Lights camera action

Mark Nash is a natural on camera, and what you see on film is exactly what you get in real life. 


This is a link to his recently upgraded site. Third generation, Mark knows his stuff.


Cheshire kitchen painter has an apprentice

Jason Walker has found an apprentice, yee hah. That's a yee hah for the lucky lad, about to embark on a career working with a kitchen painting team that has been together for 14 years.

 


Go!Paint on Trade Corner.

I did say the Dutch were coming. Go!Paint the Dutch company making Store and Go and other innovative brush cleaning products, have joined Trade Corner. Jop and Neils are happy to advise and point you in the right direction with their product line. See their full story here



When you talk to Jop, he is the lead designer behind the Store and Go or Clean and Go, so you can reckon that what he says is fairly authoritative and insightful!

About Trade Corner 

As mentioned before, when we hook up with a company on Trade Corner, we have spent a lot of time getting to know the products and the people behind the companies.

Mirka UK for instance, are well known for their abrasives, industry leaders long before Abranet abrasive products and CEROS sanders hit the market.

On the other hand, Holland-based Hildering were unknown to me a couple of years ago. They are in fact the  go-to company for packaging and cans for many of the paint industry's leading manufacturers. They are the company behind Go!Paint, and with their relationship with companies like Akzo, some smart folks get to see Go!Paint kit during the development stage. They can also put their new products in the hands of local Dutch contractors with up to 60 guys, to road test their cleaning and storage kit.

A lot of R&D and thought goes into Go!Paint product before it ever hits the UK. They also recognise that the UK market is a different kettle of fish to the Dutch market, we do things differently, obviously. So they have been consistent and open and very patient with me all along, helping explain the thinking and reasoning behind what they do. The Dutch have had 10 years without oil based paint indoors, officially, so have had a long time to develop for the water-based world. 

We get it now! and we are delighted they see the positives in what we are doing at Traditional Painter.
 

Work in progress

They say don't show "during photos" with tools and disruption on view, as it detracts from the dream you are selling to readers. OK, here are a pair of just before work starts pictures. 



Normal knotty pine kitchen in Nottingham, Russ suspected it would need a lot of preparation, especially gunning up - natural timber kitchen doors aren't often as "tight" as  you might think, with the gaps revealed by the first coat of primer, but that is the nature of the beast. As you will see below, it turned out not too bad!

And this is a re-paint, where the paint seems to be adhering well, all the work has theoretically already been done by the previous expert, so Russ was expecting to do basic rubbing down and touching up, some spot filling, before re-coating. Not here.





Sadly, this standard of work really does exist on the kitchen painting circuit. We have had enough phone calls and emails from distraught homeowners asking if a local Traditional Painter can go and sort out a mess.

The common denominators seem to be that the last person charged average decorator rates of around £120 a day, took quite a long to time to complete, and invariably used a standard trade paint, usually forgetting the subtleties, like rubbing down, or painting what you can't see at first cursory glance!

This is how Russ finished that knotty pine kitchen. The knobs are a nice touch.



Wait and see how Russ' latest terrible repaint rescue job goes. If you are in Nottinghamshire / Derbyshire, Russ is currently booking kitchen refurbishments for the New Year.


A Fox fan in oil paint

Good to see a fine brush fully loaded and working like a champ. An Essex decorator has been lavishing his praise of the 1.5" Fox while painting exteriors. Judging by the handle, it has had a lot of use.



The designer, Martin Guest, used the Fox in oil based satinwood for weeks on end, making sure it has what it takes. That worked.

Before you can judge how good or not a brush is, it is always best to give it a fair run out. If it is to be used in water-based paint, pre-soak it in water. Always load it up so the reservoir is full, and enjoy. More insights on using Foxes.

Keep your eyes peeled for a full 60-page run through of painting with a brush by Jack Pauhl, it promises to take our knowledge up a peg or two.


Gold Leaf Supplies  getting all Foxy

These guys have been around for a while



They were alerted to the Fox range by one of their big clients down in London, Henry van der Vijde. Henry was revelling in the Fox sash brush performance on an assignment in Monte Negro, and he isn't one to muck around. His team were well kitted out.




If you feel like buying in a bundle of sashes, MyPaintBrush have a pack of 3 in sizes *14, 16, 18  


What is Traditional Painter?

 

What was the thinking behind it.
What numbers of readers do you have.

There are a couple more questions from Richard.
 

In a nutshell...

Who’s idea was it? Mine, all mine - to start with! Mark Nash is the one who sparked the idea of developing the site from a one man teach and tell site into what you see now.

When did it start? First official Traditional Painter site was 2009. The doors started to open wider in 2011.

How did it start? Mark Nash suggested that with all the enquiries I was getting from across the country, there was potential to involve a few specialist kitchen painters. 

Was it one man or a few of you getting together? Initially me, then when Mark set the cogs turning, I invited a few companies. We thrashed the basics out, had a couple of false starts, regrouped, and it has evolved since then into what you see now.

What was the thinking behind it?

Traditional Painter started as the online home for my business, laying bare how I think decorating should be done. My intention has not been so much prescribing ABC, (so many variables) but conveying a general sense of the principles of good decorating, and pointing where I feel professional decorating in the 21st century should be heading.

I wasn't a complete lonesome nut, as the site message seemed to gel with plenty of homeowners and DIY and tradesmen, many who wrote, thanking me for what I was doing. It also made a sector of the trade uncomfortable, but that's the other side of not doing something different. 

So to keep to the spirit of what was started, the site is a platform for 20+ like-minded specialists who tick the same sort of boxes that I would tick:

- one or two-man bands

- focussed on kitchen and furniture painting

- willing to throw their efforts into developing the site along the lines it has been going.

That means sharing knowledge, helping folks interested in decorating right (not cheap) and generally demonstrating how old-school trained specialists are embracing the best that modern technology has to offer, to produce super workmanship.

From a business point of view, it also shows how professional decorators can tick a box that homeowners yearn for but so rarely get -  exceptional value for money. 

To keep the site sustainable and consistent, (most online efforts by individual decorators are short lived flames going up in a puff of smoke) the professionals I invite have to be really good at their job too, of course, and willing to share their secrets and blog and have a bunch of other nebulous qualities that tell me they are basically good, positive and constructive people!

It's not for everyone, it can't be open door, it wouldn't be manageable. In fact, all kitchen painters are invite only, no fee to join, and that way I am very happy to rely on and recommend Traditional Painters around the country.  


What numbers of readers do you have? That's a hard one. A fair few eyeballs is the easy answer. 

On the website, according to Google Analytics, we average just over 28,000 unique visitors and 50,000 page views per month. About 8,000 are repeat visitors every month. We have about 650-700 email and newsletter subscribers.

Where I can't say numbers exactly, is on social media. For Twitter and FaceBook, I am looking for a way to accurately tot up the reach of the group - a few of us have 1000-2000 followers on Twitter, Adam has nearly 4000 FB fans. But all roads lead back to the website, as I learnt very quickly that a self hosted website is the only consistent online home that you can rely on not to be axed by 3rd parties. (Think MySpace etc)

I will try answer some more questions later, so I don't clog up the newsletter!

How deep does being professional go? 

Mark Nash produced a beautiful end result on a kitchen. It was handed over, client delighted, Mark happy, another successful job. It didn't end there.

When the paintwork and the kitchen had settled down, Mark's local pro photographer returned. He sent Mark what looked like super pictures. But next day he emails Mark
 

How's your doors?

Northamptonshire properties are being smartened up daily by the Barbers. Associate Painter and Decorator,  Paul Jr has worked his magic on an exterior, finishing off with this front door.



And Paul Barber Senior has been beautifying the doors of a Fired Earth kitchen in Silverstone. Interestingly, the development here has a few wooden kitchens, some were sprayed, and Paul hand painted 2 or 3. Buyers have not been very interested in the properties with the sprayed kitchens!



The Grand Prix traffic has wreaked havoc with a few schedules, but Paul managed to escape the droves and zoom off to work elsewhere. And last week, he made a high speed 150-mile round trip to Holmans in Swindon to pick up a perfect match to a Dulux colour, in a high performance Tikkurila paint. 
 

Neglected forum

There was a hack sort of attack on the servers hosting the forum earlier in the week, so we were obliged to prevent anyone logging in. It's a dark place on the other side of our computer screens.

Thanks to Fearghas up on Shetland for his exterior painting advice. Solid info from a Valti, Tikkurila, Jotun kind of decorator! 

Retro wallpaper in Cheshire

Nice work from Scot in Cheshire. I bet there were some interesting focal effects as he was smoothing it out.




Talking retro

When you click through on the INSTANT LIFT display below, you will see amongst other things, that 3 copies of Paint Magic, the classic Jocasta Innes manual, are being given away in a free draw on July 31st.

Open to subscribers of a new Monthly Newsletter on Furniture Painting Tips.

The adhesion test is tough in Holland

When Willem at Vliegenthart was working onsite, his tape testing for the adhesion of primers and coatings was done with sellotape. That approach takes no prisoners.

 

FaceBook still going strong

As the summer gathers force, social media interaction goes down. At least it used to when there were less phones accessing the internet.

See you there. And if you think you have any friends who you think would be interested in what we get up to here, send them to the sidebar on our FaceBook page.

Thanks.

It links through to this page. 


 

Decorative wall paint effects coming your way

It is not a coincidence that two Traditional Painters in recent times have been working with painted stripes. There will be a blog or two going into the details. 

No such thing as an unexplained coincidence?! The 80's are coming back, and there will be stripes completed nationwide, but with 2014 taste and elegance! 

Another look at the gloss.

Jason's flawless brushed gloss finish is nice!




Helmi gloss and a Fox paint brush.


Mirka for the new generation

Simon Verrall embraced a lot of the methods and products we use on Traditional Painter, while learning the trade. Here he is, living the dream, his own man, Mirka sander in hand, and a spanky white van on the drive.



Good on him, he did a great job blogging an exterior decorating project before he graduated. 

 

Have a good week and if you aren't into FaceBook, but 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 :) )