I'm thinking of painting the stone wall and inglenook in the living room. I left it (just the inglenook wall) as untreated stone when I first renovated about twelve years ago, but now I'm doing a complete redecorate of the house (boy, it needs it) and think it (facing wall and interior of inglenook) might be better painted white(ish) along with the rest of the room. It's not very attractive stone - just dull grey sedimentary random rubble stone from the river which makes the room quite gloomy (only a small window in two foot thick walls) even on sunny days, and painting it would make it brighter. I also don't think that it would have been left as stone in the more distant past - presumably it would have been whitewashed? Opinions sought on the best way to treat the wall - preparation and type of finish. There is some soot staining on some of the stone in the inglenook and It has a woodburner installed.
- Thread starter geoff
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Thats beautiful , are you sure you want to paint it? Sometimes low voltage lights inside where the register plate is can brighten things up a bit , perhaps some brighter furniture, copper things etc etc.
That inglenook , to me looks to be in too good a condition to paint over.
But you could try lime wash, the worst that can happen is you will have to wash it off if you dont like it.
I was doing our tudor brick ingloenook today and we have come to the conclusion that it will have to be plastered over as restoring the brick would simply leave not very much of the original pillars left, in a way I am kind of gutted but on the other hand I am sure it will come out ok plastered and limewashed.
Edit - love the period speakers as well.
That inglenook , to me looks to be in too good a condition to paint over.
But you could try lime wash, the worst that can happen is you will have to wash it off if you dont like it.
I was doing our tudor brick ingloenook today and we have come to the conclusion that it will have to be plastered over as restoring the brick would simply leave not very much of the original pillars left, in a way I am kind of gutted but on the other hand I am sure it will come out ok plastered and limewashed.
Edit - love the period speakers as well.
Penners
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Geoff - I see you're a man with a mission (two in fact).
I really think this decision has to be yours - it's your house, your choice. But if you need help in making that decision, perhaps you should see what the local tradition is. As you say, I doubt that the stone would have been left "naked", but I don't know whether it would have been limewashed directly, or plastered first.
Are you able to have a look around any local properties of a similar age?
I really think this decision has to be yours - it's your house, your choice. But if you need help in making that decision, perhaps you should see what the local tradition is. As you say, I doubt that the stone would have been left "naked", but I don't know whether it would have been limewashed directly, or plastered first.
Are you able to have a look around any local properties of a similar age?
I haven't completely decided yet, but painted/unpainted/plastered all seem to be common locally. The stone is a bit dull and is pretty rough in texture - painting it would probably be difficult and time consuming. I was hoping for some info on paint types - I've never used limewash (might be a silly question but is it the same thing as whitewash?) and don't know how it would react to the smoke etc. (there's always a bit of smoke produced, even with a wood burner) or how to use it. If it didn't work does it wash off? The other alternative would be straight emulsion, but I'm not sure if there would be any problems putting it straight on stone. I suspect that whatever finish I used, if I changed my mind the dreaded sandblaster would be needed because of the very rough stone surface.
Penners
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Rob has used limewash - I haven't. He says that, if you decide it was a mistake, you can wash it off. Emulsion paint would be a great deal more difficult to remove - oil paint even worse.
I think any paint is going to discolour after a time, where smoke is present.
I think any paint is going to discolour after a time, where smoke is present.
I would use lime wash , it will blacken with smoke like all paints but this will add character to an already beautiful fire place.
To make a limewash simply add lime putty to water , first coat will be one part lime wash to 4 parts water, the rest of the coats will be a 50/50 mix. Put it on very lightly. At first it will look transparent , dont worry about this as when the lime carbonates it will become white. It will take at least 5 coats to get it completely white.
Test it on one stone first to see if you like the finish. It will be a lovely soft almost pastel white but will also be very bright , Its hard to describe the finish of limewash except its really rather beautiful and kind to the eye as well as looking very traditional and natural. If you dont like it it will wash off with a sponge and warm water.
wet the stone first , not so its drenched just so that is wont absorb too much moisture out of the limewash as the trick is not to let it dry too quickly. What I normally do is wet down first with a pump up garden mister/sprayer , leave it for a few minutes then repeat. Then apply a coat of limewash , then after the area is coated i spray again lightly to re-wet the surface. The before going to bed i might wet it down again.I do one coat every 24 hours or so although i have done another coat that night with no problems.
Things to be aware of. If you apply too thick a coat it will craze when dry and flake, dont be tempted to apply a thick coat, its transparent until it dries.
Dont let it dry too quickly or it will be chalky when dry.
Take your time and work it in to the stone with a medium stiff brush and dont get any in your eyes, wear goggles if needs be.
I think a modern paint would detract the beauty of your inglenook where as lime wash will accentuate it and fit in more.
What colour is the rest of the room?
To make a limewash simply add lime putty to water , first coat will be one part lime wash to 4 parts water, the rest of the coats will be a 50/50 mix. Put it on very lightly. At first it will look transparent , dont worry about this as when the lime carbonates it will become white. It will take at least 5 coats to get it completely white.
Test it on one stone first to see if you like the finish. It will be a lovely soft almost pastel white but will also be very bright , Its hard to describe the finish of limewash except its really rather beautiful and kind to the eye as well as looking very traditional and natural. If you dont like it it will wash off with a sponge and warm water.
wet the stone first , not so its drenched just so that is wont absorb too much moisture out of the limewash as the trick is not to let it dry too quickly. What I normally do is wet down first with a pump up garden mister/sprayer , leave it for a few minutes then repeat. Then apply a coat of limewash , then after the area is coated i spray again lightly to re-wet the surface. The before going to bed i might wet it down again.I do one coat every 24 hours or so although i have done another coat that night with no problems.
Things to be aware of. If you apply too thick a coat it will craze when dry and flake, dont be tempted to apply a thick coat, its transparent until it dries.
Dont let it dry too quickly or it will be chalky when dry.
Take your time and work it in to the stone with a medium stiff brush and dont get any in your eyes, wear goggles if needs be.
I think a modern paint would detract the beauty of your inglenook where as lime wash will accentuate it and fit in more.
What colour is the rest of the room?
I think whitewash is more of an American term see, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitewash , it also describes limewash to a certain degree.
There are other types of appropriate paint finishes , distemper for instance would look nice in this application and distemper will also wash off although it will be slightly more difficult, also you cannot paint over distemper with anything other than more distemper.
There are other types of appropriate paint finishes , distemper for instance would look nice in this application and distemper will also wash off although it will be slightly more difficult, also you cannot paint over distemper with anything other than more distemper.
Thanks Rob, the limewash info was exceedingly useful, just what I wanted to know. The rest of the room will be white or white-ish. It was a glorious sunny day today and the room is south facing but the area round the inglenook was still a a bit dark and gloomy. The photo used a flash so it's artificially bright. I'm coming more and more round to the idea of limewash. If the stone was more decorative or of better quality I don't think I would consider it, but it is pretty rough and a rather dirty dull grey. Limewash also seems to have the least impact and is easiest to reverse if it was not a success. I think there's a supplier of lime putty in mid wales so that should be ok.
It will be a few weeks yet but I'll let you know with a re-post what the results are (with photo) if I go ahead. Thanks again.
It will be a few weeks yet but I'll let you know with a re-post what the results are (with photo) if I go ahead. Thanks again.
Look forward to seeing how you get on. Just a thought, if you were to paint just the back wall inside the fireplace you might get good enough results from brightening up the room point of view but still retain the stonework of the fireplace in the pillars.
Of course that would boil down to personal taste and if you don't think it looks right like that then that's because it isnt.
Of course that would boil down to personal taste and if you don't think it looks right like that then that's because it isnt.