SK Painting & Decorating

Incredibly proud to be working alongside as a Top Dec Champion.

I’ve been using Top Dec for paint & supplies for as long as I can remember, it’s helps that they supply the dogs dangly products like Isomat.

When they announced an ambassador programme I lept at the opportunity to work with a company who share my passion & commitment for resins, pigments, binders & additives…paint geeks unite 💪🏻

She’s nearly ready to check out your reflection in…

As any trades person will tell you (and my wife!) jobs in your own home take forever to finish, if they ever get finished at all!!
But the home office is another step closer to completion with the new waney edge desk & chair in place.

Tis the season to…get your UPVC sprayed!

A quick little job this morning for a wonderful neighbour. Her porch is filled with wonderful mementos from a home aboard and the tired old white door just didn’t match the vibe.

Now this porch door is rocking its new colour (Ral 5002) and the porch really does feel like a little Greek haven especially on this beautiful day 🌞🌞🌞

Cliffs, castles, caves, beaches & bays…

The Gower really is stunning 😍

I love a good opportunity to restore something!
So when asked me if their original architraves could be saved, of course I said yes 👍🏻
They did the worse job and burnt off the old coatings so I came in at the really ugly stage 😳

After lots of sanding, filling, resin, priming, more filling & sanding they are drying off nicely to a satin finish. Some touch ups on the walls once dry but I think it safe to say we saved them 💪🏻

*hallway not decorated by me*

When she’s really old!!

This charming timber shop front got a well deserved facelift. It felt like I removed 200 years worth of failing paint, before removing a good chunk on the rotten sill!

Repairs were completed using and she’s finished off in Valtti Opaque in anthracite grey supplied by .

It the little touches….black hinges 😍

Several of the doors on this project had stunning hinges, but they were caked in layers of white paint. The spec was to just freshen up so the clients could move in, but it was worth the little bit of time to hand paint the hinges after the doors had been sprayed.

Fourth time lucky trying to post this…thanks Insta!!

Recently I undertook my biggest project to date. 7 rooms in this property were given a facelift ready for the new occupants to move in.

The property is going to be totally refurbished so the prep work undertaken was minimal (this time!)

The wallpaper was covered using ‘Wallpaper Cover-up’
Spot & old damp stains were covered with ‘Stainaway’
Ceilings & walls wrapped in ‘Cuisse De Nymphe’
Woodwork (excluding sash windows) in AT99, perfectly colour matched by & to ‘Cuisse De Nymphe’

Day 2 of my first ever festival…found a spot of shade to wait for Sam Smith

Popped along to the Tetbury branch of yesterday for their Trade Day.

It was really well organised and they had plenty of companies to talk to covering all aspects of decorating; from , , , and many more. I got a few things to try out, a new addition on order and most importantly…a Ryalls water bottle 😍

If you’re near Tetbury or Yate you should seriously check out their stores!

An aspect of my job that I really enjoy is finding new products, learning about the huge array of existing products, their uses and any limitations.

Yesterday I popped along to the tour at . There I got to try out some of their products and attempted to paint the quickest & most accurate hexagon. *Spoiler* I didn’t win 🤷🏼‍♀️

I’ve used their most popular product; Scuff-X and I can see why it’s their most popular…even if the dog wasn’t impressed at the photo op 😆 It’s beautiful to brush, stunning to roll, and bloody lovely to spray! The finish is super smooth & don’t get me started on how durable it is in a house with 2 dogs!

I picked up some colour charts and product guides, now to find a project where I can use it 👍🏻

Such simple little things
Finally put them to good use last week on a couple of ceilings

Nerd alert…🤓🤓🤓 my levels of excitement yesterday upon discovering there is not only a new decorating store leas than 10 minutes drive, but that they also stock LOADS of the paints & products that I like to use!

Huge shout out to Travis Decorating & building supplies] for taking the time to chat about the few thing a they don’t stock, that I’d really like them to stock!

I get my supplies almost exclusively online. The 3 decorating centres “nearby” are all big brands, they never have everything you want and are 30 minutes from me and more from each other! Which is just not practical in this day and age.

I’m super excited to build a relationship up with Decorating & building supplies], and continue providing my customers with a top quality finish using top quality products.

and I started the new year not with a bang…but with a chilly morning dip having not been in the water for months I opted to just get in and out pretty quickly. Lauren, however, managed a lap round…she’s hard core!
All made worth it by the excellent pastry & hot chocolate once we got out.

What a haul…massive thanks to and I can’t wait to start back in the new year and give some of this kit a test!

That’s a wrap…the final job of a crazy year complete.
This bedroom has gone from a pretty shocking pink to a subtle, modern natural beige.
The cupboards were sprayed satin white with the middle panels highlighted in Clay Mid to match the walls.

Ceiling - Clay Pale mixed in Isomat Premium
Walls - Clay Mid, mixed in Isomat Premium
Woodwork - White satin, Tikkurila Everal Aqua
Door panels - Clay Mid, Isomat Isolac Satin

The evolution of a window & its shutters…

This job started way back in February, however my work came to a grinding halt when rotten lintels, blown plaster and movements cracks were uncovered whilst stripping off the wallpaper😳😳

4 months on and it’s nearly completed. It’s had new lintels, new joists, walls have been strapped, the ceiling came down and has been reboarded and the whole room was plastered.

But for now, here’s a sneak peak of the work completed on the shutters, and don’t they look different!

helped me start my journey into spraying…you couldn’t ask for a better teacher. You’ll get quality time on the gun learning everything Jamie can share & excellent after service!

It’s a school day today…

A recently completed furniture job. These Ikea units have gone from a grubby old wood veneer to a smooth sexy white 30% sheen.

We all know how useful Ikea units are for added storage, but they don’t often age well, or like moving once out together. Most of these units had to be dismantled, glued and clamped back together…they’re much more sturdy now which is good considering we had to carry the 2 biggest units up to the 5th floor 😮🤦🏼‍♀️

Giving this a try…

Kabric is a special paint that unites the functional abilities of the paint with the visual characteristics of the plaster. Once finished, we’ll have a unique matt finish wall with a fabric-like surface.

Wish me luck

When you finish varnishing the floor only to realise you can keys are on the window sil…🤦🏼‍♀️🤣🤣🤣
So lucky that it’s my own house!!

After a couple of days exploring the beautiful City of Riga in Latvia with friends I’m back to work this week, albeit in my own home for a couple of days…got my trusty van dog, she came on a tip run whilst her sister was at the vets.

It’s just the first prime but how much better are the shutters looking already!

I had great fun with this project…I tried out a few different products and got a nice up-cycled table & chairs as a result 🥳🥳🥳 but I didn’t take enough photos 🤦🏼‍♀️

Extending oak table sanded back and finished in clear 10% sheen lacquer and the chairs were sprayed white.

Up the weekend workers…nope sorry 🤦🏼‍♀️ for me it’s about balance. I had a great chat with earlier this week about this very topic.

Yes, I am putting in a couple of hours this morning, but it’s for a project for our home…the pictures are a sneak peek.

Being self employed can be very challenging, although I have set hours I want to be on the job for I also have quotes, invoices, items to source for the next job, the accounts and all the other little things that go along with running your own business.

I’m very lucky to have a wife who understands the tasks I have to balance…she’s doing it too! I’m also lucky that I’m pretty good at setting my boundaries and sticking to them.

I won’t judge you for working all the hours in the day, if it works for you great 👍🏻 but it’s not a method that works for me ⚖️

A recently completed project.
This wardrobe has transformed the bedroom, built by a relative of the client I was asked to spray a 2 tone colour scheme.

After erecting a spray booth within the bedroom to protect the rest of the furniture, I set about prepping the carcass. They were sprayed with the trusty Q-Tech 190 using Renner water based paint, colour matched to Little Greene ‘Clay Pale’

The doors and drawers were taken back to the workshop where they were sprayed using the air assisted Wagner pump. Again using Renner 760 this time colour matched to ‘State of Mind’ from the Valspar range.

After a few snags with 1 tricky door I think the final product looks brilliant 🤩

this is how you drivers deliver fragile goods!?!? Thanks for delaying my job 😡😡😡

**For sale**
Makita GA9020 110v 230mm angle grinder (used, but well maintained)
As the old man claims to be “winding down” he’s going to be selling some of his tools 😳🤣
£70 collection Bristol