Round up of forum decorating questions and tips
Another week of painting and decorating questions on the forum, as well as a few articles on the blog, and a couple of contrasting remarks about the blog content from 2 new subscribers.
Forum round up
Varnish over Annie Sloan chalk paint. A reader asked about how to protect a colour-washed ash table top. She was concerned that brushing on varnish over the colour wash would disturb the chalk paint and cause a mess. Without wishing to spoil the response, the only way to get a mess with varnish and fully dried water-based paint is to do something like this:
Emulsion over varnish and rub with wet ‘n dry abrasive, wet.
Providence paints – Andy Rollings of Ely Painters has spotted a Cambridge furniture painting store with its own range of paints. Self-priming and nice olde colour ways are just two of the paints’ characteristics he spotted.
Owatrol are associates of Traditional Painter
We had another great boost to the site in the week, with Recommended Suppliers, Owatrol, supporting our efforts with a formal association and a spot on the Trade Corner. We absolutely love their products (most of the kitchen painters have used them daily for years) and we have great respect for their ethos and intentions to make decorating better. Hats off to Ken and Gary at Owatrol UK who supply products and specifications and advice that improves results for everyone involved in preparing and applying paint.
They think we are OK too.
Trade Corner
Just to explain Trade Corner, this is more of a concept than a physical space with 2 (or is it 3?) sides to it. As with Owatrol and Mirka, we have a bunch of Recommended Suppliers who we rave about because their products and service consistently keep our work and service up to scratch. I have no moral, ethical or commercial issue whatsoever, shouting about those companies and telling readers to buy buy buy.
The Trade Corner is an opportunity for those Recommended Suppliers to return the favour and support our efforts to spread their word and the message we all share, to move decorating forward and promote excellence in a banal world.
On an associates landing page, the company tell the world what they do, the products they rate in-house. They have opened direct lines of communication via social media, email and phone and forum, to encourage feedback and questions. There are videos and reviews to further explain their product line and what 3rd party users think of them.
There will be other special material coming along for the trade corner, but I just don’t want to label it “trade” because, whilst a lot of pro painters do peruse this site, the majority of our readers are homeowners and keen DIY, and I don’t want to discourage them from researching the content in this area.
Hand painted kitchens
A few hand painted kitchens were completed this past week or so by the UK kitchen painters associated with the Traditional Painter site. Hello a legacy Martin Guest painted kitchen in the Midlands
Hand painted furniture
Delighted to have Adam from My Hand Painted Furniture involved with the site and he has shared some good information and background on restoring pieces that he sources and restores in his workshop in Roscommon.
Reader feedback
I receive a regular flow of mail, and hand on heart, I haven’t had a telling off yet. Well, this week I had my wrist slapped for the first time. It was a very constructive beating, and I was able to address their problem, namely:
– too many emailed updates (so to address that concern, I didn’t publish any tips yesterday) and
– too small photos! (I posted a thumbnail picture of a DIY painter’s family tree, it was a bit poor, visually, but I had decided to keep the photo deliberately low profile because to be honest, it wasn’t Leonardo standard artwork, but it was key to a good question.
The genealogist wanted to know which varnish to use to protect her emulsion and acrylic creation from dirty paw marks.
That is a question that comes up a lot, and as readers like some sort of visual clue, that 150 x 150px image is what I decided on. (The complainant let me off on that count!)
The other problem the very pleasant complainant had was lack of detailed shots, showing just how good the finishes are. Ordinarily photos are up to 500px wide, so not too shabby,
but apparently some of the public want more detail 🙂
I have just sent the word out to the specialist decorators who contribute to the site to think about sending me really close-up shots of their super smooth finishes, as well as close-ups of work in progress.
For definitive proof, though, I do suggest that prospective clients or painters or readers who are wondering if the workmanship really is as good as we say, should start reading testimonials from clients who have paid good money for the paint finishes from our specialist painter gang.
A comment that sums up what Traditional Painter is trying to achieve
I have had permission from Mr T to share his eulogy. Thank you.
You can’t imagine how helpful and how much I’ve learned from it – and, moreover, how good and how reliable the information on it is. It is a veritable treasure trove of practical information about lots of different aspects of decorating and I’ve used much of it in practice.
Mine is a very old house by the coast exposed to the worst of the elements and I need to prepare and apply the most appropriate coating in the right way using the right equipment. My maintenance program never ends. I gave up asking for advice long ago because it was either self-interested or misguided – and often both. I liked and felt confident in your site and content more or less instantly. So much about it is good. It was also clear from everything about it that you know what you are talking about and want to do things properly. Fortunately I had stumbled on or by trial and error worked out some of the do’s and don’ts. Many others were entirely new.
If there’s another site half as good or as helpful I don’t know it! Bravo.
I would say that for pure painting tips, Jack Pauhl has a lot more insightful info and guidelines than most, and I reference his blog regularly. Other than that though, for all round info on every aspect of decorating, there are some good sites around, but we are planning to publish a whole lot more definitive material right across the board. We can do that with top decorators pushing the envelope and sharing their findings.
If you have any questions or criticisms, please send them in.
Please share it on Twitter, Facebook, or print it out for reference. Thanks.
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