Converting our Garage - Part 3

The garage conversion is taking shape now.

Phase 3 of the project was to add some colour to the walls and ceiling. This was going to take a few coats of paint as we would be initially painting on to the bare brick.

Things didn’t start off too well with my Dad as he started painting the ceiling. With almost his first roller full of paint he dropped a large blob all over his head and face. Seeing him climbing down the step ladder with half of his face covered in white paint was a bit of a comedy moment. Luckily it was only emulsion so it was pretty easy to get off. I just wish I’d got the camera ready to get it on film.

Once cleaned up my Dad and I got going with the first coat of paint. We decided to split the tasks between us. I would go around the room with a paintbrush and do all of the intricate areas, while my Dad got on using the roller.

Getting the paint on the wall was a fairly easy job, the only major drawback being the uneven surface. The surface meant that we would have to get the brush out rather than the roller to get into the nooks and crannies. Another minor obstacle were the central heating pipes and electrical cables, but by using the brushes to get in between and behind them, this was one obstacle that was overcome quickly.

The first coat of white paint went on quite quickly, and in a couple of hours we had managed to cover all the walls and the ceiling. At this point the bricks were still showing through the paint and they looked like they would need one more coat, if not two. We stopped for some lunch while the paint dried.

Once lunch was finished applying the second coat was much the same thing, this time without my Dad’s little accident. Another couple of hours and the second coat was on the walls. At this stage we let the walls and ceiling dry properly overnight so that the next morning we could determine whether we would need another coat of white paint before applying a colour. Here’s what it looked like at that stage:

Next morning after the paint had dried fully the walls still looked patchy, with the colour of the bricks still showing through in places. We decided that another coat would be worth it. It was again another couple of hours of painting to get the final white coat applied, and we again left it to dry over lunch.

Coming back after lunch we found that the paint was still a little damp in places. To fill in the time while it finished drying, we began filling in a few of the little holes in the wall that had been emphasised by the white paint. There weren’t that many but just to give the wall a slightly better finish we filled them in with some polyfilla.

Once that little job was done we pressed on with applying the colour to the walls. Gemma and I were a little undecided about colour, but the decision was easily solved as in the garage was an unopened tub of “Warm Magnolia” emulsion. This had been left over from decorating our bedroom when we bought the house. Better than spending money on something different.

Our plan was to put a couple of coats of the coloured paint on the walls, but when we started it became apparent that we might get away with one. We’d not noticed that the paint was “One-coat”, so it was better at covering the walls.

Sadly, my Dad and I didn’t manage to get all of the walls painted, as we ran out of paint to finish the job. Initially, we did think that we might be able to stretch it but the tub of paint only managed to cover 2 1/2 walls. Dad has kindly agreed to come up in the week with a new tub to finish off the walls for us.

Even though the painting is not completely finished the room is looking really good.

The next tasks will be to put the carpet down and bring in some of the furniture. I also want to put in some electrical trunking to try and make the wiring look a little tidier, and also bring a network cable through from the lounge to hook up the computers.

That’s for next time, and until the next update….