Kitchen related DIY/Decorating.

[Arch]

Have you thought about having them chemical-etched?

No, hadn't thought of that. Would prefer to make them myself really. If I can make one, I can then make a silicon mould and cast the rest. So it's just making the one I need to do....

 

[Night Train]

Anyhoo. Got my spare room come office project to deal with first!

I did one of those, over Christmas.

From worse then this:

To this:

Have fun with yours, and don't forget to post photos.

 

[Brandane]

DON'T DO IT!!

I am in the closing stages of re-decorating my living room, which I started dismantling in November . Hence why I have been spending more time on here the last few months - got no telly. If I had known how much work was involved, and how much mess, and the cost; then I would have just left the big damp patch on my gable wall! That was caused by water ingress from an aging chimney, now removed at a cost of £900.
Walls all needed plastering - £380
Sockets needed moved from skirting boards to walls, and 2 extra sockets installed - £200
Part of ceiling came away while stripping paper, re-plastered - £120
New hearth for gas fire - £100
New carpet, to be fitted soon - £550
Paint, varnish, and various items from Homebase - about £240.

I make that about £2.5k . The rest of the year is going to be exceedingly quiet. No holidays, no drink, no new bike. Luckily riding the things is reasonably cheap.

 

[Night Train]

DON'T DO IT!!

I am in the closing stages of re-decorating my living room, which I started dismantling in November . Hence why I have been spending more time on here the last few months - got no telly. If I had known how much work was involved, and how much mess, and the cost; then I would have just left the big damp patch on my gable wall! That was caused by water ingress from an aging chimney, now removed at a cost of £900.
Walls all needed plastering - £380
Sockets needed moved from skirting boards to walls, and 2 extra sockets installed - £200
Part of ceiling came away while stripping paper, re-plastered - £120
New hearth for gas fire - £100
New carpet, to be fitted soon - £550
Paint, varnish, and various items from Homebase - about £240.

I make that about £2.5k . The rest of the year is going to be exceedingly quiet. No holidays, no drink, no new bike. Luckily riding the things is reasonably cheap.

When I did my guestroom/office it needed four new walls, a new ceiling, a new floor, a door, central heating plumbing, new electrics, brickwork, cement rendering, plastering, decorating, window blind, and lampshade.
Around £600 for materials and did it myself.

I think, though, it hit me financially as hard as it hit you.

 

[Sara_H]

DON'T DO IT!!

I am in the closing stages of re-decorating my living room, which I started dismantling in November . Hence why I have been spending more time on here the last few months - got no telly. If I had known how much work was involved, and how much mess, and the cost; then I would have just left the big damp patch on my gable wall! That was caused by water ingress from an aging chimney, now removed at a cost of £900.
Walls all needed plastering - £380
Sockets needed moved from skirting boards to walls, and 2 extra sockets installed - £200
Part of ceiling came away while stripping paper, re-plastered - £120
New hearth for gas fire - £100
New carpet, to be fitted soon - £550
Paint, varnish, and various items from Homebase - about £240.

I make that about £2.5k . The rest of the year is going to be exceedingly quiet. No holidays, no drink, no new bike. Luckily riding the things is reasonably cheap.

A terrible cautionary tale.

I'm planning just to chuck some pain on the walls and make a desk from an old peice of kitchen work surface I've got.
The OH however wants to investigate a strange wooden structure in the corner of the room. It seems to house some pipes and takes in a bit of the ceiling from the stairs beneath - I say investigating the wooden box will cause terrible trouble, and we should just paint over it like generations before have done!

 

[Night Train]

A terrible cautionary tale.

I'm planning just to chuck some pain on the walls and make a desk from an old peice of kitchen work surface I've got.
The OH however wants to investigate a strange wooden structure in the corner of the room. It seems to house some pipes and takes in a bit of the ceiling from the stairs beneath - I say investigating the wooden box will cause terrible trouble, and we should just paint over it like generations before have done!

Great typo!

 

[Globalti]

Don't buy paint from Homebase or B&Q, they are expensive and their own brand paints are rubbish while the branded stuff (Dulux etc) is made down to a price. Go to a Dulux Decorator Centre, get good quality professional paints, which are cheaper in the long run and easier to use, get friendly, experienced advice and get a loyalty card for a discount.

 

[Brandane]

Don't buy paint from Homebase or B&Q, they are expensive and their own brand paints are rubbish while the branded stuff (Dulux etc) is made down to a price.

+1 from recent experience. Homebase own brand clear varnish for wood looks like milk, has the consistency of milk, and the end result is poor. I ended up having to put another coat over it, this time using Ronseal clear varnish. What a difference! It does what it says on the tin, as they say .

 

[Spinney]

I've also found B&Q paint OK, as long as you avoid buying anything that says 'value' on the tin.

And never, ever, buy quick-drying gloss. Dries far too quickly (it was Crown, I think - but B&Q gave me a refund on an opened and partly used tin without any fuss when I claimed it was not fit for purpose!)

 

[Globalti]

+1 from recent experience. Homebase own brand clear varnish for wood looks like milk, has the consistency of milk, and the end result is poor. I ended up having to put another coat over it, this time using Ronseal clear varnish. What a difference! It does what it says on the tin, as they say .

Ronseal? Ugh! Horribly shiny and reflective and shows all the blemishes. The best is Dulux Trade PE varnish, preferebly in matt or satin; goes on well and dries to a nice subtle sheen, is also very forgiving of bad brush technique and dribbles:

 

[gavroche]

yatch varnish. If it's ok for boats at sea, it's ok with me.

 

[Arch]

Around £600 for materials and did it myself.

<ahem>

All by yourself?

 

[Night Train]

<ahem>

All by yourself?

A royal 'my'?

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Well a lick of paint can work wonders.

Just hope you don't have that horrible 'church finish' we had that had not been painted over inside 30 years. (Curtains & carpet plus circular table came with the house and could not be changed.... luckily the landlady's agent was happy for us to repaint and liked what we had done with the room.) This room took 3 of us 5 days and in excess of 50L of paint to do 2 layers(plaster was shot & like blotting paper) including ceiling - we had only reckonned on 3 days. It was a very large room though running the entire length of the house and most of the width as well.

We forgot the completely pre-decoration pictures, so only have the part-way through pictures...

 

[Arch]

A royal 'my'?

Ah! I see.

<regal wave>