Eco Decorating
Sunday, August 3rd, 2008We have used eco paints for several years now (about five years I think) and usually decorate our house ourselves, but to speed up the decorating in preparation to sell our home we decide to get employ a decorator.
At first we found it difficult to find an even semi-local eco decorator, but then an advert came through our door about an organic veg box scheme and decorator just two villages away.� The decorator said he’d used eco paints before, he was happy to use the eco paints we’d purchased and he’d got thirty years decorating experience.� This sounded great and he seemed very interested and enthusiastic about eco building when we told him of our straw bale plans.
He started on a Monday, but by the end of the day he was not happy with the eco paints – saying they were too thin, dried too fast, were unworkable, didn’t dry fast enough – he was very negative about them and under calculated the amount he needed!
So I ordered extra paint and chose a new brand our friend’s had used because it said the coverage was better.
Tuesday came and things went from bad to worse – he hated the new brand even more (we already had one tin of it) so more stress – I had to quickly cancel the order and order some of the brand we usually use and like – Auro.
So I contacted Natural Deco by telephone who said they could deliver the next day thank goodness and placed my order on the web for Auro gloss and emulsion – the order arrived mid morning the next day.
Tuesday evening when we looked at the work the decorator had done I got a major sinking feeling – even after the two coat of emulsion some parts of the original colour were still visible,� there was paint splashes on out furniture and he’d not removed the eves doors just painted up to them.
Wednesday morning came; I talked to him about my concerns and he moaned more and more about the paints, that job taking much longer than he had planned and it couldn’t over run because he was starting a new job and he would be out of pocket.
Then said he would not be doing any more of the job and wouldn’t charge us!
This really dropped us in it, but it was also a relief – I’d had enough of his negativity about eco paints which we have used with no problems, having to ask about our concerns and sorting out the paint each day.
So we are decorating ourselves again and have had no problems with the Auro emulsion, under coat or gloss – you’ll be able to see the results of out work on our house sale website soon. At least we had the rooms cleared ready, but filling in all the holes he missed was tedious to say the least and we still have to paint over the hall way he painted the wrong colour!
What can we learn from this?
Before employing decorators make sure they have plenty of experience using the brand of eco paint you supply or they supply an eco paint they are happy to use and have experience with and they like using eco paints too!
I said to him I hoped he would take on an eco paint job again (there are not many eco decorators) and he said he would, but allow more time and charge more – hopefully he learnt lots from the experience too and can move beyond his negativity.
