I NEED HELP QUICKLY PLEASE - ALCOVES & ARTEX

[amandaneil]

HI

JUST FOUND THIS SITE AND I AM DESPERATE FOR ANY IDEAS. I AM RUBBISH AT DIY BUT MY UNCLE HAS BEEN DECORATING MY LIVING ROOM. I HAD AN ALCOVE IN LIVING ROOM THAT WAS BOXED IN HALFWAY UP AND ARTEXED AROUND IT. I HATE ARTEX SO I DECIDED TO OPEN IT UP SO I COULD HAVE A TALL ALCOVE TO PUT A NICE STANDING LIGHT IN IT AND JUST WALLPAPER IT WITH REST OF THE LIVING ROOM. WE TOOK THE ARTEX OFF AND EVERYTHING WAS GOING FINE UNTIL WE TRIED TO PAPER IT. IT SEEMS THAT RIGHT AROUND THE ARCH OF THE ALCOVE IT IS ALL UNEVEN AND THE PAPER WONT TAKE TO IT AS IT IS SO UNEVEN! IT NOW LOOKS A DISASTER AND IM WISHING I JUST LEFT THE ARTEX ON AS THAT IS OBVIOUSLY WHY IT WAS ON IN THE FIRST PLACE. HAS ANYONE ANY IDEAS HOW I CAN DECORATE THIS WITHOUT WALLPAPER? I THOUGHT OF GETTING MIRROR SHEETS CUT TO GO RIGHT ROUND AND INSIDE THE ALCOVE BUT THIS WOULD BE REALLY EXPENSIVE AND DONT KNOW IF IT WOULD WORK! HELP ME PLEASE (FROM A DESPERATE WOMAN WHO HAS NO IDEA ABOUT DIY!).


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[Third_Eye]

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[amandaneil]

Hi ThirdEye

I tried to add a picture but can't seem to do it! I then looked at your profile to see if I could somehow send it to you but there was no contact info. If you don't mind and could maybe help me e-mail me at Moderator, your email can be shown in your profile as per forum rules and I could send them to you.

Thank you.

 

[D.Ovenstone]

Hi Amanda and Neil
Those were the days!
It was very popular during the eighties, many people wanted to have the alcoves built up into arches with wood and plaster/wall boards then finish off with texture (artex)
Now as things go in and out of fashion it must be taken down for re-decorating
First of all, do not dry scrape the texture as it may have been done when small amounts of asbestos was the ingredient in texture powder, make sure that you wear a dust mask, and if you intend to strip it off yourself use a steamstripper to soften & wet it and this should seal most of the asbestos into the texture, then gently scrape away,
if you have removed as much as the texture as possible it should be easier if you wet it with the steamer
this surface is now very porous, if completely removed it is best to wash off any residue powder, if there is any texture that cant be removed try to seal this first with a waterbased sealer like unibond (pva) as for porous surfaces, give it a couple of coats and let dry in between.
Another option is to use a filler or even more texture and fill out then sand once dry (texture do not contain asbestos now and hasnt since the early eighties)
or if you donrt want to go through all that fuss why dont you use texture again but make a smoother finish.
If you do this let the texture dry completely then either use matt emulsion well watered down for the first coat to seal it, this will make sure that when you finally paint it the paint will stick.
I hope that this helps and let me know how you get on
F
Regards
Dale