Interior decorator: for all your interior decorating needs

Looking for an interior decorator?
Our main focus is on interior painting, paint finishes, wallpapering, and exterior painting.
We can also arrange other professionals and provide a seamless service for all. Services include:
- plastering
- brickwork
- garden landscaping

:: We can also acquire your choice of wallpaper for you.

We are experienced in working with Interior Designers and are well-versed in colour, light, hard work and detail.
Interior Painting Includes:

- Covering with drop sheets: all floors, hardware and furniture as necessary.
- Remove or cover: all hardware, such as switches and outlet covers.
- Curtains, blinds and other objects are also removed or protected.
- Removing all nails from walls and repairing holes, filling cracks.
- Removing all flaking paint dirt and debris from walls and skirtings.
- Sanding before 1st coat and final cost on walls, all paintwork is sanded flat.
- Priming where needed.
- Applying 2 coats of interior paint.
- Full clean up after every work day.

Also, we provide a discreet service to save you from prying neighbour’s eyes. If you wish to have a more discreet service simply mention this when calling us.

Decorating preparations: the tools of a professional

Sheet Sander

Also called a palm sander, sheet palm sander, or pad sander, the nice thing about these tools is that they use ordinary sanding paper, available at any hardware store – and less expensive than precut sanding disks. Palm sanders use either a 1/3 or 1/4 sheet of sandpaper with 1/4 sheet models being the most common. My Porter Cable sander shown here is a 1/4 sheet sander.

Unlike the random-orbit sander, the sheet sander vibrates the sand paper along the axis of the tool, so it’s important to keep moving and move in the direction of the grain to minimize sanding swirl marks. Even then, they can’t be avoided entirely. A sheet sander does not sand as aggressively as a random orbital sander but I often prefer this slower pace, especially when making a final sanding pass.

Depending on the brand, the sandpaper attaches to the sanding pad with hook and loop fasteners or precut sheets with a peel-and-stick backing. My Porter Cable model uses the hook and loop system. It’s a little bit of a pain to use but seems to work well enough.

Random Orbital Sander

Since it’s introduction in the early 1990′s, the random orbital sander has become a mainstay in the woodshop. This is because it works faster than a vibrating palm sander and it doesn’t leave swirl marks. The latter advantage is a result of the elliptical random orbit of the sanding disk such that the same path is not followed twice. The random sanding action also means that you can sand in any direction, even across the grain, without worrying about leaving sanding marks. Now, that’s nice!

Random orbit sanders use 5″ or 6″ sanding disks that attach using either pressure sensitive adhesives or a hook and loop system. The disks have holes in them that allow sanding dust to be removed during operation. Most sanders, like a Porter Cable, come with a canister to collect the dust or can be hooked up to a vacuum system. I find that the canister works well enough for small sanding tasks but it’s definitely better to hook up the vacuum hose for the bigger painting decorating jobs.

Sanding Blocks

Yes, there’s still a place for the old fashioned sanding block. The one shown here can accommodate a 1/2 sheet of sandpaper and is designed for sanding flat surfaces. The ends of the paper are attached by two wooden cleats that screw down against the base to hold the paper in place. The handle is simply a small block cut out from a section of 2″ x 4″ with the ends rounded. If you’re really into hand sanding, you might consider buying a palm-friendly rubber sanding block; most of these are designed for a 1/4 sheet of sandpaper.

A sanding block works much better than hand sanding without a block because in the latter situation, there’s a tendency to create an uneven surface due to differences in finger pressure. It doesn’t take a lot of skill to use a sanding block — just a bit of elbow grease and the right type of sandpaper. Since sanding blocks are commonly used for final sanding passes, this means fine grit paper, say 180-220 grit. In terms of abrasives, I typically use garnet or silicon carbide sand paper for hand sanding.