Undercoat

I have received several letter asking how I am getting on with the undercoating in the hall, stairs and landing.

As you will recall, this involves six doors, one loft hatch and about a mile and a quarter of skirting and architrave, plus a banister with twenty-odd REALLY fiddly spindles, and as if that were not enough, the right side of the stairs is wood clad, so there is also about five square metres (mixing my measurements) there to paint, plus the decorative scrolls in the hall, the purpose of which eludes me to this day.

So, all in all, that is a lot of painting.  Over the last week or so, I have channelled the spirit of the Forth Bridge Painters, got my head down, put in a shift and generally painted a lot, and can now report that I have finished the undercoating.

This is really the easy phase.  Of course, to reach this moment, I have had to do all the cleaning and rubbing down in preparation, so have covered some miles, but I have been using quick-drying undercoat - which I can whole-heartedly recommend - so the amount of time between my brush putting it on and some careless Maggot brushing it off with their sleeve is fairly short.

Glossing is going to be a whole new kettle of fish, since that takes several hours to be touch dry, and several days to be hardened.  I will probably have to schedule in forty-five minute lunch breaks to get a door done a day, and fill in the architrave as and when.

Anyway, that is my painting update.  I am off to Oxford for five days, so will not be blogging Friday.  Have a great week, and speak soon.