Before and after, Yorkshire style

Lee Simone gave this kitchen his full attention 



There will be a case study blog coming to explain what the project involved. So you  will have plenty of context about the finished result, which looked something like this...




Lee's clients tend to leave reviews that speak volumes of the standards that are delivered right across the Traditional Painter group.

Paint Magic prize winners.

Good things come in 3's. 3 subscribers to the upcoming Golden Tips Furniture Painting newsletter won a copy of the famous Paint Magic book by Jocasta Innes.



A blast from the past, but that's where most ideas come from, which logically makes it bang up to date. 

New newsletter for furniture painting enthusiasts 

The furniture painting enthusiasts amongst you should have a read of this post. You are welcome to sign up for the monthly Newsletter from there.

In brief, Lee Simone will be holding court, and covering step by step, a myriad of finishes from dragging to leather effect to oil glazing, and more. Plus contributions from Traditional Painters, showing our artistic side, it should be quite the creative read. 
 

Darkest of dark oak - the new black

Russ Pike had a first time experience in Nottingham recently. In all his 32 years in the trade (he has worn well!) he had never painted oak jet black opaque. First time for everything.

Out with the * Fox roller sleeves,



Holmans tinted the oil based Otex primer to match the Feelings Furniture in Jet Black, and the rest was left in Russ' capable hands. 





That's a transformation, 20 doors, happy designer. Russ continues to deliver the goods in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.


Neil Callender hand paints a beauty in Devon



This Kitchen was made and fitted by Guild Anderson a top end company, which can be found on Fonthill Estate in Wiltshire, the painting of course, was done by my good self. The paint used was Farrow and Ball, the light colour was Dimpse and the Island unit was Brinjal. More pictures here.

Neil is one of many Traditional Painters armed with the * Erecta Rack and dustless sanding kit and impeccable attention to detail. Stood him in good stead for a company looking for the best. 


Efficient brush care

Busy kitchen painter, Mark Nash has integrated the * Kovrd and the Clean and Go! into his work flow.



Review of the Kovrd if you aren't sure how it works. And designer, Jop, dissects the Clean and Go!  



These two products work well for brushes and rollers used in water-based paints. (The Clean and Go also works for oil paints.) Whoever you are and whatever type of work you are doing, these will help reduce time, money and water, cleaning your brushes and rollers. 

Matt Evans has worked with most of the Go!Paint products, he got on well with the Clean and Go!

I see the biggest bonus of this system is actually daily storage, lunch time, waiting to recoat (while you crack on with sometime else of course) and travelling home leaves time for paint to dry and slowly clog up my favourite brush. But this relieves that, and will do no end in the scorching summer months that we have! (Rest of review)


Paint tin, check - tin opener, check, stirring stick...?

And check out those stirring sticks. Like chickens teeth they were! No longer part and parcel of an order from the decorator merchants, or overly expensive when sold. Not any more.

MyPaintBrush as usual giving painters * the sort of stick they appreciate.


Gold finger

Russell Woodland Traditional Painter for Essex and East side of London went back to work on a house he has decorated before. No ordinary decorating, this was a chandelier he gilded years ago.



The gold was the highest grade, but too shiny for the owner's taste. Russell sorted that out with a touch of old school stainer. 

  
Finger on the pulse of spraying

Spraying sounds easy, in many ways it is. Once set up, spraying walls or bits of furniture is not a hard technique to master, but the devil is in the detail. Like any craft, once you dig in, it gets very deep. Just a simple toe-in-the-water starter question - which equipment should I buy to start with, does not beget a simple answer.

Ron Taylor is the one to ask though for a clear answer to that question about where to start to get going.

Variety of spraying experience

Other Traditional Painters with a good handle on spraying are Tony Pearson-Young who is a dab hand with spraying Zinsser BIN shellac primer amongst others; Scot Hindley does a lot of spraying in the course of decorating in Cheshire; Kevin Mapstone has sprayed a few different products on furniture over the years. Spraying the dark background was part of a task to distress and copydex, I mean, match a Chalon kitchen finish;




Martin Dunn has a small HVLP at the ready for spraying racking spindles etc; 

Russ and Jake Pike made short work of this ornate ceiling. 



This is Traditional Painter's summary of the pros and cons of spraying walls and woodwork

On FaceBook, there is a really high powered private spraying user group run by the guys at Paint Tech. (They are slowly educating builders how to get decorating work done on site super efficiently, using spray tech.)

Flints Theatrical are a goldmine for spraying ideas. From reduced pressure guns to air tight plastic pots for multiple colour changes.

The favourite sprayer in my world is this guy, who I have dubbed the Sata Stig of spraying!

 


DIY Decorator of the Month competition underway

We often receive emails and posts on the forum from home decorating enthusiasts (and conscripted DIY) showing us what they have achieved after researching the internet, reading the information on this site.

Now, thanks to support from our Trade Corner associates, each month, for the next 12 months, we will award a Decorating Kit Box, worth over £100, to the most impressive DIY decorating project sent in to us

To enter post your project on the forum.

Every month, we will showcase the winner and 2 runners-up at the end of the competition page. 

The rules for what they are, (don't be a pro, do have a before and after photo and some info about what you did!) are posted on the competition page. 

With patience, guidance and confidence, DIY decorators can, and do produce great results. This competition will immortalise your efforts!

this month's winner is Jan from Liverpool for her text book upgrade of a mahogany kitchen!



The Decorator Kit Box is a useful pack containing many products that Traditional Painters use!

A pot of Owatrol paint conditioner

Abranet abrasives from Hallmark Fraulo

Fox brushes / sashes

Axus tack rags

Holman Specialist Paints £10 paint voucher plus Free P+P

Fluxaf Pro Clean

4 assorted tubes of Prestonnet interior / exterior filler

Go!Paint – Clean and Go! ... and more.


Keen DIY decorator and proud of what you achieved taking a more professional approach? Check over the competition page and send in your work. It runs for a year, so plenty of time to do the research on an upcoming project and get started and finished.

Traditional Painters at work

Adam in Ireland explains:

I share one of Mark Nash's photo albums on FaceBook, one of my fans sees it & loves it but contacts Mark & not me. He fills her in on the details of how we work & she phoned me on Sunday. Viewing Monday evening in Cavan.

Kevin explains.

Been in touch with Russell Woodland (in Essex) as I’ve got to price a film studio in London that wants tons of steel work to look old and rusty.


Martin Guest in Worcester explains

This was Ron Taylor‘s Traditional Painter project in Kenilworth, Warwickshire. Ron was asked to paint Kitchen, Utility and Downstairs Cloakroom walls, ceilings, woodwork and doors, alongside Kitchen and Utility units… the timescale was tight – only being a week, so he pulled in a team to help him out.

I was lucky enough to work the whole week with Ron, Scot Hindley and Charlie Budd both dropped during the week.

We get enquiries from all over the country asking for a recommended kitchen painter or specialist finisher. It isn't a case of me shovelling work out to mates, hoping they will do a good job. Traditional Painters are invited on the strength of many things, including their craft skills.  There is absolutely no danger of a Traditional Painter taking on work that they cannot do to the very highest standards. It just won't happen. There is so much strength in depth, and all work is done by the right specialist for the job with the same attention to detail and professionalism and focus on customer service.


GO for it painters, win an iPad



Paul Barber working for MD of Jackson Homes

Paul in Northants has been decorating for a gentleman who has seen a few painters over the years. He is in safe hands with Paul. Trained by his father, can't go wrong.

Kitchen painter dad, Paul, has written up this account of a kitchen he completed recently for the designer at the Fired Earth showroom in Banbury.

After 30 years, Paul has seen a few things too!

In this case, high end executive homes with hand painted kitchens sell, and high end executive homes with sprayed kitchens don't! The upshot is that Paul will probably have a few more kitchens to paint over the coming months.


Lincolnshire baby sleeping better now

 
 

Nice paperhanging as ever. Rumour has it James went out at the weekend, so the title may apply to him too! 

Mypaintbrush celebrating their 2nd anniversary and cordially invite you to spend £30+ with them!

Every one a winner as ever. 

 
 

Google in Pig Latin

There are a few tricks that websites use to keep certain information from being indexed on search results. The most out there way, is to write your pages in Pig Latin, because Google doesn't know what it means. Or rather the robots don't, but as you can see Google humans understand Pig Latin perfectly! 





Any friends interested in what we get up to here? Orgetfay Google, send them to the sidebar on our FaceBook page.

Thanks.

It links through to this page. 


 

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Have a good holiday, have a good week, there will be a break for you, no newsletter next weekend.

If you have a friend who is into the sort of things we cover,  please forward this newsletter to them by email. 

Watch out for more case studies on the blog, and see what we get up to via FaceBook and Twitter

- What are the * before a link all about?

Short answer 

* equals win-win for readers and Traditional Painter.

Longer answer - 

If you click on a * link and go through to MypaintBrush's store, for instance, and you decide to make a purchase, you will pay the same competitive price as all other visitors to their store. The difference is, we make a small commission for referring you to the MPB site . 

We only put a * link to products we recommend and rate highly.

 So, if you want to help us fund Traditional Painter, so that we can maintain the high standards of information on the site and keep the Newsletter bubbling along for your pleasure, please make purchases through these * links!

(If you are a bit of a meany, just copy the link, knock off the tracker number bit and go through to the MPB site - that way we don't get a penny for pointing you in the right direction :) )