A Whiter Shade of Pale

It is a truth universally acknowledged that changing wall colour from greyish-brown to white makes a big difference.  So far I have only put one coat on this wall and it DOES show up every imperfection (of which there are LOTS) but already the room is brighter...



I have 2.5 litres of this paint, which I hope will give all of the brown walls one coat.  It is a Dulux Heritage colour, bought locally from the 'Shed'.  I have used this line of paint before and it covers well.  However, I think this tin is either too old or has got frosted.  When I opened it, it was a solid mass with about 3" of liquid floating on the top. After I mixed it up thoroughly it was still looking 'bitty' but I decided to use it anyway, as I knew the brown walls would be hard to cover. The result is the wall above, which looks OK!  I didn't sieve the paint at all and was surprised that the little lumps all brushed out as I used the paint.

In the bedroom I painted the first 5 beams yet again (they've had 4 coats now) and this time it looks as if they're going to be all right. Years ago they had been emulsioned but something (preservative probably) had 'bled through' the paint, and the beams looked like this...



That's the other end of the room, which hasn't been done yet.

I bought some Annie Sloane paint from Mon Chic Cottage in Le Dorat and mixed two shades - Pure and Cream. Unfortunately, after the first coat those blotches just bled through again! After another coat, the same result! Finally I decided I would have to use an oil-based undercoat on the beams to stop this happening, so I undercoated the same beams (So I'd done them 3 times by then) and then gave them another coat of the Annie Sloane and - voilà - this time they are OK!



Annie Sloane Chalk Paint normally covers in one coat, but occasionally needs two, so what was the problem? I asked Jay, who owns Mon Chic Cottage and it transpires that Pure has no pigment in, so the paint I mixed would only have half as much pigment as normal!  Apparently Pure is normally used for wood that needs that Limewashed look...

Anyway, I'm happy that the bedroom looks good so far, though I still have a lot to paint there...



That rather grainy picture doesn't really show it well, though.