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Painting Tips
Expert guides for interior and exterior painting projects. Learn techniques, tools, and tips from experienced professionals.
Wallpapering Tips
Complete guides for wallpaper selection, installation, and maintenance. Transform your space with beautiful wallpaper.
Cedar Maintenance
Field guides for cedar cladding in Central Otago — why it greys and blacks, when to refresh the oil, and when to strip and restore.
Latest Painting Tips & Guides
Expert advice to help you save money and achieve professional results on your painting projects
How to Wash Cedar Cladding Without Wrecking It (A Painter's Method)
Every cedar guide says 'soft wash it yearly' - almost none tell you how. What to use, what never to put near cedar (looking at you, waterblasters and 30 Seconds), and the exact method I use on cedar homes around Wānaka.
New Cedar Cladding: How Long Can You Leave It Bare Before You Coat It?
Your new build's cedar is up and uncoated, and someone's told you to let it weather first. That advice is wrong, and in Central Otago UV it's expensive. Here's the real first-coat window, what to do if you've already missed it, and why the back of the board matters as much as the front.
What's on Your Interior Timber? How to Identify a Mystery Clear Coat Before Recoating
Two quick on-site tests (a light sand and a solvent rag) that tell you whether the old clear coat on your timber walls, ceilings or joinery is oil or water based.
Ghosting on Walls and Ceilings: The Science Behind Those Shadowy Grid Marks (And How to Stop Them Coming Back)
Faint dark lines tracing the framing on your ceiling, or shadowy stripes up a cold wall? That's ghosting - a build-up of fine soot on the coldest points of the surface. Here's the physics behind it, how to tell it apart from mould, and the prep that actually keeps it gone.