How to get paint to adhere to edges of woodwork

An odd title maybe but this is a great tip to get paint to stick to the edges of wood such as fascia boards and skirting boards.

You may of noticed when you paint square edged trim such as skirting boards or exterior fascia boards that the paint doesn’t cover so well on the edges, this is simply because there isn’t much of a surface for the paint to adhere too.

So how do I get paint to stay on the edges of woodwork?

Simply you need to make the area larger for the paint to stick too, this is simply done by using sandpaper and rounding the edges off so giving a gentle curve, you will find the paint adheres much better to a curve than a sharp square point.

Fascia boards

This tip is especially important for exterior fascia boards, have you notice how your fascia boards always start to peel at the bottom edge? This is because the paint film is thinnest here and over time the weather gets in and the damp starts to lift the paint off and even worse your fascia starts to rot.

Setting up a guest bedroom on a low budget

Having guests to stay is a great experience, and one that can be made much better by having a specially set-up guest bedroom for them to sleep in. Sleeping in a comfortable bed, with your clothes stored in a wardrobe and a surface to keep your stuff on is much more preferable than sleeping on a cramped sofa with your suitcase on the floor next to you! This article outlines a few tips that will help you set up a guest bedroom in your home without breaking the bank.

Pick up a cheap bed

This is fairly self-explanatory (the guests will need somewhere to sleep!), but is worth mentioning nonetheless. Beds at the cheaper end of the spectrum (like some of these) can go for as little as £100/$165, and will provide a sensible centrepiece for the room. Picking up a cheap set of bedding is a good idea too – it’s likely that one set will be sufficient as the bed will not be in use all the time, and the bedding can be washed between visits.

Declutter and refresh the space

It’s courteous to give guests a clean room to sleep in, so you’ll have to move the boxes of stuff that have been awaiting attention since move-in day (or at least store it out of the way, so it doesn’t interfere with the space). A bed with storage underneath is a great option to combine this and the previous step – whether the storage is built in (drawers) or external (storage boxes that can slide under a bed).

Giving the room a quick spruce up is a nice idea too, especially if you’ve not done much with the space previously. A coating of paint in a light colour such as robin egg blue or mellow yellow will lighten up the space, and is relatively cheap (you can use the paint coverage calculator on the propertydecorating.co.uk site to figure out how much paint you’ll need). A new pair of curtains to compliment the new paint will really bring the space together.

Get some storage space

A flat-pack wardrobe or chest of drawers shouldn’t set you back much, and will make a great addition to the guest bedroom. You’ll also be able to use the storage space yourself between guest visits, which will be useful. Just remember not to store too much in there so there’s space left over for the guests to use, and don’t store anything you might need access to when guests are staying! They don’t want you rummaging through their clothes in the middle of the night!

Weather to Paint or Weather to Not!

That is the question here in the UK this summer.

Here in the UK we are having some very wet weather for the season. At Property Decorating this is normally the time of year for our exterior painting work to get into full swing.

Its Raining Again …….

According to the Met office ……

“Met Office confirms wettest June in over a century” ref : http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/news/releases/archive/2012/wettest-June

Apparently the Met Office figures for this June are showing double the average amount of rain fall thus making this year the wettest “June” since their records began in 1910.

Weather to paint

So if you are considering weather or not to paint your exterior there are some things to bare in mind ;

Is it dry enough to paint the surface of your exterior or is it already too wet?

What is the forecast, will you have enough time to get the job done in time? Most paint companies have details of their products drying times so you can at least estimate the time you will need for drying and second coating.

So there are many factors to think about, with Masonry paint for example could simply be washed away with heavy rain leaving you with poor and patchy coverage, likewise Gloss paint can get pitted with heavy rain and not give you the finish you require.

These are just a few points to think about when thinking about ‘weather’ its wise to paint in this unseasonably wet weather.

Umbrella anyone !!!!