Cleaning walls

[bettybat]

Oh god, can't believe I am posting something so mundane - forgive me!

We live in rented accomadation so I'm concerned about damaging anything. Our walls have wallpaper on that's painted magnolia (yuck). Parts of it are looking really grubby - is there a way the clean it without disintegrating the wallpaper?

Thanks in advance and again - apologies for the intensely mundane nature of this thread!

It really depends on what magnolia paint was used. Was it Matt or Silk. If it has a shiny appearance, its probably silk emulsion paint. This can be gently cleaned, using a thin solution of washing up liquid and tepid water, rather than wipe try pressing and dabbing instead. (Try on a hidden part of the walls first to test any reaction). If however, the walls appear chalk-like its probably Matt paint. Not much u can do, but cant see why you cant get a tin of paint and as long as its the same colour- just paint over the worst walls. Id go to B&Q, get a Paint Brochure, take it home, decide wich Magnolia is the closest match, and buy that one. Its not expensive, £10, or there about. x

you can paint emulsion (but not gloss) onto dirt, if for some reason you don't wash it off first. Walls often have a lot of dust shadowing.

The first coat will mix into the paint and look bad, but once it has set (the next day, with the windows open) you can apply a second coat, which will not pick up the dirt.

Emulsion is very cheap. You can paint silk onto matt, silk onto silk, but not matt onto silk as it will not stick.

Two coats in two days means you do not need to put away and get out your dustsheets and steps. You can wrap brushes and rollers very tightly in polythene to prevent them drying overnight.