Painting and Decorating Show 2012
November 20th and 21st – the National Painting and Decorating Show 2012 in Coventry. There were about 70 stands and in amongst the mainstream I hoped to find a few gems who have looked at how things are done in decorating and thought, You know what, we can do this a lot better.
So I was looking for clever products like dust sheets that aren’t cotton dust traps; masking tapes that stick how they are supposed to; alternatives to smelly white spirit that degrade oil paint; high performance eco friendly paints; water-borne paints to match oil paint; synthetic brushes that match the performance of olde worlde bristle brushes in oil paint; sanders and abrasives that don’t fill homes and lungs with a fine layer of dust; paint strippers that don’t poison the operative but cut through old paint like butter; degreasers that cut and clean and don’t require endless rinsing to make the surface safe to paint; wall sealers that prime and hold back stains and leave a perfect surface for wallpapering, every time; utility knives that don’t fall apart in your hand and reliably cut through paper; and fillers that go on thick, thin, and dry fast and over-paint without flashing through patchy.
If all that sounds like wishful thinking, those decorating products were present at the show! To be honest the majority of products are from overseas and have been around 2 or 3 years now in the UK, but some of the suppliers were consolidating their range and introducing new lines – including a few gems from the Dutch.
Over the next few weeks obviously there will be a few references to the Painting and Decorating Show. And we won’t just be looking at products through geeky specialists’ eyes! Hopefully, you have picked up from the articles here, that whatever we think works well for trade, will almost always be suitable for DIY looking for a good return on their precious time and efforts.
From my time walking the aisles today, it is refreshing that despite a recession that is clearly affecting the trade, some decorators and suppliers are still prepared to do exactly the opposite of the norm, by moving forward, investing and adapting, rather than tightening their belts, cutting corners and digging in. And I bet they will do alright in these not so good times and be well prepared to benefit in any uptake in the future.
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2 comments to “Painting and Decorating Show 2012”
Hear hear! (On all points above.)
I have to say that the Senyo tape (rice paper) is superb for kitchen painting, if you need to mask up anything fiddly and stainless, or delicate, it is really reliable. Would still use perennial alternatives for general masking.