Decorators tips & pearls of wisdom

Is it worth paying more for Farrow & Ball?
It’s a question that comes up frequently. With Farrow & Ball paints often costing twice or three times as much as comparable Deluxe and Crown paints – both good quality brands – is it really worth paying the extra? Will you be able to tell the difference? From a professional […]

Is it worth paying more for Farrow & Ball?

You heard it here first. Before even the first sighting of a Santa, before a single sparkle of tinsel in a shop window, I can reveal next year’s Colour of the Year. Akzo Nobel – Dulux to you and me – must have their colour elves on piece-work, because according to […]

No christmas songs yet, but we know next year’s colour ...

I tried DIY brain surgery once. My very good friends have pointed out that perhaps I should have saved up for a professional job.  But British Gas, while waiting for their kettle to boil, have been doing some calculations on the back of a reply-paid envelope and now tell us that British home-owners spend […]

A guide to DIY brain surgery

For once I’ll be serious. At least for a bit. If you own property in London you probably keep a close watch on property price trends. If not you must have nerves of steel. Latest figures from the ONS suggest a 4.4pc fall in London house prices over the last […]

Sound ecomonic advice about decorating from an acknowledged expert

Painting and Decorating Fulham’s finest
Call me biased, but I’ve always loved the Fulham and Putney area. It’s about as close to the centre of London as you can get but still feel like you live somewhere else. And it’s home to plenty of good tradesmen. Modesty forbids me from claiming to be the best […]

Painting and Decorating Fulham’s finest

We recently completed a large school redecorating project for the Florida State University London annexe on Great Russell Street. The work included 24 student flats, all completed in a very tight time-frame over the student break.

Florida State University

Forget Brexit. Forget the Party Conferences. The real news of the week is next year’s Dulux Colour Of The Year. Now it may be easy to get a cheap laugh at the expense of the people whose job it is to entice us with new colours that reflect our collective subconscious […]

Take your seats for the Colour of the Year 2019

Recently we’ve seen some customers getting very creative with their use of different shades of white and it got me thinking. Always dangerous. It won’t surprise you to hear that white is the most popular paint colour. But white comes in a wide range of shades – even “Pure Brilliant White” can […]

Choosing white paint – simple, surely?

I’ve always thought the biggest danger to interior walls comes from, well, accidents. People like me trying to put up shelves, or spilling a glass of wine when England score a penalty. Not a bit of it. It’s children. They make you and me look like amateurs. And London kids […]

If the dog tells your child to write on your ...

If I pick a horse in the Grand National it’s the one with the funniest name. It’s hard not to use the same method for picking paint colours. Paint companies secretly employ teams of captive poets to come up with those names, which explains why poetry as an art form has become very rare. […]

How hard is it to pick a colour?

  The words of Franz Liebekind in Mel Brook’s The Producers: “Churchill! With his cigars. With his brandy. And his rotten painting, rotten! Hitler – there was a painter! He could paint an entire apartment in one afternoon! Two Coats!” It’s my great pleasure to walk in the footsteps of many […]

Leonardo. Michaelangelo. Picassso. GDParvin. Spot the odd one ...

Ready for Christmas? Me neither. But I’m getting my retaliation in first with a choice selection of topical commentary and searching questions. For example, what does Sports Direct give its staff for Christmas dinner? About 5 minutes. The office Christmas party 
- a great opportunity to catch up 
with people you haven’t seen […]

How will Christmas dinner be different after Brexit? No Brussels.

2017 is soon going to be soooo last year. Like a confidential Government memo, word has somehow leaked out that GD Parvin is the decorator to have, and we’re booked solid from now to Christmas.  But if you’re thinking about having some decorating work done, despair ye not. Our estimating elf […]

They say it’s good to think ahead…

I was pleased to see a story in the Daily Telegraph comparing various home improvements, and estimating the added value each of them puts on your property. Yes, it’s official – decorating is one of the most cost-efficient ways of adding property value. The online tool takes your property value, […]

The prettiest way to add £40,000 to your property value

If you ever lie awake at night worrying that the paint on the ceiling might fall on you – this is for you. Why does the paint stick to the wall in the first place? One place I never had any trouble sleeping was in chemistry lessons at school, but […]

What makes the paint stay on the wall?

Dulux have had a tablet or phone-based colour-picking app, aimed at home users, for some time. It’s quite handy – some people love it, others find it a bit gimmicky – but it does tend to make you think about diffferent colour combinations. Now they have a comparable app for […]

A useful tool for surveyors and architects

With Wimbledon just down the road from our offices, and the best summer since – well, since last year – it can be hard to stay tuned in to work. Thankfully, the weather is perfect for exterior painting and you, dear customer, are keeping us busy. And so you should […]

Summer decorating in Wimbledon

Choice of colour is – excuse me – something of a grey area. We’ve all been told for years that we have to paint our houses in neutral colours if we ever want to sell them. But some new research seems to suggest that we’ve all been repressing the urge […]

Apparently we all secretly want to paint our houses lime ...

Regular readers will know that my newsletters are always strictly on-message and never stray from the business of painting and decorating. Well, hardly ever. So, as the Spring-cleaning season opens, some TIMELY and RELEVANT words on care of paintwork and walls. Where possible, we hope you’ll avoid the use of power-tools […]

More useful cleaning tips from your decorator

Maybe it’s genetic, but with the first rays of sun and green shoots starting to peek through, even your humble decorator is starting to think of spring-cleaning. I thought some tips on handling paintwork might not be amiss. You most likely have some form of emulsion paint on your walls. […]

Cleaning walls: Your decorator speaks…