Waffle and some paint questions.

ben_m_g

Ok so more of a vent than anything, but it is irritating me enough to get it out of my system, one person's DIY is costing us money for no reason (and I hate spending money.)

Questions at the end in bold in case of TLDR!

Found a house we loved, seemed well priced (most likely due to the awful choice of decoration.)
Went round and yes, lots of painting and plenty of duff wallpaper to remove. It was going to be tricky with two small children and us both working full time, but only two rooms needed doing straight away.

Surprised to hear that the seller acknowledged this and was planning to paint the bright red bedroom that weekend.
So fantastic, a house that needed some work brought cheep, and the seller was going to do some of the work for us win-win!

Offer raised and accepted, coming up to exchange and we popped in under the premise of measuring up.
Bright red room still there! A change of heart by the seller meant that the already bright master bedroom in magnolia is now a sickly (almost post-it note) yellow.

And the shelves they are taking are still up, meaning I would have to patch and paint anyway. (Probably still yellow as it is low on the list).

And the walls are vaulted, so painting them back to white will also mean now painting the ceiling or it will look two different shades.

And of course this has to happen after furniture comes into the room, as we don't have family around us to help move up and down a flight of stairs.

It seems so bleeding obvious now, don't let someone with no decorating taste, decorate for you!

But we are in the mess now how to get out of it...

Questions

I haven't had much luck with masking tapes, they all seem to leave a mess or leak paint. I would be tempted to buy the (expensive) frogtapes but with so much to do, is there a cheaper option?

Protecting carpets, dustsheets / plastic sheeting. What is a good option?

prosaver

you can get really thin plastic dust sheets from pound land.
I move all the furniture to one side of the room when finished the wall ceiling, and then move it all to the other side.

casper_g

Personally I don't like just plastic sheeting as it never seems to stay in place unless I spend ages sticking it down with tape. I prefer the cotton twill dust sheets, but choose the polythene-backed ones as spilled paint won't soak through.


In terms of masking tape, over a few decorating projects I've eventually decided it's more trouble than it's worth and just take a bit of time to cut in the edges with a small-ish brush.

Grenage

Forget the masking tape, just cut-in; you'll get better with practice.

I will however disagree with the previous poster and suggest a 2.5" brush - cutting in is easier with a larger brush.

Le_Kirk

Cutting in is an art form! It can be learned but you need patience and practice. If you want to use masking, then use frog tape BUT if you put it over freshly painted surface wait at least three days. I have just completed a bedroom with split colours top and bottom. I do cut in at ceiling to wall and architrave to wall and I use a 2" brush because it holds more paint and once you get going the line is straighter for longer.

casper_g

I think I must have an unusual idea about paintbrush sizes. 2" to 2.5" is basically what I was thinking when I said smallish!

DigForVictory

Buy real dust sheets. The thin plastic things help keep the car boot smell less bad after a tip trip but are not much cop against paint as they rip at a harsh look, let alone a dropped brush.

The only upside to the yellow is that is's working well as an undercoat to white in one lad's room at the minute - gives it a warmer, creamier light.

Tape is just a way of spending money pulling paint off - a few goes at cutting on & you'll soon get there - desperation is a good teacher. How old are the children? As having a minion fetch things is nice, especially if you're on a ladder. Getting them ready to paint (charity shop "fancy dress" with generous paper hat and wellies) can be time well spent, if only for time saving & later photos.

Grenage

casper_g wrote: »

I think I must have an unusual idea about paintbrush sizes. 2" to 2.5" is basically what I was thinking when I said smallish!

To be fair, by traditional brush standards, 2" would be small.

ben_m_g

I forgot about the plastic pound shop sheets, I have tried them before without much luck (although I put this down to my incompetence).
I think a combination of plastic for furniture and proper dust sheets for flooring might be a good combo.

Also good to see about the tape, I stopped using it after a few bad cases of pulling paint off and residue. Again I figured this was me leaving it on too long / using cheep stuff.
Glad to see it wasn't just me.

LOs are 4 and 3 months, so nit much help there, although the eldest can't wait to help, so like it or not I will have a helper for some of it.

Really excited to get this project on the way, will return with pictures the change should be pretty dramatic.

DigForVictory

The 4 year old can fetch & carry brushes, drinks & rags with solvent.
The 3 month old can 'supervise', & operate your radio, from a heavily lidded playpen.

Seize the opportunity to leave a couple of deliberate hand prints so in years to come you can look back & croon?!