The do’s and don’ts of painting, (particularly with gloss) !
This week I have epically finished work one week before my children break up for summer holidays. Naturally being me I have decided that in this week I will single handedly transform and renovate my entire house. (Did I mention that my son is only in pre-school for the mornings? So when I say I have a week, I really mean five mornings)!
I have been painting my hall, stairs and landing for the past two mornings and I have some words of wisdom to pass on, from one mother to another. I feel like these handy tips can make a difference to others.
DO:
- Use latex gloves so that you don’t get gloss on your engagement ring and spend ten minutes trying to get gloss of the diamond.
- Get baby wipes handy, they help with engagement ring drama and general accidental cream-paint-blob-onto-white-ceiling issues.
- Wear socks (not bare feet) because then when you walk around the rest of the house to go to the toilet you can take socks off before you move, therefore not transferring the paint you stood in while having bare feet around the house and then rush round trying to find baby wipes to get off new wooden flooring.
- Make sure any pets are contained into a safe area of the house so that if you have any paint-on-bare-foot related issues and are not paying attention to open doors they can’t escape up the stairs and transfer cat/dog hair to the freshly glossed skirting board.
DONT:
- Wear your Apple Watch.
- Rush because you have to collect your child from pre school at 1pm and you only began at 9.30 because you had the school run and then accidentally went to the drive-thru Costa.
- Don’t have Costa coffee if it makes your hands shake. Coffee is generally great for alertness but not so much for situations where you might need a steady hand.
- Lean back to paint under the hand rail and dip your pony tail into the paint pot on the stair behind you. (Gloss dip dye is not the one).
- Leave the roller and tray in front of the front door, because if the postman comes he can and will drop your letters directly into it from the other side.
- Think that you can reach far away places, unless you have a verrrrry tall ladder or person or are actual Tinkerbell, you will not be able to reach the gallery bit of the landing and it will end up like this. Believe me, I tried.
So there we are. There are probably lots of other things you should also do such as not do it backwards, i.e. you should paint ceiling first, then wood, then walls. I did always like to be different.
Happy DIY-ing everyone! I now have wine. It’s only 5pm. Think that says it all really. (Don’t worry, there are other adults in the house who have not had disasters or are drinking).
