I’ve been getting on with more niggly jobs recently. The ceiling in the hall has been annoying me since the old partition wall was removed. It left an ugly gash along the width of the ceiling with some deep holes. My first approach was to patch the holes with filler and hope that paint might hide the worst of it. That turned out to be a bit optimistic and the result looked as bad as it sounds. I stripped off the wallpaper as far as I dared and removed the filler and set about making a patch to cover the scar.
This wasn’t helped by the fact that the new light fitting was smack in the middle so my patch had to be in two pieces and go round a light fitting. The result isn’t exactly pretty but it’s a lot better than before and saves the ceiling from a full scale strip down.
The pic is after I painted the ceiling with filler paint. I”ll probably paint it again with a colour.
I’ve mentioned the main plaster wall previously. Although I plan to leave it raw, it does need some more finishing. I applied some more plaster filler to smooth out the worst of the uneven areas and sanded the whole thing down. It just needs to be sealed now.
I also started on the woodwork. The skirtings downstairs had all been painted a grim brown colour. I’m not even sure what it is. It’s somewhere between a thin paint and a stain. I assume the desired effect was something like wood but it’s so poorly applied that it just looks like someone has poured coffee over it all. I really don’t know why they bothered because the underlying colour is a quite acceptable cream/white. There’s also the issue of the louvre door on the under stair cupboard. I hate louvre doors. They have too much surface area, are difficult to paint and just act as dust catchers. This one is backed with flat board on the rear so it doesn’t even function as a normal louvre. Unfortunately my budget doesn’t extended to replacing it just now so it had to be painted.
After sanding
After Coat 1
(and plaster wall)
After coat 2
I’m not delighted with the results of the white paint. It certainly looks better than the brown but the eggshell paint I’m using is quite thin and tends to drip and gather in awkward nooks – of which there are many, especially across the multiple angled faces of the louvre. I’m thinking of applying a third coat in a colour to improve things.
As these areas near completion, I’m starting to think about the other end of the hall, at the front door. There’s an area of uneven, raw wall around the door which I think I might have to cover with lining paper and there’s the main wall which runs up the stairs. Originally, an oversized coat rack was mounted here. I took it down to find this…
Honestly, who wallpapers round a coat rack? This is the kind of thing I find time after time in this house. I’ve resigned myself to living with this hideous wallpaper if I paint it but, seriously, what am I supposed to do with this gash? If I’d realised it was going to be there I’d have kept some of the paper I stripped from elsewhere for a patch.
Suggestions welcome…
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