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Hi novice_40, firstly, best of luck with your project - i hope you enjoy it. newly plastered walls/ceilings always need to be suitably sealed before painting begins (otherwise the paint will sit on the surface & come off very easily). you can do this either by applying a couple of emulsion 'mist coats' (dilute an initial solution of 60:40 water to emulsion, then a second mist coat with the ratios reversed, to thicken the coverage but still watery enough to allow it to continue to sink into the plaster below). or, as tom suggests, you can buy a purpose made primer. if the plasterer has 'over polished' the walls, this latter option will be the best, as the plaster will not allow the mist coat to seep in & adhere properly. if you have a large area/several walls, then the most cost effective way for you will be the mist coats - these are industry standards and a perfectly acceptable method. ordinary white emulsion is suitable and both affordable & easily available. start misting from the lowest point on the plaster and move up & out with your roller. the mist coat dries rapidly & this bottom up method stops you getting fat splashes of paint onto the plaster. cut in around the edges with a brush. if the ceiling is also bare, then progress onto the ceiling. within the hour, your walls will be ready for the second mist coat. apply this in the same order as the first. a word of caution: even with the best intentions, mist coats can involve a bit of splashing, so make sure your flooring is protected & the sockets temporarily turned off & covered. once the 2 mist coats have fully dried you can more easily assess the plasterer's handiwork. use a spatula to fill any minor dents & give these a light sanding, once cured. anything major & get the plasterer back to resolve it. you don't want to be sanding down large areas of plaster, as this will cause a rough & spoilt finish that will need copious filling & sanding to put right. now, use a proper water-based wood primer for your bare woodwork - for the same reasons as you need to seal fresh plaster. a primer-undercoat is perfectly suitable - though you will need 2 coats: one to prime, a second to undercoat. a third coat is optional, but we'll get to that in a mo. alternatively, you can buy 2 separate paints: one a specified wood primer & the second a specified undercoat. whilst the primer should be water-based, the undercoat can be oil-based - though only if your satinwood is also oil-based. this method can improve the longevity of the finish. once your primer/first layer of primer-undercoat is dry, caulk your woodwork. next, move back to your ceiling/walls. this time begin with the ceiling (either silk or matt are suitable finishes - but silk is a more reflective surface that draws the eye & can accentuate any imperfections). get your first coat on. cut in free-hand, moving your brush from 1/2 inch away from the corner inwards towards the join as your hand steadies & finds the line. don't try to leap straight into the corner unless you've got a steady hand. whether you cut in before or after rollering is down to personal preference. i prefer beforehand as it avoids a visible 'tram line' created by dragging your brush through a rollered section. whichever you choose, ensure you keep a wet edge (ie: don't allow the paint to dry between cutting in & rollering). allow the edges to dry, then move down to the walls. get your first coat of dulux endurance on. cut in free-hand. once dried, repeat the process for your second coats. if you are prepared to wait up to a couple of days between coats (dep. on drying conditions) for the paint to fully cure, you can use (yellow) frog tape to help you achieve a clean line between surfaces. be very careful when removing it however, as this can pull the paint back off if it isn't fully cured. finally, give your woodwork a light sanding to remove any splashes of paint & nibs of rough wood fibres. ideally, apply another undercoat, to improve the coverage & durability, then (when dry) apply your satinwood top coat. again, if you're happy the walls have cured sufficiently, frog tape can give you a razor sharp line where the satinwood meets the emulsion. take care when peeling it away. there you have it! any questions, feel free to give me a holla. meantime, i hope this helps. happy painting! best, alix james decorators

Hi tom, if i am assuming correctly that it is an old property you have,sounds like to me that the re-skimming has been done on the original plaster which is ok to a certain extent if the original stuff is pretty sound & solid but unfortunately you will always run the risk of developing cracks with a re-skim on old,original plaster. if you are filling cracks and they keep reappearing,then it looks like the backing plaster is in a really poor,unstable condition & should never have been re-skimmed onto. the ammount of times i've been to a job where customers have had a 'plasterer' to re-skim a room out & cracks have appeared everywhere because they have given them bad advice is shocking. only solution really to eleminate this problem is go back to the brick and start again with a complete re-plaster as no matter how many times you fill the cracks,they will keep on coming back and over time will get worse i'm afraid! hope this helps, carl. (p.s. if it's a new type property & it's all boarded out,then i'm flummuxed! ;)

Oil based gloss does discolour and go yellow over time as the oil content comes to the surface causing the discolouration. in future do not use oil based paints. use water based gloss, eggshell and satin instead. these water based paints are getting better as the years go by since they were first introduced to the market. i'm going to share one of my top trade secrets...when i'm applying water based gloss, eggshell etc on to existing oil based paint, i do not want to spend hours excessively rubbing down in order to provide an excellent bond between the 2 types of paint that would not otherwise adhere well to each other. so instead i use a special water based paint that 'etches' itself onto almost any surface, so it keys itself onto the gloss!...then you paint your new water based paint system on top of the special water based etching paint. if you are doing spindles for example, you wouldn't believe how much time this saves. this is the paint: zinsser 123 plus (yep, silly name!) http://www.zinsseruk.com/product/bulls-eye-1-2-3-plus/ you can generally only buy it from decorating trade shops such as leyland and brewers, or order it online. it's not the cheapest paint on the market, but i know from experience...you get what you pay for! all the paints and products i use are the most expensive on the market but my workmanship lasts and i save huge amounts of labour time when on a job by using the tools, paints and products. follow my trade top tips and you'll too achieve results you wouldn't otherwise be able to!!! happy painting

Hi, a mist coat is essential when preparing fresh plaster for decoration. diy stores will sell you an expensive product specifically for this purpose, but any light colour of water based emulsion is absolutely fine, so using up spare magnolia is a good idea. i mix up the paint and water in a bucket, and apply with a large brush to minimise the splatter. i know others use rollers, which is quicker, but also messier! once the mist coat has been applied, you cando any filling required, and then get on with the emulsion of choice. i hope this has answered your question. regards, david clarke (ds clarke building services)