Walk-In Pantry–Day 5

Today, Gary, our neighbour, came in to paint the inside of the new pantry. He masked off most of the shelves and with the ones on the left, was able to unscrew the small units that Phil had made, and remove them so that he could paint the wall in one go, and then replace them, thus saving himself considerable work and time, and a very neat job as well. He used a matt white emulsion for this.

Painting the wall on the left, he used eggshell because that wall is the side of the cooker unit. This panel is pretty shiny, and even with sanding, it didn’t cover that well so he will need to add one, if not two, more coats – this paint also takes longer to dry, being oil-based.

Painting the ceiling, also in white emulsion.

Having everything except the shelves in white is a good decision. I wanted the space to be as light and bright as possible. Even though bits need another coat, it is great to see a uniform white finish on the walls instead of the patchy plaster.

Gary’s other job today was to fill the holes around the replaced piece of picture rail, and to paint the wall to match the rest. This picture rail was never a good fit, and was also made from a different moulding, so anything that Phil and Gary did was going to be an improvement! Phil had trimmed off the bottom of the moulding so that at least it’s the same size as the other, even if not exactly the same profile. It’s certainly an improvement on what was there before, and it will look better once the paint is touched up..

He is coming back tomorrow morning just to add more coats where necessary, and to clean up.

After this, I shall treat the wood with linseed oil – today Gary gave me some hints about that – and contact the electrician on Monday regarding the light, and await the arrival of the new slab. Nearly there now!