Restoring a Tri-ang DH/7 Townhouse - Part Two

Do you ever get to that stage where there's so much to do that it's all a bit overwhelming?

That's definitely where I'm at just now but I'm trying not to think about it and just plough on. 

So, starting with the front:

This is how it looked when it arrived. A previous owner had obviously made a start on removing the red paint from the front.

I soon discovered that it was water-soluble and came off very easily with a damp cloth.

However, the paint had been applied very thickly, so several buckets of very red water later, it looked like this.

I was going to need to dismantle the balconies to clean behind them properly.

The balcony rails and balustrades came apart fairly easily with a bit of riving and I was able to clean behind them.

Removing them will make all of the work to the front a lot easier.

Unfortunately there were still traces of that pesky red paint in the nooks and crannies which concerned me because it was so water-soluble that it would surely bleed into the cream paint I'd be using on the front of the house.

So my trusty old toothbrush came out and a lot of water, Cif and elbow grease later...

...every last particle has been removed. I hope.

I quite like the soft yellow colour which has been uncovered but it's not how the house was meant to look so it won't be staying.

Next up were the sides:

The sides had been overpainted in white and I initially thought they were a lost cause. However, closer investigation revealed that there were two layers of brick paper underneath the paint.

The paint had obviously adhered to the top layer of paper which flaked off relatively easily to reveal the original brick paper underneath. Bingo!

I could see that the condition of the original paper wasn't brilliant but I thought it was at least worth trying to rescue what was left of it.

This is what I ended up with. I know it's pretty shabby but I was really quite chuffed with it given the starting point.

However even I couldn't live with this level of shabby, so out came my paintbox.

 

I mixed a colour as near to the brick paper as I could get and carefully filled in the gaps. I then rubbed paint into the 'scuffs' in the  paper and wiped the residual off with a just damp cloth to get a more even finish.

This is how it looks close up. The end result was never going to be perfect but I'm pretty pleased with it and at least the original paper is still there to see. 

I'm toying with the idea of finishing off with a layer of clear beeswax but haven't decided about that yet.

Until next time,

Zoe