I took over Painters Care in 2021. The guides on it were written by painters and decorators in the US. I commission, edit and update them, and I don’t claim to have written them.
I’m in the UK, and I’ve done my own share of this over the years: stripped wallpaper, pulled down ceiling panels, sanded walls smooth after plastering, painted plenty of rooms. I’ve just taken on a house that needs the lot doing to it.
Builders and decorators are doing most of it. That gives me something I have never had before: the chance to watch trained people work, and to check what my own site says against what they actually do. Where they prove it wrong, I’ll say so.
I’m doing a few of the smaller jobs myself, and I’ll tell you what the rest cost me. The house is in the UK, so prices are what I actually paid in pounds, with the dollar equivalent in brackets.
The house as we found it
Photographed on day one, before anything was moved or touched.
Done
Nothing finished yet — the work starts shortly. Each completed job lands here with what it cost, what surprised me, and whether it was worth paying someone to do it.
In progress
Nothing on the go yet. The builders start soon, and this is where you’ll see what’s underway.
Still to do
No set order. The builders work to their schedule, not mine, and some of this will get pushed back when something more urgent turns up. Each one links to the guide I’d already written, and once it’s actually been done in my house I’ll come back and say whether it matched.
- Stripping the old paint
- Filling and caulking
- Priming the bare wood
- Rolling the walls
- Spraying the kitchen cabinets
- Getting cabinet paint to actually stick
- Cleaning up afterwards
Follow along
Photos and clips go up as the work happens. The write-ups land here.