good tho! and so pleased I did it before all the furniture was moved in

Paully232000

Just moved into a new house a month ago. We did a living room, hall and a dining room in a week, and that included all the walls, skirting, coving, and doors/frames. That was working late into the evening, and from early doors.
Now doing the rest of the rooms in the evening but having to get someone else, although i don't really want to, to do the stairs and landing walls.

I guess it depends on how big the rooms are, and what colour is on the walls already as some of our rooms are light paint on light paint so not so much work. Others however were light on dark and took more coats to cover. I found that it was the prep that took the longest, along with the edges. The main part of the walls didn't take that long with a decent roller.

sonastin

For me (and my father before me) it takes about 7 years to paint a room...
One weekend to make a start on the prep (with frequent tea breaks to relieve the boredom)
Gap for return to work on Monday a.m. which then stretches for multiple years as *something-more-interesting* intervenes
One evening to get the professional friend-of-a-friend round to quote for doing the job
And finally, half an hour to pop round to the cash point to get him his money to pay once its done to a standard to let you put the house on the market.

Yep that's right, rooms only get finished in my world because its time to move on!

Thankfully I've moved in with someone who can paint a whole house in a couple of days!

ACG

It took me 4 months to decorate my bedroom - wallpaper and paint.
When i combine all the time together it probably took about 2 days maybe slightly less but because i was doing it in 30-40 minute stints before i got bored it dragged out for ages.

I even cheated myself by putting 1 drop on the next wall so i could say i was on the 2nd/3rd wall etc.

Niv

sonastin wrote: »

For me (and my father before me) it takes about 7 years to paint a room...
One weekend to make a start on the prep (with frequent tea breaks to relieve the boredom)
Gap for return to work on Monday a.m. which then stretches for multiple years as *something-more-interesting* intervenes
One evening to get the professional friend-of-a-friend round to quote for doing the job
And finally, half an hour to pop round to the cash point to get him his money to pay once its done to a standard to let you put the house on the market.

Yep that's right, rooms only get finished in my world because its time to move on!

Thankfully I've moved in with someone who can paint a whole house in a couple of days!

Has taken me about 7 years to fit a rad in the bathroom. The rad has been screwed to the wall for about 5 years but father and I were pondering the best way to plumb it in ... (finished it 3 weeks ago woop!)

Trig3

It depends on what horrors you find underneath the layers of paint.

I planned to sand down a door frame & paint with white gloss only to find the previous owners had destroyed most of the wood & rebuilt it exactly as it was with polyfilla. :mad:

jm2926

Trig3 wrote: »

It depends on what horrors you find underneath the layers of paint.

I planned to sand down a door frame & paint with white gloss only to find the previous owners had destroyed most of the wood & rebuilt it exactly as it was with polyfilla. :mad:

This reminds me of viewing a "refurbished" Victorian property, when I touched the wallpaper the whole wall rippled. Seems the only thing holding the plaster on was the wallpaper. Don't think that would have been done in a weekend.

Riggster

If it's a newish house with plastered walls and no wall paper you can do an entire 3 bed semi in a weekend if you really go for it. I know, I have.