In 1980, following a 2 year period as a moonlight, painter-decorator (weekends and evenings) for a firm run by my brother-in law, I decided to strike out on my own. Well, my young wife placed the add in the local paper and said that I should strike out on my own. My first job was … Read more

I read Laurie Lee’s book, “As I Walked Out One Morning” set in the mid 1930’s a few years ago. I loved it. Laurie walked from Gloucestershire to London ( enroute to Spain) stopping in Putney and finding work on a building site and later becoming involved in a strike. I pictured him working on … Read more

Farrow and Ball certainly nailed it some years ago with their colour change, but today I was looking at another company’s colour chart. Yes, the Dulux Heritage colour chart itself, is a work of art, and the Dulux Heritage colour range is a worthy alternative to Farrow and Ball’s. They have such evocative names too, … Read more

If you are looking to get an idea of cost for the outside of your house, please send me a few pictures. From these I can tell if a scaffold is needed, and often detect potential rot, or problems that could be avoided. Rot in woodwork can be expensive to repair/replace, but don’t worry, we … Read more

I don’t mind clients asking me if painting or repairs can be done from a ladder as I’ve enough experience to know immediately if they can or cannot be. The question is: How high? Then it’s a simple yes or no. Here are some guidelines: After the safety question comes quality. You will get a … Read more

Ahh…Good words. All of five of them Take the word “Creation”- the beginning of things. Vedic philosophy makes a big deal of Create Survive Destroy. So they should. Create Survive Destroy is life- all of life, or a part of life. This is useful if one knows to embrace all three, and not to be … Read more

I’ve just come in from the garden, frustrated and intent on buying a cordless hedge trimmer. But I see they are 4 times the cost of my corded trimmer, whose cord I’ve accidently cut for the 4th time. I’m not spending £200 on a cordless and will figure out some Health and Safety measures for … Read more

I’ve been reading up on light, after visiting the Einstein Museum in Bern two weeks ago. So, I am happy to see the sun getting higher and brighter, giving my perception a sturdiness again. It feels like poetry. This part of winter (February now) brings hope. I would like my moods to be independent of … Read more

Hello, I’ve just received the new 2023, Dulux price list. And the good news is, prices have risen by only 6%. This means I won’t need to raise my prices, as I can absorb that 6%. It’s 6% increase on materials, but as materials are only 15% of the contract price it’s only 6% of 15, … Read more

    It’s very important to me that the client gets the colour right as then I know they’ll be happy with the job and so, happy with us. So a few tips on choosing colour: Don’t make final colour decisions based on colours seen on a computer screen. Colours on a colour chart are … Read more

Years ago, in Paris, me and Deborah stopped by the Rodin Museum in Rue de Varenne. I recommend it. The museum is a big beautiful house full of Rodin’s sculptures and a rear garden where lives his outdoor sculptures. While Deborah lingered in the garden I went indoors, drawn by a small terracotta head of … Read more

I sat sat down this murky Thursday to write a blog But for the life of me I cannot think of a thing to say Despite looking up Putney’s interesting history, inspiration has not come. So here’s something different I thought you might like. It’s from an author who never visited Putney but gave me … Read more

More skill is required for external painting than for internal painting. The outside timber is subject to greater temperature and moisture range creating more stress on the paintwork. Therefore the painter needs to know more and do more to ensure the paint will stick and stick for a good few years. Use of the correct … Read more

Hello to all London residents, north, south, east and west. January is over and although most of us don’t like to wish our lives away, January’s darkness is good to be done with and to see a significant rise in the height of the sun at noon. Right now is a good time to plan … Read more

The difficulties of painting too close to winter are: Because paint takes longer to dry in colder weather, a longer time between rain showers is needed and you often cannot get more than a few hours of dry weather, accurately predicted. Some days you may find yourself at nightfall needing to shut doors and windows … Read more

  This is about Putney and Painting. The Putney history is in Italics Putney and some history about Putney Bridge. This was the first bridge to be built over the Thames after London Bridge. Back then in 1700 and something it was called Fulham Bridge and was made of wood Another item of interest about … Read more

When we disagree with the crowd out of principle, or we believe what we see, not what we’re told, we have to take some stick. Now, in taking stick we can feel we are being punished and because punishment was dished out in the past when we were bad, we can think: “I’m being punished … Read more

It’s not so bad for some, this lockdown thing. I think it’s oversold but I’m being a good citizen, so far. I wanted to talk about colour. My neighbour has just painted the outside of his house in a Farrow and Ball colour and it’s looking lovely and organic. They do have a knack those … Read more