Painting picture rail, fireplace and skirting help

FTB_Help

Hi all

Very new to diy and my new home has a picture rail, skirting board and fireplace (mantel/ surround/ corbel?) that has been painted grey by the old owner, which i do not like.

I want to repaint all the above white (eggshell).

Can i assume i just need to lightly sand/ can sand everything down before painting? It seems like its been painted in a slight satin finish.

Also any tips on how to prep before painting?

Thanks all

Jeepers_Creepers

If you use water-based (quick-drying) satinwood for the brill white, then it's usually enough to just 'key'/flatten the existing paint before application. You'll probably want to do this anyway just to get the surface nicely flat and de-nibbed.

I'd use ~180 grit lightly - coarse enough to make a quick job of it, but fine enough to leave the surface smooth for the top coat. You can change grits depending on how you find the results.

On flat surfaces, use a nice comfy sanding block to hold the paper. Hoover up, wipe down with a damp cloth, and then paint.

I'd do a test bit first - check the next day how well adhered it is, and how good the finish is.

Dulux quick-dry Satinwood is my go-to, BUT, man, it does love to run when applied on vertical surfaces - thin coats, well brushed out, finishing lightly to get it flat. It dries to a lovely finish which stays white.

grumpyoldwoman

If I was going over a darker colour with white I'd use a one coat paint, these are usually thicker in consistency and shouldn't be brushed out much so give better coverage.

FTB_Help

Jeepers_Creepers said:

If you use water-based (quick-drying) satinwood for the brill white, then it's usually enough to just 'key'/flatten the existing paint before application. You'll probably want to do this anyway just to get the surface nicely flat and de-nibbed.

I'd use ~180 grit lightly - coarse enough to make a quick job of it, but fine enough to leave the surface smooth for the top coat. You can change grits depending on how you find the results.

On flat surfaces, use a nice comfy sanding block to hold the paper. Hoover up, wipe down with a damp cloth, and then paint.

I'd do a test bit first - check the next day how well adhered it is, and how good the finish is.

Dulux quick-dry Satinwood is my go-to, BUT, man, it does love to run when applied on vertical surfaces - thin coats, well brushed out, finishing lightly to get it flat. It dries to a lovely finish which stays white.

Thanks, will pick up some 180 sand paper.

I have a batch of paint brushes and rollers at home, but im a little worried (especially on the fireplace area) of leaving streaks of brush marks, any tips? Should i put primer on before?

Jeepers_Creepers

Show us a photo of the fireplace, please, and I'm sure folks will guide you.

Large flat areas can be tackled using a miniroller - I find foam rollers works well with such paints, and leaves a very fine even textured finish. That will probably look right on your fireplace. 

Q-D Satinwood is usually very good for applying straight on to most surfaces, provided they are clean and ideally keyed. However, its obliteration isn't brilliant, so - as GOW says - it might be best to either use a white primer first, or else a one-coat type paint, which will almost certainly also require two coats...

I recently painted a white-primed door using Dulux Satinwood, and the slightly off-white primer took 3 topcoats to obliterate it... Mind you, these were thin coats, well brushed out as the door had a grain texture that I didn't want to fill.

So, yes, a brill white primer might make sense.

FTB_Help

This is one side of the fireplace, im guessing the circular bit will be a pain to sand.

Looks white here but it is a light grey colour

Jeepers_Creepers

Yes it will, but it's already pretty flat. The rest, as you can see, has some obvious brush marks.

I wouldn't worry too much about getting it all 'flat' - just use the sanding block to level off the worst, down that flat centre bit, the raised flat bits of the Ogee mouldings, and then use the paper over your fingertips to lightly clean up the concave parts - it will all be fine.

Tbh, I would much rather some light paint brush marks on a fireplace like that as being more authentic. And if you get the surface reasonable flat to start with - lightly sanding away the highest of the brush marks - then the new finish using Satinwood with a synthetic brush should be better that what's already there.

Bear in mind that if you use a mini-roller, you will get a light 'textured' finish which is fine for many surfaces - unit tops, shelves, etc - but will, I think, look wrong on a fireplace.