DH insisting you paint a picture rail last when you decorate room

[CurlyhairedAssassin]

I don't know where he's getting this from but common sense tells me that you work from the top down to save getting drips or splashes of paint on freshly painted walls.

He is a stubborn bastard at times and is insisting that he will do the picture rail last. I know there will be paint splashes on the nicely prepped and painted (with Farrow and Ball Ammonite) walls. What's annoying is that he's put loads of effort in and has even masked off the picture rail, although as the ceilings and above the picture rail are white I have no idea why he's felt the need to do this as he could have just painted the bloody ceiling then picture rail and it wouldn't have mattered if he'd gone onto the walls slightly as he'd be painting the walls afterwards over it anyway!

There is no telling him. He will get a cob on if there are splashes on the wall afterwards and I point them out.

Has anyone here painted a room and done the picture rail last, in satinwood (which I know is drippy anyway) and not made the walls look like a bloody constellation?

If he lets the wall paint dry out properly, then uses masking tape, is careful and has a wet cloth in hand to wipe up any drips immediately, it will be okay.

I hope so, @christinarossetti19. The world's got enough going on at the moment without WW3 breaking out over a messy paintjob in a box room.

I would always paint the "fiddly" bits like picture rail and other woodwork before the walls.

I don’t see the problem either. Presumably he is the one doing the painting so I would leave him to it.

Emulsion easily wipes off paint like satinwood, it isn't so easy the other way round.

Like my husband says: do you want to do it? 😁

I do the gloss (including skirting boards) first because it's easier to clean drops off them.

I always do woodwork last! Mind you i undercoat woodwork using the same emulsion as for the walls! But, as long as the walls are dry and masked off what's the issue?

It’s more logical to gloss (satinwood ) the picture rail first, then emulsion up to it, no need for masking tape then.

But leave him to it, perhaps he’s being deliberately incompetent as a tactic, so that in the future you will do all the decorating yourself!

I think the woodwork does get done last - my decorator always does that and it's something I learned growing up.

I do gloss/woodwork last too. I think after watching my dad do it as a kid (he's a, carpenter).

Woodwork gets done last- always

Woodwork is done last here too

And the picture rail would be done before the skirting board because you'd use step ladders for the picture rail and they might knock against a wet skirting board.

Skirting and door frames I'd do last but a picture rail I would do first, because gravity.

It would be impossible to not get paint on walls and some emulsion, especially flat matt, looks awful if you try to wipe bits, while wiping emulsion off satin wood or gloss is easy.

@SpacePotato

Skirting and door frames I'd do last but a picture rail I would do first, because gravity.

It would be impossible to not get paint on walls and some emulsion, especially flat matt, looks awful if you try to wipe bits, while wiping emulsion off satin wood or gloss is easy.

Why would it be impossible to get satin in walls? That's exactly what masking tape is for.

I know that most woodwork is normally done last. But didn't think that included a picture rail which is obviously high up, near the ceiling (which is done first, precisely because of splashes).

Those who have said let him deal with it because he's the one doing it, you're right. I shouldn't interfere. I just know the mood he'll be in if there's flecks of paint ruining the walls.

He won't open the window in there either by the way. shakes head

How he expects it all to dry out properly I don't know.....

He's a weirdo, my bloke.

I use decorators for the high ceilinged or tricky areas and I apply what I have learned from them to the rooms I can do myself. And they all say: work from the the top down. So, ceilings, picture rail, walls, features (fireplaces, doors, cupboards), skirting boards. You can clear step ladders out of the way and you have more energy for the harder-to-reach bits doing them first. You can get a better edge by carrying pigment over the bottom of the picture rail onto the wall if you do it first as well.

I've just done my whole house and done the picture rails last (wood work last, skirting last of all) all the way through. For some reason I'm far more likely to get wall colour on the wood then wood colour on the wall so it makes sense for me.

Just popping back to say the painting is finished and it looks beautiful! He did a great job. No splashes on the walls, so he was right. I have not used those EXACT words with him, though, but have told him he's done a fantastic job