Hi
Been here just over two years and decided to decorate again.
It is amazing how yellow the paintwork has gone.
How often do you decorate?
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As infrequently as possible.
I use water based gloss for woodwork, as it’s the oil base that causes yellowing.
Decorating used to be a ‘rolling project’ , I was constantly decorating always doing it myself.
Now my eyesight and health make decorating difficult, the whole house was done 4 years ago and I am not sure when it will be done again.
I did a bit of painting outside in the summer but I tire very quickly and could only do a small amount at a time.
Luckily I no longer care in the same way about decorating, as long as everywhere is spotlessly clean that is the main thing these days.
I agree Tregonsee :-), water based gloss is the way to go.
That’s a useful tip, thanks.
How often?
It’s a bit like the Forth Bridge - when you get to the end, the beginning is ready again.
Okay so perhaps not quite that extreme but with changes in use and furnishings I’d say that at least one room gets decorated every year here.
Apparently mustard is out and mulberry looks better, so cream might go better than grey … :shock:
Which means new seating, rugs - and oh! The nice wooden flooring; can we change the colour of that?
Okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration but it’s not far from the truth.
We’ve been here five years and just carried out touching up where necessary, but when we re-decorate isn’t really up to me otherwise we would never do it… 
Having said that, after we repaired the kitchen roof after the storm damage last winter we had one of our sons decorate the kitchen throughout, he’s a painter and decorator by trade so I guess he’d be employed again if we ever do a proper re- decorate. 
I always did my own decorating when it was needed, but now being retired and living in a small village I use a local decorator who only works within the village and is very good with his prices
There must be something wrong with me because I’ve always enjoyed decorating especially painting. Unfortunately, these days I can’t hold a paint brush or roller steadily enough because my hand shakes when I grip things.
The last time we had everything painted was 5yrs ago and since then nothing has yellowed and even the emulsion walls/ceilings seem as bright as new. The paint used was Leyland Trade Satin and scrubbable emulsion paints. I wish I had known about this range of paints before :yes:
I haven’t re-painted for years.
The house needed re-decorating every couple of years when we were both smokers and cooking for a large family. Cooking for our lot often involved frying chips or other food that gave off smoke.
I find the paintwork (especially ceilings) stays quite clean-looking now there are just the two of us who no longer smoke or do any cooking to a great degree.
I agree with that Mart, not smoking (or vaping) make a lot of difference.
Val and I both vape indoors and I can quite honestly say that the vapour does not go above head height (at least in our household).
One thing I will add as a piece of information especially if decorating infrequently.
Acrylic Eggshell is water based but mid sheen so hides imperfections, also very tough, stain and moisture resistant interior paint perfect for bathrooms, kitchens and busy areas.
Really? I am surprised at that.
I am only going on people I see in the street who blow it up in the air Percy, in fact they blow it up, down, and sideways too, so the poor beggar walking behind them gets a faceful! 
It does depend on how you exhale, obviously, but, looking into the physical chemistry of the liquids used, the vapour is, basically, heavier than air so it tends to sink more quickly. Which ciggy smoke, that’s about the same density as fresh air so it mixes far more easily and stays up in the air for longer.
Hi
The house was freshly decorated when I moved in, various shades of grey and white woodwork.
It looked great, but sadly did not last.
Now redoing it in Wickes Ghost White, washable and scrubbable and a water based acrylic white polyurethane for the woodwork.
Neither are cheap but should last me out.
At home we decorate only when it begins to look tatty, we did the bedroom over Easter and then the kitchen was done prior to our new kitchen being installed.
At work however it’s a different story, in the year since I’ve been there I’ve done 13 bedrooms, most of the downstairs and upstairs corridors, the visitor w/c and two residents W/c,s, an upstairs shower room, and have just finished touching up one of the dining rooms which involved painting the bottom and top half of the room, on Monday I’m about to start the staff room, oh, I nearly forgot the garden table and six chairs plus two benches and some railings I did in the summer, funny thing is though, it’s just had planning permission approved so it’ll get extended and knocked about a bit, although,when that is no one knows yet…good job I like painting though,
I can relate to that Primus, I used to maintain a care home and the jobs never stopped… 
We decorated our dining room, wallpapering and painting, last July during the lockdown period. It wasn’t planned, we wanted to do something and I suggested decorating, much to Mr Mag’s dismay he agreed with me! We couldn’t have picked a hotter time to do it, the temperatures were over 30ºC and it was hard going.
I learnt one lesson though, that will be my last decorating!