Dining room revamp - Preparation

It has been about 3 years since I last painted my dining room and it's become quite embarassing. As the DIY Divas people walk into my home expecting to find a gorgeous hand made home filled with made furniture and wonderful crafts.

 

The truth is that my home is normally the last to receive any attention as I focus on making projects and tackling as many crafts as time will allow. Not to mention all the time I spend on the PC uploading articles, projects and features to the website. All-in-all, it doesn't leave much time for my own home decorating. As the weather cools it's the perfect time for painting and decorating. When it's hot, the last thing you want to do is climb up and down a stepladder, and when it's cold the paint takes forever to dry.

Where to start

If you are planning to paint a room, or your home, the first place to start is with any fix ups or repairs that need to be done. Seal around windows and door frames with acrylic sealer. An acrylic sealer can be painted over and is perfect for filling in any gaps on the cornice at the top of walls.

Repair any cracks that have appeared since you last painted. In most homes, cracks are a part of life and if you don't fill them properly they will soon re-appear. The best way to treat cracks is to chisel out around the crack to remove as much loose and crumbling plaster as possible. This allows you to get right down to the bottom and fill where the problem starts. It might not solve the problem, but it will slow down the process.

Before you fill any cracks, brush them clean with a paintbrush to remove any loose dust, as this will interfere with the filler. It's also important to fill a deep crack in layers and not all in one go. This crack took two days to fill. Using Polyfilla interior crack filler a layer no thicker than 5mm was pushed to the base of the crack and left to dry. Use a paint scraper to push the filler as deep as it will go and press down from all sides to make sure it is well and surely pushed in.

Once dry, a second layer of Polyfilla was applied by pushing into the gap. This layer almost filled the crack but I still need to apply a final layer of Polyfilla to finish off. The final layer of Polyfilla was applied and smoothed to match the surrounding wall. The trick here is to make the crack invisible before you start painting, and this is a common problem.

If you don't take the time now, when you paint over the crack it sticks out like a sore thumb. Before the final layer dries completely you can use a sea sponge to dab if you have textured walls, or a dry paintbrush if you have a brushed finish on your surrounding walls. For smooth walls the filler will need to be sanded once dry.

It might be messy, but a Random Orbit Sander and 240-grit sandpaper is the best way to sand filled cracks to make them almost invisible. Don't just sand the filler, sand to blend into the surrounding area as well.

Let the Polyfilla dry completely before painting. When painting it's also important to use the correct paint roller. A short nap roller is great for smooth walls, but use a medium nap roller for walls that have a textured finish.

To paint the walls I am using Plascon Double Velvet. It might be a bit more pricey than other products, but it has high hiding power which means I won't have to spend my life painting the walls. Because it's quick-drying I can easy apply two coats in a day. It also doesn't yellow over time, so I won't have the paint the walls again anytime soon !

Quick tips

For smaller cracks in and around the home, use a Dremel MultiTool and #952 grinding stone to cut out and enlarge a crack for filling. It's much quicker and easier and does everything in one go !

Save yourself a lot of effort and use an extension pole. My dining room is double volume and it's a mission to paint higher up on the walls and the ceiling. An extension pole means I can climb onto a stepladder to reach the top.

To cut in around the edges of the wall and ceiling, use duct tape to attach your paintbrush to the end of the extension rod. It works !

The next step will be painting the walls white and the feature wall in Plascon Bauhaus.