Blackvault's office redecoration

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
It depends what you mean by easy. Heres the process in effect :

1) You need to measure your windows accurately. Easy.
2) You need to check for clearance of handles etc. Easy.
3) You need to measure the depth they will sit to so you can order the correct set of clips. Medium difficulty.
This is all explained on their website, but I found the last part a little tricky, just that nagging worry you may get it wrong. However it wouldn't affect the main part so if you did mess it up then its just some new clips you would need.
Edit, actually on this point, it could possibly affect it. Just go slow, you should only need to do it once. There are standard depths so I measured then check to see if I lined up which I did.

When you receive them they are flat packed, so you have 4x lengths of metal blind rail, with the corner sections.
1) Empty it all out and check which is which if you are ordering multiple blinds. Easy but keep your measurements by window if you have multiple in very close dimensions. Easy.
2) Put the blind together. Medium/difficult. Depends on the size and if you have help. The corners are stiff and your trying to force some roughly cut metal ends into them. I started just scraping off the ends a bit to remove the worst "swarf" which seemed to help. You need to wiggle them a bit. Medium/difficult. Just take your time.
3a) Insert clips to window. I found easiest way was to hold blind to window, mark with a pencil a little line where you needed the clips (2 or 3 per side) and then put blind down. Easy.
3b) Depending on your seals you may need to lubricate them a bit, or may be able to just slowly push them in. Once you have done the first one you will get the hang of it. After the first I was inserting all per frame in under a minute. Easy.
3c) Raise blind to window and push it into the clips. Easy.

Bear in mind if you go for large slats they have to stick out more. How far they stick out is a combination of how deep the plastic is around your glass and how wide the slats you choose are. We went for the smallest slats as we wanted them as close to the windows as possible.
We already had plantation type blinds and have in effect now doubled up in our bedroom.
They are really good this time of year however when the blind follows the window, so if you open it a bit the blind doesn't get in the way at all. The whole blind in the way or being basically unusable thing goes away.

Hope this helps.
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Thanks for this, I'll see when the samples come but the missus is on board as well so that's a plus
 
It has been a while since I posted. I've started the stripping but am struggling to get the 4 layers of paint, plus wallpaper off, see attached photos. So far this has taken me nearly 5-8 hours a day at the weekends and 2-3 hours most evenings for the past few weeks to get this far. I've been using a mixture of a heat gun and wallpaper steam with a scraper. Does anyone have any advice on how I can speed this up?

Scraping action

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Blackvault said:
It has been a while since I posted. I've started the stripping but am struggling to get the 4 layers of paint, plus wallpaper off, see attached photos. So far this has taken me nearly 5-8 hours a day at the weekends and 2-3 hours most evenings for the past few weeks to get this far. I've been using a mixture of a heat gun and wallpaper steam with a scraper. Does anyone have any advice on how I can speed this up?
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I would have stripped the wallpaper only, then covered it all in near SBR, then skim-coated it (or had it skim coated) with multi finish.
 
dlockers said:
How you getting on @Blackvault ?
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I have been able to get in touch with a plasterer, no one would return voice mails, and he reckons a full skim is needed. Having chatted with him, he felt that I didn't need to have removed the paint, which made my heart sink as it took me weeks to do it when I had time. He'll be over in a few weeks to do it and quoted around £300 plus materials for him and another workman, which I think is reasonable.

Other than that, I've taken up the skirting but nothing else can be done until the plaster work is completed.
 
My plasterer came last weekend and reskimed the room and ceiling. He did a good tidy job. £300 for labour and £112 for materials in total.

It seems to have all dried out but I'll give it another week to dry before putting the mist coat on.

I went off to Dulux today and I think set on Proud Peacock for the feature wall and Jade White for the three others. The ceiling will be Absolute White.
 
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Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
If your not super good then masking tape it and use a heavily loaded brush when doing the edge lines.
However I find if you use masking tape you can mini roller the edges as opposed to using a brush which is super quick and also matches rollers better than brushed on paint.
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Thanks for the advice. I've not painted much before so I'll maybe go down the masking tape route.
The masking tape is peeled off once the paint is tacky, rather than fully dried, right?
 
Blackvault said:
Thanks for the advice. I've not painted much before so I'll maybe go down the masking tape route.
The masking tape is peeled off once the paint is tacky, rather than fully dried, right?
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Yeah best to get the tape off asap, it can dry on and pull off paint. Probably 30 mins after the final coat you will be good. Pull it away from the wet edge if that makes sense.

If your ceilings are not perfectly straight use the tape to create a visual straight line.
Having someone to help can make it easier as you can pull long lengths off at once and then push it down. Easier to create that straight edge.

Have you painted the walls already? Normally you work downwards!
 
Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
Yeah best to get the tape off asap, it can dry on and pull off paint. Probably 30 mins after the final coat you will be good. Pull it away from the wet edge if that makes sense.

If your ceilings are not perfectly straight use the tape to create a visual straight line.
Having someone to help can make it easier as you can pull long lengths off at once and then push it down. Easier to create that straight edge.

Have you painted the walls already? Normally you work downwards!
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No, I've not done the walls yet, but I thought it still might need to mask the wall/ceiling edges regardless. Am I wasting my time, if mask it now?
 
Blackvault said:
No, I've not done the walls yet, but I thought it still might need to mask the wall/ceiling edges regardless. Am I wasting my time, if mask it now?
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Yeah, paint down, trying to avoid going too far but a little is ok.
You can then mask the ceiling when you do the walls to avoid getting wall paint onto the ceiling.
 
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