Blog entries about interior decorating issues
All the talk is about coming out of lockdown. When that happens, beware: house guess can’t be far behind. Stock up on biscuits – and what about the paintwork? We’ve all had it easy for a year but golly – with foreign holidays off the agenda, redecorating looks like the thing for 2021. Beat the…
I may or may not be still in the running for Parvin Household Husband of the Year. but if you like to follow the annual awards, this one’s for you. Colour of the Year is always a controversial contest, with rival awards from Crown and other paint-makers. But, like McVities and the Digestive Biscuit, there…
It’s probably not going to solve the worldwide coronavirus problem overnight, but it’s good to see some developments that look as if they will help. In May of this year some of the world’s leading coatings specialists gathered (virtually) at the Royal Society of Chemistry, in collaboration with the British Coatings Federation, to discuss how…
he UK property market is breaking records since the end of lockdown. ‘Sales agreed’ across the country from mid-July to mid-August add up to more than £37 billion. In London, instead of the usual summer slowdown. we’ve had the highest number of homes being put up for sale since March 2008. Rightmove say they are seeing a…
All this water can cause endless problems, and it can be a real headache to get rid of the effects. I hope you’ve escaped any flooding, but even without that there can be plenty of issues to deal with. Leaving aside the exterior problems that come with the cold and the wet and the winds…
It’s a question that comes up frequently. With Farrow & Ball paints often costing twice or three times as much as comparable Deluxe and Crown paints – both good quality brands – is it really worth paying the extra? Will you be able to tell the difference? From a professional decorator’s viewpoint, here’s what I…
Forget Brexit. Forget the Party Conferences. The real news of the week is next year’s Dulux Colour Of The Year. Now it may be easy to get a cheap laugh at the expense of the people whose job it is to entice us with new colours that reflect our collective subconscious hopes, ambitions and fears. (That,…
Recently we’ve seen some customers getting very creative with their use of different shades of white and it got me thinking. Always dangerous. It won’t surprise you to hear that white is the most popular paint colour. But white comes in a wide range of shades – even “Pure Brilliant White” can vary considerably between manufacturers. Here’s…
I’ve always thought the biggest danger to interior walls comes from, well, accidents. People like me trying to put up shelves, or spilling a glass of wine when England score a penalty. Not a bit of it. It’s children. They make you and me look like amateurs. And London kids are among the worst. Insurance…
If I pick a horse in the Grand National it’s the one with the funniest name. It’s hard not to use the same method for picking paint colours. Paint companies secretly employ teams of captive poets to come up with those names, which explains why poetry as an art form has become very rare. Automatic blending machines are making…
When I was just a lad, I convinced my Dad to let me decorate my own room. Today, as my bank account waves farewell to yet another mortgage payment, I spare my Dad a thought as I think what the orange wallpaper and purple paint did to the value of the family home. Regular readers…
I was pleased to see a story in the Daily Telegraph comparing various home improvements, and estimating the added value each of them puts on your property. Yes, it’s official – decorating is one of the most cost-efficient ways of adding property value. The online tool takes your property value, the amount you might spend…
Choice of colour is – excuse me – something of a grey area. We’ve all been told for years that we have to paint our houses in neutral colours if we ever want to sell them. But some new research seems to suggest that we’ve all been repressing the urge to splash out in the…
Maybe it’s genetic, but with the first rays of sun and green shoots starting to peek through, even your humble decorator is starting to think of spring-cleaning. I thought some tips on handling paintwork might not be amiss. You most likely have some form of emulsion paint on your walls. If we did the painting,…
People who value my opinion – yes, both of them – sometimes want to know what’s the best way to prepare for the decorators. Apart from leaving the country, I tell them, there are some sensible things to bear in mind. We’ll assume that you already know what paint you want, that you have chosen…
Redecorating your home (or office) is going to involve a certain amount of disruption, like it or not. Good decorators* will keep it at a minimum, but I thought a planning checklist might be useful. It might help to give an idea of how much work will be needed, and how long it may take. (*The term…
I promised you a useful email, and at last here it is. We only deal with a better class of client, and we know you will want to treat our beautiful paintwork with the love it deserves after we have packed up and gone home. But accidents happen. In the photo above some child prodigy has…
Our recent redecoration of a beautiful family home in Kingston on Thames was featured by The Resident magazine. Owner Jacqualene chose light taupes and white to take full advantage of the light and modern interior, which has rooflights and floor-to-ceiling sliding glass panel walls in the large kitchen and living room. She chose a subtly…
Sky-high house prices in London are resulting in a lot more home improvements. And we’re always happy to help. I happened to be looking at some old paint charts and thought it was interesting how much they reflect the times. The 1970’s look very strange – here’s the Dulux catalogue from 1975: And this shows the…
Feel a touch of Spring in the air? Just the tiniest whiff? As we move ever closer to Spring-cleaning time, a fresh crop of Dulux and Farrow & Ball colour charts have started to poke their heads though the snow. But since most of us spend our lives entirely surrounded by paint (yes, it’s everywhere…
If you want to get creative, read this first I read two stories about Star Trek themed houses this week. Both of them (surprise!) in the USA. One fan spent $300,000 on converting his New York basement into the bridge of the USS Enterprise. The other did an entire house in Florida. Surprisingly, at least one of…
Sorry to keep coming back to this, but you might have seen my previous newsletter about green paint in bedrooms, and how it’s supposed to promote…well, let’s say, night-time exercise. Bad luck for the owner of this bedroom. And as we come to Easter it struck me that all the seasonal symbols – eggs, rabbits…
I’m becoming an expert at boring people at parties. If you invited me round this Christmas, you’d probably regret it. It’s not as if I wander around Fulham watching paint dry, but my wife thinks I’ve been learning more about paint this year than is healthy. Take colours. There are two ways to pick your colours…
Everyone knows the story about painting the Forth Road Bridge (by the time the painters reach one end they have to start again at the beginning). Here’s something I didn’t know: the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco is painted in ‘International Orange’, but the US Navy originally wanted it in yellow and black stripes,…
I sat down to write a calm informed article about BluTak, and why it is the Devil’s work when it comes near nicely painted interior walls. And what did I find, dear reader, in a quick Google search: a Council Health & Safety order banning use of BluTak on windows in a Scottish school on…
I’m often asked how to look after indoor paintwork and keep it free of grubby finger-marks and general minor scuffs. My first response (“ask your wife to do it”) used to be appreciated by married men but all it gets me now is an elbow in the ribs from Mrs. Parvin. So here is a…
One of the biggest problems that people have when deciding to get their home re-decorated is picking a colour scheme for the rooms in question. They go and get all the different colour charts from Dulux, or Crown, or Farrow and Ball, but can’t always decide what to do, and often seek my advice, as…
Ok, So the most up and coming thing nowadays seems to be Shabby Chic… Most of you may be wondering what this is, to men it means ‘everything is painted white’ and to woman there is a whole other world to the white, there is Vanilla White, Cotton White, Violet White, Ivory Lace, Chalky White,…
If you have seen my last blog, you will notice that I have started to give my advice regarding colours and interior decor. Now, wallpapering. It seems to have taken off again, after dying a death in the 90’s. But now it is back, and being done very tastefully throughout London. This ties in slightly…
I can’t believe how quickly the year has gone. And I really can’t believe that my son gave me his Christmas list yesterday! Christmas already??? It is all over the shops, the lights are up on Oxford Street, and it is only 8 weeks away. I can’t believe it. Which leads me to my next…
