Nigel's Decorating Service, A page of Hints and Quip's

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Fill the tops of skirting boards and around door frames with flexible decorator's filler from a tube, Put it in a bucket of hot water for a few minutes, this will soften it up and make it easier to use, then after applying the filler run a finger along it to squeeze it into the gaps followed by a damp sponge to smooth down and remove any excess.

Paint the walls with a coat of emulsion a similar colour to your wallpaper, this way if you have a small gap in the paper it won't stand out too much.

When staining wood, seal any end grain with sanding sealer or a thin solution of clear varnish, this will stop it taking too much stain and going too dark, keep off of the planed surface or the stain won't take and these places will be lighter.

Coat the walls with a thin solution of wallpaper paste before papering, then the paper will slide more easily and also give you more time to work with it.

I know you are going to wash the walls down before decorating, make it easier for yourself, use a squeegee floor mop.

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When over lapping vinyl papers and at places where gloss is painted on the walls -around doors and skirting- paste some border adhesive onto these areas just before you put the paper up, the paper should not lift at a later date.

Not quite sure about that colour for your room?, paint two or three pieces of lining paper or card then hang one piece by the window and another in the shadow part of the room, the colour will look completely different in each place, also if the room is going to be used with artificial light. wait till it gets dark and see what it looks like then, also remember that a light colour will pick up some of the colour of your carpets or flooring, decorate for the occasion that the room will be used.

For normal height rooms 2mtr 40cm you should get four drops of paper from a roll, so in practice one roll = two meters wide.

Have you got a bad air bubble in your paper?, Get a craft knife or a retractable razor blade, cut a cross into it then paint some water onto the back of the paper so that it becomes pliable, next paint a thin coat of paste onto the back, last of all gentle flatten the paper back down and if you have a seam roller gently roll the paper down working towards the cut.

Have you got a small stain on your walls or ceiling that won't go away, brush some oil based under coat over it and leave to dry, then paint or paper as normal.

For papers that have a pattern or stripe use a plumb line to mark out your first drop of paper on each wall, do not trust that the walls or doorways are level.

Water based paints, If you are going to use the same colour the next day, you don't have to wash your brush or roller out, just wrap it in a plastic bag for the night

So you can't find a border that you like, look at other rolls of wallpaper and cut a strip from the edges of that, use a craft knife and a straight edge to cut them for a neat finish.

Oil based paints, put brushes in a jar with water up to the top of the bristles they will stay soft for weeks, before you use them next time squeeze water and excess paint out with some old newspaper, PS do not use a tin can or it might go rusty and contaminate the brush.

After pasting your paper, fold the ends into the middle while you wait for it to soak in, this way the paste won't dry out. See instructions for each paper as they differ from make to make for soaking time.

When painting walls and ceilings, cut in/paint all the edges first then roll the main body last.

Do you want something to mix your filler up in? cut the top off of a plastic paint can or similar, leave about 25mm / 1 inch from the bottom, a flat bottomed can is best, it is easy to mix up in and easy to clean out, keep for future use.

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