Decorating a room in stages over several days

Asha

Asha

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Asha
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I need to decorate my lounge however due to ill health, completing the task of emulsioning the ceiling and all the walls in one day which I would normally do, is now beyond my abilities.:(

Requesting a helping hand from someone isn't an option.

Obviously doing the job over say the course of several days is possible, however i believe ( maybe incorrectly?) that I risk being left with distinct "join" marks where I have stopped and restarted the painitng which I would like to avoid if possible.

What suggestions do you guys have ( besides covering the furniture, leaving the room and exploding the tin of emulsion like Mr Bean did! :D)
 
Prep everything first. Let the filler dry overnight and sand it flat in the morning. First coat on the ceiling as early as possible on day 1 and possibly 2nd coat in the evening if the first coat's properly dry. Attack the walls one by one, starting by cutting in to the ceiling all the way along then rollering down to the skirting, avoiding getting a dry edge (although that's not so important on the first coat). Do the 2nd coat the same way. Undercoat the woodwork, trying to avoid a dry edge then gloss/eggshell it once the undercoat has gone off completely.

When I did Mum and Dad's house in France, I needed to give the emulsion 3 coats since the paint available there was like poness! Mind you, that was 30 years ago so things have probably changed.

ETA... Dry edges won't be a problem if they're in corners, ideally the least visible one. White and Magnolia very rarely show them, even in the middle of walls, although they're still best avoided.
 
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If you can complete a wall at a time, corner to corner, you shouldn't be left with any "join" lines at all. Even if you can only complete a wall a day, you should be fine.
Love a bit of decorating, me. :-)
 
There shouldn't be a problem with paint not matching. But if you concentrate on completing just one wall at a time it should definitely be ok.
My son, having just moved into a house has been redecorating and has had no trouble with paint blending in even in the middle of a wall, it will look as though it won't when you have the fresh wet paint next to the dry paint, but once dried it should all be fine.
 
I agree with the above, just try to start and finish at a corner.



Or wait for the F&C crowd to turn up next summer and ply them with alcohol

:thinking:
Actually that's probably not such a good idea :wacky:
 
I've just done my kitchen over 3 days.

As above, whatever you do, cutting in, glossing, emusioning or whatever, end at a corner and you'll be fine.
 
Nod said:
When I did Mum and Dad's house in France, I needed to give the emulsion 3 coats since the paint available there was like poness! Mind you, that was 30 years ago so things have probably changed.
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There is some improvement but not much as I've found out throughout the years.

Anything half decent is very expensive but two coats, sometimes one, will do the job correctly.
 
Only thing I'd add is do any gloss painting first.

Dave
 
Tringa said:
do any gloss painting first.
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Really?
I'm not in any way disputing your advice, I am however curious as to why you suggest that as I've always completed the emulsioning before opening the gloss.
 
Sorry, have to disagree with gloss first. Just take care when cutting the gloss (and undercoat) to the walls.
 
Nod said:
Sorry, have to disagree with gloss first. Just take care when cutting the gloss (and undercoat) to the walls.
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I'd thought the idea of gloss first was that it is easier to wipe spots of emulsion paint off the finished gloss, assuming it has dried properly, than to wipe spots of gloss paint from the walls.

However, I can see a reason for doing the ceiling first - splashes are more likely then and they can be cleaned from the paintwork when it is rubbed down, but after that I'd prefer to do the gloss then the walls.

Looking online it seems there is support for both ways.

Dave
 
Most decent paint is now water based, so if painting the trim first you need to be sure it has had time to dry and harden slightly before wiping down - I still prefer to do it the 'old' way, ceilings, walls then woodwork/trim.
The best paints give very little roller 'spatter' but are expensive.
The advice above is all pretty sound, but decent paint, brushes and rollers are well worth the cost.
I dilute almost every paint with a small amount of water to help it flow - makes life so much easier.
 
This is interesting.

I've assumed all my life that everyone did gloss first.

Live and learn eh.
 
simon ess said:
I've assumed all my life that everyone did gloss first.
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stevewestern said:
I've never done it that way
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Decorating is not my trade, however, over the years, I have had to do plenty either with or for family/ friends / work colleagues and employers

Never was I instructed to gloss first.

In fact until reading Daves post I presumed that everyone did the glossing once the emulsioning was completed.
 
stevewestern said:
decent paint, brushes and rollers are well worth the cost.
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Quoted for truth!

Between coats of emulsion, wrap roller sleeves in clingfilm to keep them workable until the next coat. I used to keep a white one and a magnolia one for ages when I was doing it for a living. Never used to wash them out since that cost more in time than a new one cost in £!
 
Nod said:
Between coats of emulsion, wrap roller sleeves in clingfilm to keep them workable until the next coat. I used to keep a white one and a magnolia one for ages when I was doing it for a living. Never used to wash them out since that cost more in time than a new one cost in £!
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Agree, clingfilm works a treat.

Dave
 
Nod said:
Between coats of emulsion, wrap roller sleeves in clingfilm to keep them workable until the next coat.
Click to expand...

Yes the clingfilm works very well tbh, I've done that "trick" on more than one occasion including one time when I lived in the UK, I decorated the complete two bedroomed house over several days without cleaning a brush or roller until the job was completed.

Thanks for mentioning it nonetheless(y)

Be assured I'll be applying the same method when I get started here;)
 
simon ess said:
Will the clingfilm trick work for roller trays too?
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it did for me!

I wouldn't recommend leaving the paint in the tray for too long though as iirc it had started to 'thicken' a tad (probably due to the air captured between the paint level and the cling film) when I returned to it the following morning although nothing that made it unusable.
 
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simon ess said:
Will the clingfilm trick work for roller trays too?
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Yup, to some extent - Clingfilm will help slow down the drying process for a few hours, but I wouldn't trust it overnight on a tray.
Some trays have disposable liners and covers which can be useful if you do a lot of it. I repainted an office and had about 8 different colours/types of paint on the go at a time - a pelican kettle ( https://www.screwfix.com/p/wooster-...ZpZQCiySqTJYIPgV_NhoC1LUQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds ) with a bunch of liners was such a time saver..
 
I've mentioned them before but if anyone out there wants to see what difference a good paint can make, I'd suggest you try some Benjamin Moore paint - https://www.benjaminmoorepaint.co.uk/
It is not cheap, but for me, the time saving is massive, the level of service wonderful and the quality of the result makes even me look capable...!
 
simon ess said:
Will the clingfilm trick work for roller trays too?
Click to expand...


Sort of but it's quite a messy way of doing things. To work, the clingfilm needs to be laid over the surface of the paint in the tray and it's the removal that can get messy! Easier to tip any remaining paint back into the tin and wiping as much as possible out of the tray with the cutting in brush before rinsing the empty tray with hot water (far less chance of dribbling too!)
 
I just use a plastic carrier bag and wrap it tightly around the "neck" of the roller, less messy than cling film. I have also kept a paint tray in a plastic bag overnight, the thing is that the water in the emulsion has to evaporate for the paint to polymerise so if there is a reasonable amount of paint in the tray compared to the air volume in the bag and the whole thing is reasonably air-tight then it works fine.
 
I painted two walls of our bedroom, each a week apart. It was just undercoating to get rid of the dark colour the previous owners had used. I also painted one of the small bedrooms.

Wooster brushes and rollers seemed decent and I bought plastic inserts for the scuttle and roller tray to make cleaning up easier. I used a carrier bag over the roller. For the tray, I tipped the unused paint back into the tin and let the plastic liner dry out. Ditto for the scuttle. I’d then just reuse the following day without issues. Scuttle also made it easier to thin the paint before pouring into the roller tray (or use straight from the scuttle).

In one room I tried painting the walls first and the skirting last but found it hard to keep a straight edge and stop it going on to the walls. In the second room, I painted the woodwork first. It was then easier to tape up, paint the walls and remove the tape to keep a clean edge. I used an angle cut brush to cut in by the coving and skirting and rollered everything else including the ceiling.

Swmbo now wants new wardrobes in the main bedroom so I’ll have to get the paint out again. At least it’s practice.
 
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I’ve always done the woodwork first, I just find it easier to cut the emulsion in to the skirting, door frames etc rather than the other way round.
 
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