Redecorating!

[Cassie]

Hello all, I hope I have 2 really simple questions while I’ve been otherwise engaged pointing and worrying about whether the roof will fall on my head, the less practical half of the partnership has stripped off the woodchip in our bedroom. Rather him than me Anyway, this has revealed lovely lime plaster in good nick save for a few minor cracks and badly filled bits, which I’ll rectify. I want to wallpaper below the yet-to-be reinstated picture rail. Firstly, if I chip out the gypsum from the holes where the picture rail was previously attached, and I don’t find a nice plug of sound wood, how best to fix? Secondly, the wooden corner beads-paper up to them and paint them? Paper over them? Something else?? Also (sorry, now exceeding my initial 2 questions!) is normal caulk ok for the top of the skirting where it’s a bit ropey??

 

[Easrow]

We reinstated the picture rails in our place. We didn't even try to find the wooden plugs as when we moved some picture rail in a other room all of them came out still attached to the rail. I guess this has probably happened in your place and the holes filled with plaster. We refitted the rails with decent length screws and rawl plugs into the brick. We also used 'no more nails' or equivalent on the back. They are in use and have a heavy mirror and photo frames on with no signs over movement as yet.
As for the 2nd question regarding corner beading it is personal preference. Ours was covered over/removed when we moved in. It is now reinstated and painted the same as the wall. If I were to paper then I'd paint it with some matching paint to the rest of your room and paper up to it. Right or wrong, it's just my view and will depend on decoration.
3rd question, caulk. Not sure if I like it or not but have used it with mostly good results. Probably wrong but it sorts minor imperfections. It will sag, shrink in large gaps that would be better filled.

 

[Cassie]

Thanks Easrow
I’m a bit wary of the bricks in this place through damp problems elsewhere , but as the bedroom is totally dry, good screws into brick sounds like a reasonable plan. Having tried to pull things stuck on with no more nails etc from a lime wall and taken large chunks of wall with it, I’m very wary of that! The walls look pretty flat (not taken a level to them ) so perhaps I can get away with decent screws and caulking in any gaps?
For the corner beads, I’ll experiment and see what looks best!
Caulk-i have become extremely wary of modern stuff next to plaster/wood. There’s no damp in that room, but I don’t want to encourage it!
Cheers

 

[a twig]

Caulk is fine, at the risk of mixing metaphors no need to throw the period baby out with the modern bath water

 

[Cassie]

Thanks twig! Horror stories abound, and my inexperience is clear

 

[fernicarry]

Believe the vertical bead is called a P-bead.

I'm at a similar stage to you in my front bedrooms, stripped and ready to go (ooh err...), but have been stalled for many months due to various distractions, rotten front doors, rotten lintels, blocked drainage etc..

I've removed paint and paper and intent to repaint in white to match the other woodwork. I've had to do a fair amount of reconstruction of the plaster edge as lumps came off with the paper. Plastering isn't my thing but short sections weren't too difficult to do. Suspect you'll need to do some of the same. I dare say painting to match the wallpaper will help to hide any imperfections there.

 

[Cubist]

Firstly, if I chip out the gypsum from the holes where the picture rail was previously attached, and I don’t find a nice plug of sound wood, how best to fix? Secondly, the wooden corner beads-paper up to them and paint them? Paper over them? Something else?? Also (sorry, now exceeding my initial 2 questions!) is normal caulk ok for the top of the skirting where it’s a bit ropey??

Hi Cassie,

Regarding the picture rail; finding the old wooden plugs may be fairly easy but they are unlikely to be in good order and you could make a dreadful mess trying to replace them. I recently helped my daughter to fit a dado rail in her lounge using a strong adhesive - pun not intended - no need for nails... or screws. So long as the plaster is in good condition and you dont intend hanging very heavy pictures then its good enough for the job; albeit that a few purists may frown.

The corner beads were meant to strengthen the corners of the plaster work and help resist minor damage. In effect they should be plastered in to provide a smooth transition for surface papers and paints.

Cheers,
Cubist

 

[Drayton]

My corner beads (quirks?) definitely were not plasterd in until repaired or bodged over 100 years later. I was going to check my photos for the ones on the stairs/landing that are clay painted the same as the walls and one that I have left as wood. I was going to paint the latter but it looked so good when just wiped over to remove the bits of woodchip, glue and plaster dust that I left it. Very unperiod, of course.

I'll be back later with a couple of pictures, all being well.

 

[Cassie]

Believe the vertical bead is called a P-bead.

I'm at a similar stage to you in my front bedrooms, stripped and ready to go (ooh err...), but have been stalled for many months due to various distractions, rotten front doors, rotten lintels, blocked drainage etc..

I've removed paint and paper and intent to repaint in white to match the other woodwork. I've had to do a fair amount of reconstruction of the plaster edge as lumps came off with the paper. Plastering isn't my thing but short sections weren't too difficult to do. Suspect you'll need to do some of the same. I dare say painting to match the wallpaper will help to hide any imperfections there.

Thanks fernicarry-you are right, some small sections of plaster adjacent to the beading have indeed pulled off with the paper, not too bad though. I hear you with the distractions! Fortunately my old ma, although not so good with a hammer is a dab hand at wallpapering, so once I’ve done the prep, I’ll let her loose

 

[Cassie]

Hi Cassie,

Regarding the picture rail; finding the old wooden plugs may be fairly easy but they are unlikely to be in good order and you could make a dreadful mess trying to replace them. I recently helped my daughter to fit a dado rail in her lounge using a strong adhesive - pun not intended - no need for nails... or screws. So long as the plaster is in good condition and you dont intend hanging very heavy pictures then its good enough for the job; albeit that a few purists may frown.

The corner beads were meant to strengthen the corners of the plaster work and help resist minor damage. In effect they should be plastered in to provide a smooth transition for surface papers and paints.

Cheers,
Cubist

Thanks Cubist
I don’t intend to hang anything off them. I have a penchant for quite busy wallpaper, so that will be enough on it’s own I suppose it’s unlikely that anyone will want to remove the picture rail in future, but I don’t want to cause an issue that would ruin the good plaster. In any case, I’ll probably still be doing renovations on my death bed and one of the children will have to continue-my last words could be “don’t touch the picture rail”
Regarding the corner beads, they don’t appear to have been plastered over at any point. The plaster finished in a neat edge creating a little V shape between the bead and plaster. Papering over would leave a void in the V but I doubt it would cause an issue. Papering up to them and painting them I think would more likely leave a scruffy edge?

 

[Cassie]

My corner beads (quirks?) definitely were not plasterd in until repaired or bodged over 100 years later. I was going to check my photos for the ones on the stairs/landing that are clay painted the same as the walls and one that I have left as wood. I was going to paint the latter but it looked so good when just wiped over to remove the bits of woodchip, glue and plaster dust that I left it. Very unperiod, of course.

I'll be back later with a couple of pictures, all being well.

Thanks Drayton, I’d like to see the pics if you have time-might save me some experimentation!

 

[Cubist]

I seem to recall - but please don't count on my memory (I don't) - my mother using a pair of fine 'pinking shears' to feather the cut edge of stiff wallpaper to allow it to be brushed into and conform with tight corners. (Can't find a puzled shrug smilie)

 

[Cassie]

Pinking shears! Words you don’t hear often, but my mum also has a pair Never seen her use them on wallpaper though but I wouldn’t be surprised!

 

[Drayton]

I think most of these are not going to look right in your room, Cassie, but as you sound in need of a little light distraction here you are::

The stair/landing (almost) stripped back to what must be the orignal 1840 colour (actually dark olive-y brown, known as 'drab' I believe).



In its new disguise which, looks pale in the image but is actually Earthborn Jemima, so notably yellow. It doesn't show here but the walls are ashlar imitation, so I'm calling mine a modern interpetation of the Bath stone colour which was sometimes used on this. (The original dark walls would have been teamed with dark grained woodwork, too - distinctive but far from cheery...)





This exposed one I was intending to paint with claypaint too, but I lining-papered these walls first. The edges were a bit of a mess, so after some bodgy mending I ran the straight edges of the paper along the edges - no chance of me making a good job of bending it round the corners anyway. The wood was looking pretty grotty but cleaned up with a simple wipe. So I changed my mind on a whim, spent a few minutes putting a bit of wax on it (yes, I know, sorry, Toby) and masking-taped it up.

The messy one is in a long queue but happens to show part looking painted, part papered over and part showing the wood, for comparison. The front channel has been filled in, at least on this bit, and I'll probaly paper over it all. In due course.



Which is what I think you may find looks best on yours as you will have picture rail. Not even a sniff of picture rail in any of my rooms except the front one. And there I think it would look very odd not to cover the bead right over, as is currently the case. (I was starting on tis room in September; it's going to be one of those 'which September?' schedules, I think...)
Although as the example you show looks to be by the window it might depend on the treatment of the wood there?



The old paper here mostly has lining paper underneath, but it seems to cover the corners really well, so I would not worry about that, specially with a patterened paper.

I'm not sure any of this will help at all, as houses, and decorative schemes, vary so much. But everyone always wants pictures...

 

[Cassie]

Thanks for taking the time to post this Drayton-light distraction much welcomed! And everyone likes pictures I think you’re right, papering right over seems like the best bet, which is what previous people had done with woodchip-it actually went round the corners pretty well even though the channels weren’t filled in. I’ll paint the architrave around the windows, but as very sadly we have nasty plastic windows, so I’ll be stuck with them. Long curtains will at least cover them up! Although I’ll probably have to live with it all as is for now, will need all spare money for the lintel/roof saga

 

[CliffordPope]

"Pinking shears! Words you don’t hear often, but my mum also has a pair Never seen her use them on wallpaper though but I wouldn’t be surprised!"

Mine would have killed me if I had been caught using dressmaking scissors for cutting paper!
Paper is about as abrasive as sandpaper and wrecks proper scissors.

 

[fernicarry]

The corner beads were meant to strengthen the corners of the plaster work and help resist minor damage. In effect they should be plastered in to provide a smooth transition for surface papers and paints.

Can understand them being there to resist damage much like a dado rail but they've not been plastered in here. There is a very definite squared off edge to the plaster that stops short of the bead as in the pictures posted by Drayton. You can even make it out on the ones that are papered over. In the days when labour was cheap...

I'm reminded, we found one in the kitchen entombed in the modern stud work that was painted bright red. There wasn't much original left in that room but the doorframe was also red at one point. So there's an example of painting to match the rest of the woodwork. Just maybe not bright red...

 

[Sam W]

Another option on the corner bead is to paint it a contrasting colour, we've gone with white in all rooms of our house and I'm pleased with it, but obviously just a personal preference.
Excuse the syringe on top of the fireplace, it's my woodworm killer injection tool

 

[Cassie]

They look good too Sam. Your paint looks really good too-is it new plaster? Lining paper?

 

[Sam W]

They look good too Sam. Your paint looks really good too-is it new plaster? Lining paper?

It's the original lime plaster after a lot of stripping modern paint/filling/sanding. Edward Bulmer paint to finish