decorating novice - can anyone answer some of my questions please?

[cansu]

Have finally decided that as I can't afford to pay for decorating, I need to get on with it myself. Am just aiming to get rooms painted in a neutral colour.

I have some patches where paint has flaked off at bottom of a couple of walls. Was intending to fill and then sand. Also need to sand and paint banister and some window ledges. I was thinking of getting electric sander. What kind is best?? Have tried to read up online but am still confused. Should I get 'mouse' style one or random orbital one? Needs to be easy but powerful enough. I have tried sanding by hand and seem to be incapable of doing it properly.

For something like banisters you may have to resort to hand sanding, for places that have corners, like a windowsill you do need something like a mouse to get into the those spots, Orbitals won't get in those places very well.

I have a sheet sander, which is the larger rectangular one, it is quite heavy and for a novice not the easiest to move about.

If you're not planning on doing any other jobs requiring a sander, I would go for a mouse. Also hand sand the wall, it should only need a little bit of sanding and a power tool might take too much off.

Which one, really depends on your budget. More well known brands like Bosch are easier to get sanding pads that fit from anyone. I go for Bosch but I do use my stuff a lot. If you can't afford a brand one, get the shops own brand one, but make sure they have pads to fit.

Sorry to hijack... have also decided I need to get on and decorate due to lack of funds. I'm 3/4 of the way through stripping a fireplace and cupboards but there are bits that I can't seem to get into, grooves etc. Would a sander be any good for those? I've tried paint stripper and wire wool etc but it's not that great.

Sorry cansu. As you were!

Sanding would be my next port of call. I have stripped back a king size bed and a coffee table, paint and varnish and stain. Sanding worked fine for me, depending on the size of the groove, you might have to fold the sand paper and do it by hand though.

I recently bought one of these:-www.homebase.co.uk/en/homebaseuk/bosch-psm-100-a-electric-100w-multi-sander-289928
I've used it to sand my front door, the door frame, internal doors and their frames etc (where the previous owners had been careless - paint runs / random lumps & bumps, paint brush hairs stuck to the woodwork etc). It's been great so far.

You can get sanding sponges from Screwfix etc which are great for Bannister's and spindles. You only need to create a key for the paint, not strip it all off.