Oxford hand painted kitchen
A couple of months ago I had a request to re-vamp an old country style kitchen in Oxford from a professor who lectures at Oxford university and Harvard USA.
- The kitchen units had substantial wear & tear with lots of knocks scrapes and peeling paint.
- There were three different colours each with an effect applied including the kitchen table.
My job specification was to replicate as near to what had been applied many years previously as possible.
After much preparation, sanding, de-greasing I then applied base coats of Tikkurila Otex, a high adhesion high build primer with excellent obliteration properties, which I say is clearly in a class of its own, second to none.
Next applied was Tikkurila Feelings furniture topcoats, a waterborne acrylic paint which once again I class as an outstanding product, with an impressive scrub ratio ( wearability). This is in my mind also an excellent base to receive the glaze. Colours used consisted of yellow, blue & green.
Now we have all furniture prepared primed and base-coated ready to have the glaze applied which again a Tikkurila product, Feelings Effect. A translucent glaze that can be coloured to whatever you consider is needed, in my case for this particular job, I used burnt umber, light umber and dark blue .
- The light umber was lightly applied to the yellow butchers block and looks very nice.
- The dark umber was dragged over the blue table legs.
- The dark blue was dragged over the paler blue units.
At this stage the kitchen was really coming together, all that was left was to apply the protective varnish “Kiva,” yes, by Tikkurila, a fantastic waterborne varnish that you can brush or roller and it flows beautifully giving a rather nice finish. All these products so far have been supplied by by Holman specialist paints in Swindon.
All that was left was to apply the white oil to the worktops & table top which have 
been suitably sanded. This is a Danish product from Woca, another excellent product.
During this decorating process not only do you have to consider the best primer the best performing basecoats, the correct glaze & colourants and not forgetting the protective varnish with the appropriate sheen etc. Also you have to consider which brushes and specialist brushes will be needed i,e, natural bristle , synthetic bristle , dragging & flogging brush & which type of roller to use as there are now numerous to chose from and only certain ones work appropriately with certain paints and glaze for each task as you move along with each process, getting one of these wrong and you would probably have to start the process again. Not forgetting humidity levels and keeping an eye on temperatures as well , all important in achieving the perfect results needed on such a job.
All the answers to these questions come from twenty + years of experience and on such a job specification as this one all that experience is necessary to produce what the client explained was “superb” upon his return , that’s all I need to hear at the end of a great weeks work.
I have previously completed other Oxford hand painted kitchens, I may add detail on those in the future when I’m not busy painting.
If you would like to get in touch, please use the contact form, call me direct on 0771 900 5852 or drop into the new shop in The Parade Marlborough.