Sealing the plaster with paint

Whilst Rich was doing all this (Ivan having gone home to his lovely missus and nipper), Caroline and I were painting. Obviously I couldn't take a picture of me painting, so when Rich was doing the ceiling bits that I was having trouble to reach, I took a couple, mainly for the benefit of a gorgeous little girl we know.....


If you look behind Rich, you can see the finished arch and it looks good!


It's important to seal the plaster, and to do this we used a 50%paint, 50% water mix of cheap emulsion (magnolia!) applied and worked in generously with a roller. The first coat was very patchy, as it is absorbed at different rates by different densities of plaster and so on. The second coat looked a lot better. This means that when we finally choose a colour and paint, the expensive paint will go on evenly, and neatly, and have good coverage, and the plaster is somewhat protected from knocks and grease.