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I have a bit of decorating to be getting on with. A whole house, yay!
I've always been an emulsion first and cut in with Satinwood/Gloss whatever the herd are favouring but whilst obsessing as is my want, the Dulux people suggest surrounds first then cut emulsion in?
How do you eat yours?
Makes more sense to me as if you have a wobble, you can simply wipe it off the gloss innit.
Gloss first doesn't make sense if you are applying the emulsion with a roller. You need to get as close to the skirtings and architraves as possible with the roller which will result in the finished gloss being spluttered with emulsion.
The thinking in our family that dropping emulsion onto barely dried gloss (high VOC stuff in the past) damaged the shiny surface. Bulk colour first then glossy stuff. It's probably more of a problem nowadays as the shiny paints take at least a week to harden and even then are not very robust. Also if you're laying on with a roller there's the inevitable spatter to cope with too.
The secret to cutting is to do everything you can to avoid decorating.
Unfinished chic is so hot right now.
I just asked our house servant. They say that they have observed the trades people doing all the gloss work first. Jeeves is rarely wrong,so I will accept that choice.
Currently in decorating hell.
Cutting in.....turns out it is way harder to do when the wall is a significant colour rather than a light, white version of cream/magnolia.
And I'm now a trim after walls guy. Used to be the other way around.
But.....my biggest advice is.....spend the extra on trade paints. Like proper trade paints. I'm now buying from the Dulux Decorator Centre. Once you have, you can't go back to the DIY versions from B&Q etc. And proper ceiling paint not some cheap shit white because it's just the ceiling. Honestly, a revelation. Yes, it probably adds £30-40 a room to the cost of materials but the ease of use and the quality of finish is another level. My time and sanity is worth way more than £30 a room. Basically - putting crappy paint in the hands of a rank amateur who does not have the skills to overcome it's limitations......basically it's abuse!!!! I now realise DIY paint should come with a health warning sticker like a pack of fags or just be banned as a crime against humanity.
You can wipe emulsion off a fresly glossd skirting.
You cannot wipe gloss white off a freshly emulsioned wall.
I'm with Convert (although I prefer Jonstone's paints personally). I honestly think it doesn't cost any more (assuming you don't over buy) – £45 for 5 litres of emulsion that takes a couple of light coats rather than 3 x £18 5 litre tins of watered-down crap from B&Q. This is especially-so when there is a big colour change.
Ohh, and if it is a high-wear area, get the scrubbable stuff. It's amazing.
Gloss first for me
I have been doing some decorating recently, I refuse to do it in the summer when the weather is good and I can be outside so now is a good time of year to do it.
For me it is ceiling first, Dulux trade diamond matt scrubble emulsion on the walls and then gloss work last. The Diamond matt is expensive but it really is tough, we have some walls nearing 8 years old that still look good despite kids, dogs and family life doing its best to ruin them.
The decorating always looks good when done and not actually that hard to do, it is finding the will to start and clearing the room that are the worst bits for me.
Back when I was working for a decorator we used to do all the woodwork sanding, priming and undercoating first then walls, then finish with gloss/eggshell/satinwood.
Unteresting..always good to get a straw poll.
I always cut in after the emulshun because I'm a pro.
I thought it was (if you're doing the whole room) ceilings, then gloss (eggshell for us) then walls.
Might not help with your decorating challenge, but we are just finishing a house build and made a decorating decision that has really been a revelation.
We are doing the whole room: walls, ceiling, skirting, window reveals and architrave in the same good quality, hard wearing ,washable, matt, vinyl based Dulux paints.
No masking, worrying about orders, cutting in or any other of that nonsense required.
I reckon it has saved us weeks of labour time, along with a big cost saving.
Could you not do the same approach? Who says that skirting needs to be glossy white?
Re order.....seems pretty definitive.
As said previously - used to be trim then walls....but now switched.
Maybe high quality paints drips less...
https://www.dulux.co.uk/en/articles/going-solo-how-decorate-right-order
https://www.thepaintshed.com/tips-advice/paint-like-a-pro-the-correct-order-to-paint-a-room
https://youtu.be/_kwtzwSwjHg?si=wV0jv0ixiswFAfRq
I could keep on....
Make the change to a trade spec water based gloss. I prefer Johnstones gloss but Dulux Diamond Matt for the walls and ceilings*
It’s easier to apply, dries in no time, doesn’t smell, won’t yellow over time and is better for the environment. Also makes any subsequent rounds of decorating an absolute breeze.
If you’re overpainting over an oil based paint then it’ll take a fair bit of prep and priming with a good primer (Zinnser BIN or similar)
A lot of extra work but totally worth it.
*not a decorator but have spent more than a decade working for the UK’s largest commercial decorators so consider myself an honorary Brother of the Brush.
Last two rooms we've decorated, we've just painted the skiting & architrave in the same emulsion as the walls after a couple of friends said they'd done the same. We think it looks good and it saves so much time! You do have to be a bit more careful with the vacuum though.
Unteresting..always good to get a straw poll.
I always cut in after the emulshun because I'm a pro.
Cutting in is what you do with the emulsion before getting the roller out..
Anyone using emulsion for woodwork needs to leave the decorating conversation, as do those mentioning gloss/eggshell without undercoat unless it was done to a high standard in the past and is still in vgc.
MrsVlad decreed our entire house needed re-decorating. I'm too clumsy and careless for her high standards, and I'm also impatient and lazy, so I got the professionals* in.
They did ceilings first, then architrave and cutting in on walls, around doors/windows/corners etc, then rolled the wall, then did all things "woodwork" (skirting, door frames, doors etc etc).
There were at least four different types of paint involved, even if they were all the same colour (and all Dulux).
We were told that stuff on walls needs to be washable whereas the ceiling don't need to be washable (unless you're in the habit of getting tyre sealant, food stuff, muddy hands prints or blood on the ceiling...).
And stuff on bathrooms is different again to protect against damp/moisture.
And "woodwork" paint is semi-gloss (and easier to wipe down) whereas all the other finishes are eggshell.
Apparently, it's no longer in fashion to use gloss for wood but, having seen the results, I think I'd have preferred gloss and sod fashion. Granted, it was Mrs Vlads choice, not mine.........
* Not Bodie and Doyle before anyone asks....
I always do top to bottom. Ceiling and coving 1st, cut in walls and then woodwork last.
Ceiling, then walls, then skirting etc. Always. Emulsion gets on the areas to be glossed. Can be wiped off to a point but always looks better when you do the gloss as a nice finishing touch.
Our "new" house is now 6 years old and really needs freshening up. I'd love to have time to do it all myself properly like my dad used to but christ it feels like a lot of sanding.
For cutting in, anyone ever had success with this kind of thing?
Emulsion first, then gloss here.
but christ it feels like a lot of sanding.
Unless there something specifically wrong with the old trim ('glossed' wood work), you are only talking about a light key with glass paper, not a massive sand back. Good news is if it was done only 6 years ago (why the hell are you considering doing it again - 20 years feels about right to me!) it's likely to have been done with water based.
I've a friend who spent much of the last couple of winters working for another friend's company as a painter and decorator to fill the gap when his own seasonal company is quiet. He'd never decorated a room in his life before he started. He is paid more an hour that I am as a teacher. Which means a - I'll never be able to afford/justify getting a pro in to do mine and b- very seriously considering a switch of profession for the last tedious decade before retirement.
I'd just like to say tha 'Unteresting' is a great word that I will be using from now on.
thank you Merak
Honestly I think this is just a preference thing, partly about skills and your exact approach but also a lot about what you like doing. My dad was a wiper-upper so always glossed first. Me, I really like painting the gloss edge neatly, so I emulsion first, getting that clean edge is pretty much the only bit of painting I actually like, it feels like bringing the whole thing together in one move. I don't really care what the best or easiest way is.
Trade paint really covers better, especially if the walls are bright. Do you primer before painting, or do you go straight into the fray?Currently in decorating hell.
Cutting in.....turns out it is way harder to do when the wall is a significant colour rather than a light, white version of cream/magnolia.
And I'm now a trim after walls guy. Used to be the other way around.
But.....my biggest advice is.....spend the extra on trade paints. Like proper trade paints. I'm now buying from the Dulux Decorator Centre. Once you have, you can't go back to the DIY versions from B&Q etc. SWhile doing this I didn't forget to find out more info here - it helps to do better choice. And proper ceiling paint not some cheap shit white because it's just the ceiling. Honestly, a revelation. Yes, it probably adds £30-40 a room to the cost of materials but the ease of use and the quality of finish is another level. My time and sanity is worth way more than £30 a room. Basically - putting crappy paint in the hands of a rank amateur who does not have the skills to overcome it's limitations......basically it's abuse!!!! I now realise DIY paint should come with a health warning sticker like a pack of fags or just be banned as a crime against humanity.
Ceiling first. Then under coat/first coat etc wood work. Walls and cut into the wood work then final coat for the wood work. Big brush for cutting in.
Ceiling first. Then under coat/first coat etc wood work. Walls and cut into the wood work then final coat for the wood work. Big brush for cutting in.
Ceiling walls woodwork. Got a quote from a pro for a loft room that wasn't too bad nic to start and for all white. Cried and decided to do myself. Now can't lift my right arm up or sleep on right shoulder. Admittedly I did already have shoulder issues hence the quote but now I've really broken myself.
I don't begrudge the expensive quotes. Hard on the body job you probably can't do to retirement age.
Unfinished chic is so hot right now.
I've had 10 paint sample blocks of colour on a living room wall for over 20 years now...
Ceiling first. Then under coat/first coat etc wood work. Walls and cut into the wood work then final coat for the wood work. Big brush for cutting in.
This. I've been a self employed deccy for 20 years and always done it this way
Good news is if it was done only 6 years ago (why the hell are you considering doing it again
Because the builders did it first time, or maybe they outsourced it to a nursery with chalk paints.
Noted about a light keying though - right enough. The builder's paint is so bad it would probably take gloss as it is.