Don't be afraid to try

When Chris came to redecorate her bathroom, she was faced with the wallboard plaster splitting and cracking, mould and an outdated look.

To remedy the situation, first Chris papier-mached the cracks, rough plastered the walls and sealed the plaster with Resene Broadwall Waterborne Wallboard Sealer.

The finished bathroom is a paint effect lovers dream with Resene Amethyst Smoke washed with Resene Paint Effects Medium Quartz and a final wash coat of Resene Amethyst Smoke for a lighter look. The Resene Quartz sparkles through the final wash coat and adds an extra dimension to the room.

To complete the sparkling finish, Chris painted the cupboards in Resene Quartz, then protected the sparkle by topcoating it in polyurethane from the Resene Qristal Clear range. The cabinet top was painted in Resene Quartz washed over with Resene Bullion mixed into Resene Paints Effect Medium.

Keeping with the purple and metallic theme, the window trim was finished in Resene Finn and the bath claw feet and lamp fitting in Resene Bullion. For a touch of contrast, the chair now gleams in Resene Retro.

To tie the floor into the glittering walls and cabinetry, Chris cleverly used two different sized picture mounts as stencils to create the gold blocks - a technique that proved to be a very effective, yet easy, decorating method.

Chris found the project a wonderful opportunity to learn - here's the main things she picked up along the way:

• Ask lots of questions.
• Seek out new products - there's always something!
• Consistently chip away - huge blocks of time don't exist so make small goals and work to achieve them.
• Don't look at a room as a room but four separate walls. (Chris' room took 10 weeks of chipping).
• Some ideas don't work and you have to try something different. Don't give up if the first idea doesn't work the way you planned. Chris tried mixing gold into the Resene Scumbling Glaze on the washed walls and on the tongue and groove. It looked terrible but when the gold idea was used on the floor it came up great.

Bathroom walls	Bathroom walls and cupboards	Cabinet top, bath claw feet and lamp fitting	Window trim	Chair
Resene Amethyst Smoke	Resene Quartz	Resene Bullion	Resene Finn	Resene Retro

Thanks to Chris Whitaker of Otaki.

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