Made in Croydon - Makers market in Boxpark

I was recently walking through East Croydon and saw advertising for a makers market in Boxpark. After some research, I was thrilled to see that their primary aim is connect artists, makers and designers who live in, work in, or create works inspired by Croydon, to opportunities including markets, socials, workshops, and exhibition & studio spaces. As a new, local Croydon plaster business I can’t explain how important it is to have a hub where other like-minded craftspeople can engage and interact to share ideas and network. After an exchange of emails I was excited to see I’d be the first decorative plaster company to get involved, I’m so excited to share the beautiful industry I’m lucky to be a part of. Boxpark is a fantastic venue and I can’t wait to go and show my support there. If you live locally, please do try do see whats on offer - you’ll see me involved there in the near future.

Want To Design A Happier Home? Here’s How

We all know that how our homes look has an impact on our mood, but Harper’s Bazaar recently highlighted some design tips that are scientifically proven to make you feel happier.

If you’re looking for a way to revamp your interior and boost your mood at the same time, they’re certainly worth considering.

At the top of the list is introducing round shapes. The publication stated: “Round shapes in particular induce positive emotions such as approachability and friendliness, while spherical objects communicate balance, which can help us feel at ease with our surroundings.”

If you live in a period property, you could find that you’re able to carry this theme through on your ceiling by restoring the ceiling roses that are typical in many period homes. If they’re not in great condition, get some help with your plaster ceiling decoration from a specialist.

When it comes to colours that make you happy, blue is at the top of the list. It’s described as “one of the most calming and serene colours” by the publication, and it’s been scientifically proven to lower your blood pressure.

Natural light is another essential in any home, and one that’s been proven time and again to help improve our moods. If you’re not lucky enough to have large windows that let the light flood in, try simple tips like introducing reflective surfaces to rooms to help bounce the light around.

The Daily Mail recently shared some predictions of future interior design trends from a range of experts. Among the things that they’re expecting to see is a shift away from minimalist interiors, with homeowners introducing more colour and patterns to their spaces.

Consider Your Ceiling When Designing Your Home

Thinking about your ceilings is one of the pieces of advice from interior designer Madeleine Latti. She works for Chattels & More and recently spoke to Gulf News about how to get the right design in your home.

She said that before you move into anywhere new, you should check the quality of the property’s finish, because this will help to inform the design direction you take.

One thing that you shouldn’t overlook is your ceiling, Ms Latti stated. When you’re planning the design of your home, think carefully about this in the context of the space you have available. For example, architectural details like high ceilings or large windows can help you decide where to position your furniture.

Putting a sofa facing a large window can help you make the most of the views from your home, for example.

Depending on the property, you may also want to consider installing a false ceiling, Ms Latti suggested. However, she noted that you need to be careful not to lower the ceiling too much or you risk ending up with “your space feeling constricted and you feeling claustrophobic”.

Instead, she recommends fitting a false ceiling that “runs along the outer borders of the ceiling and can be used to install a frame of diffused lighting”.

Of course, if you have beautiful period features on your ceiling, you may prefer to spend money with coving specialists in London to have them restored to their full glory.

If you’re planning to renovate your home in the coming months, you may want to take some advice from Click Liverpool when it comes to the financial side of this kind of project. The news provider noted that it’s vital to create a proper budget before you start, including allowing for things going wrong.

A Quick Guide To Period Features

Architectural detailing will always be a popular feature in any home, contemporary or otherwise, because they not only look stylish and beautiful, but they can be put to practical use as well.

You might well have noticed a few of these period features in the past and thought they would look lovely in your own home - or perhaps you’re lucky enough to have them in your house already.

Interestingly, these features served as a way of symbolising social status in the past, with the most expensive houses bearing a huge range of different mouldings and trims. Less opulent properties, meanwhile, were not decorated in such an opulent fashion, although the guest rooms were always where the majority of features could be found.

Take a look around your house to see if you can spot any of the period features we’ve mentioned below. Chances are you have some of them already - and you can always add more if you feel your home is crying out for a bit of love and attention where details of interest are concerned.

Architrave

This is the wooden trim that’s used to frame windows, doors and inbuilt cupboards, used to help hide parts of the house where the plaster is likely to crack because of frequent movement.

Corbel

Stand in your hallway and look up. Do you see an arch just above the stairs? If you do, you have a corbel in your house! These were very popular in homes of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, typically made from plaster and bearing a beautiful leaf design.

Ceiling rose

These are often found in living rooms, a stunning circle of plaster moulding that are particularly useful when it comes to hiding the point where your light fitting is attached to the ceiling.

Cornice

This is the plaster trim that helps make the transition between your walls and your ceilings more seamless and attractive. A lot of homes don’t even have this, so don’t panic if you don’t - you’re certainly not alone. But if you want to introduce it, do some research into the different styles because you can go as plain or as elaborate as you like.

Dado rails

These first came to the fore during Georgian times, a line of architrave fitted to the walls to help protect them against chairs being banged up against them. These can really help you add interest to a room, since they act to divide the wall up and you can use wallpaper and paint to great effect once the architrave has been added.

If you need help with cornice restoration in London or would like to talk to someone about how to go about doing your house up this year, get in touch with the Ovolo team today.

Cornice & ceiling rose restoration

I’ve been posed one question often recently which is; do you use a chemical paint remover or steam machine to remove paint from a cornice/ceiling rose. In this post I’ll explain my preferred choice, and a brief summary of the two options.

I use a chemical paint remover; however, I can easily argue for and against in this debate. For one, I’ve never encountered a problem myself using a chemical (although I’ve heard many others have). The chemical I prefer to use must be applied and left for a minimum of 24 hours to take effect which can seem time consuming and costly to the client. Once the chemical has been removed, the distemper and general build-up of dirt must be removed with lots of clean water, various brushes and ‘picking tools’. On average, one would hope to apply and remove 3 metres of paints per day, including the cleaning with water. There must be strong health and safety measures adhered to when carrying out this method as the chemical is extremely potent – I have the scars to prove this! As long as the chemical isn’t left on the plaster for more than the recommend maximum allowance of 72 hours, then there is no reason for the plaster to be damaged. A test patch is always recommended before carrying out any extensive work to determine the suitability of the chemical for the job (there are lots of chemicals available for use).

The steam method is an interesting one which I’ve seen used to good effect. There are two reasons I choose not to use it which are as follows:

1)    I don’t like to pressure water into old plasterwork for obvious reasons. Although you can debate that you may only need to use the same amount as required in the chemical method, I don’t like the fact it is forced in with a pressure gun.

2)    Adding water is one thing, but boiling hot water puts me off even more. Although I haven’t tested this in a lab, my gut instinct tells me that this method brings more risk and therefore more chance of damaging the existing plasterwork.

As previously mentioned, I’ve seen other companies use the steam method correctly with an equally fantastic outcome, and I’m sure that I could find bad attempts on both options. Perhaps I’m just a one trick dinosaur who likes what he knows and knows what he likes!

Deciding whether to restore your original plasterwork or start again

This week I’ve had three separate site meetings, all of whom have received conflicting opinions from building contractors relating to the title of this post. Here I hope to offer some clarification.

When purchasing a house which has original plasterwork, or even if you already own a home with original plasterwork, before beginning a big renovation you will often invite a minimum of two building contractors to propose a scope of works. It isn’t uncommon to have a difference of opinion among the potential workers – often reflected in the price, after all, every construction worker will have their own vision - and with this vision they will have their own method of achieving it.

            So, who do you listen to? You’re probably looking at an original lath & plaster ceiling with original cornicing and ceiling roses to match, listening to someone telling you to rip it down and install a new plasterboard ceiling. DON’T LISTEN! As previously mentioned, three times this week I’ve visited potential clients who have been told the above, all of whom I’ve instructed not to listen. I will say it simply, when deciding what to do regarding specialist plasterwork, GET A PLASTERWORK SPECIALIST TO HELP YOU.

            I can only speak from my personal experience; thus, I would hate to generalise in this post. Too often however, contractors are looking for the simplest, most cost effective method to complete a job. This method is often not the most beneficial to the client. There is no calculation to determine whether a ceiling is safe or unsafe, indeed this is down to the professional opinion of the person you are speaking to. The person you are speaking to, therefore, needs to be someone that can determine whether or not the plasterwork HAS to be removed, or whether it can be restored. Of course, the question after this is decided will be how the cost of restoration compares to the cost of replacing it. This, however, provides more options to the client – which surely is the best outcome, isn’t it?

Plaster Cornices

Here are some points worth noting to aid your decision when contemplating different cornice products, as well as to help eliminate paying for a poorly-made product:

·      Traditional cornices were cast using three materials; Plaster of Paris, hessian and wooden laths.

·      Modern cornices are now made from polystyrene, plasterboard or glass-reinforced plaster (GRP) commonly.

·      Many companies still make cornice traditionally, particularly in England.

·      There are many different quality plasters available for manufacture; varying from approximately £5 per 25kg bag, up to £40+ per 25kg.

·      There are different lath thicknesses. Naturally, you will want to use the thickest lath possible, which will benefit the strength and fixing of the cornice.

·      Traditionally made plaster cornices adhere to most fire regulations rules, if made correctly.

·      Every cornice should have a bracket (lath or hessian) on the back to increase strength.

·      Hessian allows the cornice to be flexible. This is a great advantage when working in a building where the walls and ceilings aren’t straight or level.

·      There should be no hessian visible on the finished face of the cornice once dry.

·      The cornice should be around 7-10mm thick in all places – to avoid weak points.

·      If there is cracking visible on the face of your cornice, it is likely because the laths were dry in the process of manufacturing the cornice.

Women in Construction

Traditionally construction work was deemed too physical for women and thus it became rare and even frowned upon for women to look to work in construction. Gender stereotypes are becoming a thing of the past and over the last Ten years I have noticed a shift in mentality towards women in construction. Here I am going to write about what I have noticed and my hopes for the future:

I started my apprenticeship around ten years ago in Lambeth college. I was pleasantly surprised to see such a diverse range of students boasting a 30 year difference in ages as well as an evenly proportioned amount of males and females. I wondered if this was common or if I simply had an unusually high female presence in my class. Sadly, it was the latter.

I’ve had the pleasure to work in several beautiful areas across England, from Dover to Brighton, London to Oxford, as well as abroad in Australia. As you may imagine, I have noticed a significant male presence in my industry – so I wonder why there aren’t more females in construction and how I think having women in construction would benefit so many of us. Building sites in the UK have a real stigma attached to them – from the God forsaken ‘white van man’ to the pack of wolf whistling yobs. What I have found is that construction has been laboured with a stereotype which makes the industry unattractive to potential female employees. Why would anyone want to work on a building site which is dirty, where there is a lack of supposedly ‘highly educated’ people, where there are men with a tendency to forget their manners, and where there are few obvious examples of female progression up the ladder as it were.

I’m currently working on a project where there is a female decorator, with whom I shared an interesting conversation which offered me a rare insight into the opposite sexes opinion. Whilst the general theme of the conversation was positive – that the vast majority of her male co-workers welcomed her and acted appropriately as you’d expect, the surprising find was that her biggest negative experience was actually towards the facilities provided. This site had a large container unit with a working microwave and fridge, clean drinking water and a sink to wash in (may I add this is actually not too common on work sites in London suburbs) as well as a ‘portaloo’. The portaloo’s waste was recycled regularly enough to adhere to health and safety regulations however the actual toilet was far from clean. Not only this but the chairs provided were old garden chairs, the fridge had an unpleasant smell and the microwave was growing something I daren’t try to explain. Standards have to improve across the board to make construction sites more appealing to work in.

Another interesting observation is on the flip side – as an employer. Some employers have commented on physical disadvantages women have which leave men better suited to the plastering industry. This is a fair point – it is true that the ‘average’ man is likely to be more capable of lifting more weight and faster than the ‘average’ woman however there are certainly ways around this. Employers in construction should not discount the positive impact having a diverse team can have which include: Increased productivity, improved creativity, increased profits, improved employee engagement, reduced employee turnover, improved company reputation, wider range of skills, improved cultural insights.

To summarise I feel that although we have come a long way, there is still so much more we can do to encourage both employers to be more open minded in their recruitment processes as well as women to look at construction jobs as a positive career choice. Only once we have rid ourselves of the stereotypes will we truly see the positive impact women can have on the construction industry.