Project of the Month

This beautiful 1980s converted council farmhouse was purchased in 2017 and extended using reclaimed beams and bricks.

Anastasia Widdowson of Painting & Decorating by Anastasia was approached by the customer at the school gate to see if she would be interested in pricing the job. At this point it was still a shell of a building with no finished ceilings or walls.

The house was actually the second half of the project, the building before consisted of the same amazing beams. The house took around 4 weeks to complete with two of them working on the project.

A spraying company was brought in, to mist coat the two buildings and put another coat on the ceilings.

Anastastia said, “Both buildings were quite a size and to mist coat between two of us would have taken far too long. We needed the time on the beams”.

The beams had been reclaimed from a chicken shed on a farm, so we’re filthy. They were grit blasted off site, then Anastasia began the restoration process. The beams were wire brushed, scrubbed and hoovered out. Two coats of Osmo Polyx oil clear matt was applied to all the beams. The grain it brought out is just beautiful and to think the previous life of them was underground for no one to see. The skirtings in the house were all oak and were also treated with two coats of osmo to protect them fully.

The customer wanted the ceilings and walls painted in the same colour, so Anastasia suggested an off white to contrast the windows. These were painted in Tikkurila, optiva 5, colour matched to ostrich egg, a very slight off white with a hint of grey. The door reveals and frames were primed with Dulux primer undercoat and finished in Tikkurila helmi 10, and the finish is just fabulous against the oak doors.

The tilers did an amazing job putting up the brick slips. These were all sealed with Sandtex stabilising solution.

The kitchen worktops were raw oak, so the second they were opened two coats of protector, which came with the worktops, had to be applied prior to any cutting and each cut then had to be treated. Once in place the finish oil could be rubbed in and they came out like a dream.

Anastasia said she, “absolutely loved doing the job and the customer was so happy. It almost became like home as the buildings were next to each other, so we were on the site for around 9 weeks. It really was a beautiful house to work on, Jo had amazing ideas and we brought them to life for her.”.

The client is totally overjoyed with the finished project and said she, “chose Anastasia to do the work as she understood my vision for the house and embraced my ideas. It was evident Anastasia loved the house and beams, as much as I do. She knew what paints to use and how to treat the beams to get the finish I wanted”.

Anastasia did a CITB apprenticeship in 2005 at Great Yarmouth college. From there she worked for companies and then sub-contracted to companies. After the birth of her daughter she found that juggling the job and parenthood was hard. She said she, “Only planned on having one, so didn’t want to miss it”.

Last January 2019, Anastasia said she’d “had enough and needed a brush back in my hand.” So, she then started up Painting and Decorating by Anastasia.

Anastasia said, “From then it’s been a whirlwind. I’ve had the pleasure of working on some fabulous places, I do love my job”.

Anastasia undertakes every aspect of interior and exterior decorating in the Norfolk area.