So long as they hand over the money they can do what they like with the place.

They'll most likely replace the kitchen and bathroom anyway. I'll be going with the old 'This property would benefit from modernisation and this is reflected in the asking price' line.

I've got to put stain cover on the old ceiling stains from where the expansion tank overflowed in 2007.

I have completed that task. The stain cover performed excellently, you wouldn't know there'd been a stain there.

I finally decided to repaint the living room. Bought all the gear, cleared everything out, put old sheets down. I last three minutes. I'm so bored. I'm having a gin and tonic, looking through Tinder to see if there are any hopeful prospects who seem like they could be conned into picking up a roller.

That's a 'two hands are better than one' roller. Rubbish. Maybe it's the paint. Is cheap white emulsion a false economy?

Have I invested in the wrong roller? Is a fluffy one for emulsion? Should I be using the smooth ones instead? This one is a fluffy 'vanquish' by appointment to Her Majesty. Double the coverage with half the effort.

Just make an effort you feckless bag.

Nightjar wrote:

Just make an effort you feckless bag.

The paint is really thin. I'd be better off throwing a carton of milk at the wall and then wiping it down with a cloth. I don't think I'm ever going to be rid of this Pepto Bismol Battenburg experiment/mistake.

I'm feeling quite demoralized. Somehow, despite only having done about a metre squared, there's paint on the carpet - under the sheets.

I'm better painting a door or window frame with a brush. That's boring but satisfying. Roller painting entire walls is the reason I haven't attempted to rid myself of the hated pink nightmare until now.

Don't.

Basic white emulsion for interiors - like most water based paints - look very thin and watery when first applied.

This is cos of light refraction and sh*te.

Let it dry properly - overnight - and then have a look.

Usually you'll see where there are thinner or streaky bits.

Seriously - and I'm not joking - white emulsion can need more than a day to genuinely, properly dry, thus becoming effectively opaque and reflecting light in a more flat manner, rather than absorbing and refracting it in a way that makes it look like a feeble coating of watery pancake batter.

You've also got the problem of the current season and its accompanying weather and atmospheric conditions which are preventing the paint drying more quickly than it might in late Spring or Summer.

Incidentally - and I can count on the fingers of both of our hands - the amount of times people have tried to paint interiors and seen this streaky, washy, uncovered affect and then just poured more and more paint in the stupid paint tub and plastered it on in vain is almost as boring as the fingers on both of our hands.

Although, my fingers are very dainty and pretty.

Anyway, what I am trying to say is LOW/ALLOW IT!

The last time I painted my living room, I used a fluffy £1 roller from my local shops and £12 tin of emulsion from Wilkos and it worked fine.

If your paint's like milk, it's definitely too thin. It needs to be more creamy.

Definitely use plastic sheeting. Anything that's made of woven material will fail miserably to prevent paint getting through to the carpet.

ALSO!!

If you get paint on a carpet - a blob or spray - never try and clean it right away - you'll most likely disperse the pigment or granular body of the paint with water into the pile and stain it permanently.

Let it dry - that way it can be easily chipped or crumbled off (blob) or simply brushed or scraped off and subsequently vacuumed away (spray).

In the case of larger blobs or splats that've penetrated the pile more deeply, then there's always the option of breaking them up with a very sharp blade edge (brand new Stanley or craft knife blade for example).

Also, if you're doing the ceiling, don't wear any clothes.

Apart from a hat.

Actually, I think it might be better than I assumed. I'll wait to see it in daylight before I decide what to do. It looks whiter with the lights turned down. I'm not doing the ceiling - that was professionally done at the same time as I took this great risk with the wall colour. It's white and smooth and perfect.

Excellent advice here, many genuine thanks. I'm just going to leave it for now, and I'll see it in daylight. I'm going to touch nothing to do with any of it until the morning.