abranet, Annie Sloan, Blog, hand-painted furniture, Little Greene, Mythic paint

This is one of a series of articles on how to paint pine furniture: preparation and painting of pine – waxed, varnished, bare or painted – laminate… One of the most environmentally responsible things you can do these days is to paint pine furniture that you buy second hand, or have had in the family [...]

Blog, Little Greene, paint, suppliers

This post was written in 2010 but May 2012 still holds true. The king is dead, long live the king. I am not referring to the passing of a royal sovereign, but rather the end of my involvement with one traditional paint dynasty, Farrow and Ball, and the beginning of a new relationship with The [...]

Blog, Painting

Ron Taylor has written this introduction to spraying acrylic paint, and goes on to focus on HVLP for spraying acrylic paint.  Ron Taylor first started using acrylic trim paints in 2004, and is now an authority in the UK on the application of water-based paints with brush, roller and spray.  Spraying acrylic paint is a mindset [...]

Blog, brushes, Eco, Mythic paint, paint

This is a guest post by Ron Taylor who first started using acrylic trim paints in 2004, and is now an authority in the UK on the application of water-based paints with brush, roller and spray. If you are a professional looking for refreshing and refresher tips, or DIY wondering how on earth you can [...]

Associates, Blog, hand-painted kitchen, Painting

I was really pleased to meet up recently with JS Decor’s Jason Walker, a painter and decorator in Preston . A specialist in hand-painted kitchens, graining, marbling, broken colour and wallpapering, plus high end general decorating, and co-owner of a family-run independent decorators merchant in Longridge, Jason is not exactly the average brush hand! In [...]

Blog, cleaning, Eco

Krudkutter is a citrus based cleaner, comes in many forms for many dirty occasions and is a favourite with many decorators (and several homeowners now, who have seen it in action). This was a brass handle from an oak sideboard I am rescuing. It was in a right state. I’m sure Brasso would have done [...]

Annie Sloan, Blog, hand-painted furniture, Mythic paint, Painting

This is a reference point for everything you need to know about how to paint pine furniture. Tips on preparing pine, oak or laminate – bare, waxed, lacquered or painted before. Insights into painting a flat solid finish in oil eggshell, acrylic eggshell or chalk paint, to a top professional standard. There is a lot [...]

Blog, video

Video is the future of the internet, and for anyone looking to discover the finer points of painting and decorating, video is a fabulous resource on several levels. Video to improve painting technique If you have an iPhone, or smart phone with a video camera, set it up and video yourself at work. Action! Video [...]

Blog, suppliers

Hi I run Traditional Painter, a painting and decorating website that promotes best trade practice, best products and best decorators in the UK and around the world. I have found myself inadvertently promoting a service that I don’t believe in one bit, ie throughout the site there are links and references to TDS which now [...]

Blog, colour advice

Paint colour names aimed at men, who would have thought it made a difference to a colour choice? But it does. Paint colours for women too Before we get too down on the blokes, (or dismiss the video as a total spoof) I have seen and heard equally baffling colour name psychology with the opposite [...]

Blog, Marketing

A local painter and decorator told me they give verbal quotes to customers, often over the phone. What?! It’s not that I distrust people, but there is way too much can go wrong with that approach. Mondegreen is not a colour, it is a contractual disaster waiting to happen “A mondegreen is the mishearing or [...]

Blog, brushes

In November 2010, I went to the National Painting and Decorating Show on the hunt for best of class paint brushes. What I learned was – The Americans are coming and the Brits are rightfully worried. (That still stands true in Autumn 2011 – and Spring 2012) Latest update on the current state of play [...]

Blog, brushes

In the painting world, talk of best paint brushes in the UK gravitates towards 2 names – Wooster, who make dozens of models including the Alpha, FTP and Silver Tip, and of late, Wyoming-based Proform, whose Picasso brush has become the benchmark for performance and painting straight lines in water based paint. Is the Wooster [...]

Blog, Painting, products

This sharp looking 1930′s front door with a stained glass light didn’t look like this originally. Fortunately the homeowner called in master painter, Mark Nash to do something with it. This 1930′s door was in bad state of disrepair. The panel at the top was one big piece of plain glass. Not now it’s not, [...]

Blog, Painting

The brief was to paint the shiniest front door in the village, and that is what they got! Apparently the joiner who fitted the furniture said the paintwork was like glass. With 16 hours and 6 coats invested in it, no wonder! Preparation » Before burning off the paint with a hot air gun, I [...]

Blog, hand-painted furniture

I regularly receive emails or phonecalls out the blue asking me – “How much do you charge to paint pine furniture?” That’s a hard question without any context. The easiest and least confusing way for a quick and accurate answer in pounds, shillings and pence is to send a photo of each piece via email. [...]

Blog, products

For 20 years I have been using a wood care product called Patina to seal and protect mahogany worktops, oak hand rails, pine tables… if it is wood, don’t oil it, wax it or French Polish it, Patina it! This is midway through applying the Palace Chemicals Patina polyurethane gel to a mahogany worktop. It [...]

Blog, hand-painted kitchen

There is a new hand-painted kitchen specialist in town, covering Lancashire and Cheshire. Jason Walker of JS Decor is the latest expert to join our band of merry kitchen painting specialists. (As you may know, I have been building up a network of professional kitchen painters who are currently working in most areas of the [...]

Blog, products

The tip on a 400ml caulk tube is generally sealed, so you can cut the end as small or as large as you like. However, the tip on a 300ml (retail size) tube of Soudal acryrub caulk, or any 300ml tube for that matter, seems to come with a small hole preformed in the end. [...]

Blog, hand-painted kitchen, Marketing

If you want an easy way to find a trusted reliable specialist kitchen painter in your area, just scan this QR code with your iPhone or smart phone.

Annie Sloan, Blog, preparation

If you ever thought of painting matt emulsion straight over varnish, then don’t! This was acrylic matt emulsion from a sampler applied straight onto a varnished wooden kitchen door. The paint was 3 days old and “looked” solid. A quick rub over with wet n’ dry sandpaper turned it to sludge. An accelerated vision of [...]

abranet, Blog, Mirka

80 grade Abranet on a hand sander rubs down lacquer faster than a Mirka CEROS sander with 40 or 60 grade HD abranet! I’ve said it before, and it bears repeating. The hand sander for small areas is phenomenal and on walls and wood outperforms even the super nice Mirka CEROS (review here). The mechanical [...]

Blog, community

Over a couple of days in March 2012, a gang of building tradesmen and -women, painters, decorators, art students, apprentices, execs and celebs descended on the premises of Derby-based charity group, Enthusiasm. This was the plan… Enthusiasm, which has recently taken over the run-down Cotton Lane Community Centre in Derby, works with 11-18 year olds [...]

Blog, Little Greene, paint

In terms of drying times and sanding, plus finish and “look”, the best oil based eggshell I have used is Little Greene oil based eggshell. This so-called “posh” paint is the only oil based eggshell I am using these days. It works as expected – ie it easily dries within 16 hours in normal room [...]

Blog, preparation

You could buy an Oakey sanding sponge to wet sand mouldings and fiddly profiles on kitchen doors – or any doors really. Or you can make your own. This is a coach painter’s trick, and works really well and in a low tech kind of way. Take a soft cloth, scrunch it up loosely into [...]

Blog, brushes

Still looking for the best box for paint brushes? Is a perfect brush box / carrying arrangement still on your list of mini obsessive ongoing optimal organisation projects? Oil brushes I keep in a vapour box, a 4-brush box for kitchen painting only. So storing oil brushes isn’t a problem. It is synthetic brushes that [...]

Blog, wallcoverings

I was talking to fellow master decorator, Russ Pike a Muraspec specialist in Nottingham, who told me he recently completed another two-day training course with Muraspec on their digital wall coverings. He also hung a large mural at NCN, the tech training skills college in Nottingham, where he lectures part time. I’ve been hanging Muraspec [...]

Blog, Painting, preparation

These are the top ten most visited pages for painting and decorating tips. 1 – Farrow and Ball paint One of several UK paint and wallpaper manufacturers who produce a heritage colour range with a traditional look. (It is the look and finish, not the price or the “retail” tag that sets them apart from [...]

Blog, Marketing

In April 2011 I commissioned a website review by Darren Slaughter, a US-based marketing adviser to building and building-related companies. To say that his review was insightful and helpful is an understatement. The site is now attracting 26000 page views a month, whereas in April at the time of Darren’s website review, it was attracting [...]

abranet, Blog, Mirka, preparation

Toupret TX130 fine surface filler is a first class choice to skim plastered walls that have been damaged, dinged or badly patched in. With Toupret skim coats, and abranet abrasives, I can achieve a super smooth surface, and the paint finish is far superior to what it is possible on conventional gypsum based plaster walls. [...]