Trims - the sitting room

With the floor in place it was time to tackle the trims.

I like to sort out all trims I am going to need and paint them all in one go.  there is much to be said about cutting them ready to fit before painting; that way you aren't wasting time and paint on the waste which will be cut off at some stage further down the line.  I prefer to just do strips ready in case I make any mistakes working out joins.  That way I know I can cut and re-cut joins if I need to without having to stop and paint a piece of wood.

counted and painted

The coving is painted with white matt paint to match the ceiling as they should be made of plaster.  The wooden trims are painted with white satin.  Everything I use is water based as I hate clean up.

They have at least two coats and are denibbed (lightly sanded) between coats.  I use a decorators sponge and brush the routed grooves with a paintbrush and dust thoroughly with a soft cloth.  if you feel the trims before and after with you hands you will find what a huge difference it makes to the final surface finish to remove the nibs of wood.

denibbing 'kit'

White the second coat dried I put in the fireplace surround and hearth ready for the skirting and dado rail trims.

surround and hearth super-glued in

The door also need it trims in place so I would know where the dado rail and skirting came to.

door all trimmed

I started at the top of the room with the coving.  I found it an absolute nightmare working round the chimney breast, especially as it is such a shallow one.

Don't despair if your joins look like this

some nasty gaps

They just need a little paint shoved into the gaps and all will be well.  this photo is cruel and still makes them look pretty awful I assure you in place they look just fine.

paint-filled gaps

I do exactly the same with all the joins in the room - just blob generous amounts of paint in the gaps to fill the spaces.  Sometimes I also mix paint with sawdust if the gap is a bit too much for just paint.  There are various wood-fillers you could buy but the gaps are so fine and in such a cramped place I can not imagine having to work with them to get a decent result

The trims are all glued on with basic wood glue but I do add a couple of blobs of gel superglue just to grip them in place while they dry out.

With some fiddling of this and that around the fireplace and it was done.  Not thrilled with the skirting around the fireplace and I will need to give it more thought on the next room before cracking on with it.

Meanwhile one sitting room waiting for its light(s?).

Merry Christmas.

(22/05/16)