How to paint skirting boards with Aileen Hogan of Shabby.ie
How to paint skirting boards (without ruining your carpet!)
by Aileen Hogan of Shabby.ie
Episode 6 of
‘HOW TO’ video series from Fleetwood Paints
When choosing skirting boards you have a choice now of 4 inches to 6inches (6in seems to be the most popular these days) and you can get them in raw wood or primed. Primed is the easiest as you can go straight in with your paint, but more expensive than the other. However, bearing in mind you don’t need to buy primer, it may work out around the same. This is what the primed looks like…
If you choose to buy the raw wood boards you will need to prime them with a primer that will seal in all the knots.
For this job I needed the following products:
- Caulk filler for filling in any holes
- Dust Sheet
- Newspaper
- Low Tack Washi Tape
- Flock roller and mini roller tray
- Sandpaper/coarse paper for sanding
- Methylated spirits for cleaning
- Bloxx-It Primer
- Advanced Paint range in a Satinwood finish. ‘Shabby Light Grey’
For this I recommend the oil based BLOXX IT as that will give you a perfect finish for your paint to adhere to and you wont have to worry about the knots bleeding through your water based paint in months to come. I did two coats on the one in the video and then rolled it on with a mini roller. I then used a brush for the grooved areas.
Allow this primer to dry completely in-between coats. 40 min is the dry time and 2 hours before you recoat. I use Advanced Satinwood from Fleetwood on all my interior woodwork. You can also choose the lower sheen eggshell finish for a real flat finish. This is what it will look like when finished.😁
Now you will see in the video I talk about painting boards in situ. It’s easy enough if you are painting over tiles or wooden floor as all you need to do is get out the washi tape and tape off your wall and floor before painting.
What about painting skirting boards without getting paint on your carpet??
You attach a strip of washi tape to some newspaper and put it right up to the board (even a little over the board) and with a paint scraper, you push the tape down in under the bottom of the board. This holds down all the carpet too and gives you access to the whole board while totally protecting the carpet. You will see me do this in the video 👍🏻
If you need to fill in holes the way I did, here is the product you need. It’s fabulously smooth and doesn’t even need sanding after it gets hard…my kind of filler 💪🏻
Of course pre-painted boards have to be cleaned and sanded and sometimes primed before you can add another paint. Give the boards a good clean with a 50/50 mix of methylated spirits and water and a sponge. Wipe it dry with some kitchen cloth.
For the sanding you should ensure you sand back the lumps, bumps and /or drips from the previous paint job and get the surface as smooth as possible. Medium grade sandpaper should be sufficient unless it has been heavily painted in gloss paint, in that case you should use a course paper. This angled brush was the business for getting right down to the bottom of the board. However these brushes hold a lot of paint so be careful not to over load your brush, this can cause runs and drips… the very thing you have just sanded off.
Spread your paint well.
I used the Advanced Satinwood tinted into my own ‘Shabby Colour Collection’ colour ‘Shabby Light Grey..’ You can choose from 100’s of colours in this finish or you can choose the new Advanced Eggshell … a lower sheen paint but equally easy to use. I use this one on all my furniture updates and now have my own ‘Shabby Colour Collection’ in it. The grey I used in the video is called Shabby Light Grey and is available HERE in the eggshell finish, with nationwide delivery. 🚚
When you are finished remove all your washi tape ( the low tack washi tape I use in the video will not take off your wall paint) and admire the perfect job you did. 😍
Hope you enjoyed that and go on and give it a go yourself at home!