KITCHEN PARADISO

Only 24 sleeps until Christmas and there’s still so much to do to put the finishing touches to the new kitchen.  Sleep seems like a luxury when those hours could be put to much better use. 

Call it laziness or cost effectiveness but when our builders plastered the kitchen walls they decided not to remove the existing radiator to plaster over the fourth wall, claiming that the wall didn’t have enough defects to warrant a full skim.  Says who?

 

Not that many defects

So it was left to me to attempt a repair of the existing motorway crack network then sweep the evidence of my bodging under a layer of Deco Paradiso wallpaper.  Perhaps no 10 should consider the same as no doubt there’s no more space left under their rugs in which to hide away evidence of their crimes and misdemeanors. 

Before turning my hand to a bit of Paradiso papering, the uneven walls riddled with hairline cracks or dinks too small to fill needed to be covered with lining paper. 

 

Lining the wall horizontally

Lining paper helps to create a nice thick even layered surface on which to stick your wallpaper.  I’ve used a 1200 grade lining paper (Homebase) specially designed for anaglypta to act as my levelling agent.  Weirdly, the lining paper is stuck to the wall horizontally and I found this far more difficult to do than hanging paper vertically especially when up a ladder.

 

Bertie!  Now look what you've made me do

It’s no laughing matter when you’re stuck up a ladder trying to hang several metres of sticky paper and the cat chooses that moment to deposit the stinkiest poop in the litter tray round the corner causing a ripple in the fabric of my papering universe resulting in wonky joins.  Should’ve gone to Specsavers with a clothes peg on my nose!  Bertie - you stinky moggy!!!

 

All those cracks magically hidden away

Leave the lining paper to dry overnight then cover with a nice layer of your favourite wallpaper, in my case Deco Paradiso. 

 

Not easy to paper with radiator in situ

Leave to dry overnight then paint

Leave your Paradiso wall to dry overnight then cover with 2 coats of matt emulsion, remembering to use a smallish fluffy roller to avoid getting paint on new kitchen units or missing bits of the raised pattern.  

 

Trying not to splash anything

Now all that’s left to do is to finish the woodwork with some satinwood paint then cover the unsightly exposed copper pipes with chrome pipe-snaps and voila, kitchen finished.

Wallpaper - great for hiding defective unplastered walls