The wall and ceiling decoration is finished in the ballroom. Here’s a before photo looking from the ballroom into the secondary room after the false ceiling was removed. (Here’s an even more before photo).

And the after photo. See – I have been doing something. Both of the wooden strips in the ceiling are picture rails which will open up some more decoration opportunities.

There is still plenty to do. The cubby in the middle of the photo above will get cupboard doors. Architrave, skirting and plumbing have to wait until the floor is finished.

In the other direction the window and vestibule aren’t quite finished. But it’s good enough so I’m going to try to get the snug finished before hopefully laying the ballroom floor over winter.

The first fix electrics are done and the channels filled in ready for paint. I want to paint the walls before fitting the switches and sockets and there’s not so much more tidying to do before I can paint.

I’ve been putting off the ceiling. It is in lime on lath with lining paper which is the perfect way to do it. Unfortunately it has gloss paint and textured paint on top and is waterproof so I can’t remove the lining paper to get back to the lime.

A fair bit of the lining paper fell off after the burst pipe. The rest just won’t budge. The missing plaster in the corner was missing the lath so a deliberate hole for some reason. I’ve put some lath back in.

I’m doing a bodge and skimming over everything. I’m using Ecomortar R50 lime mortar which sticks well to stuff lime doesn’t normally stick to. I think it will work fine.

I don’t plaster often enough to remember how to do it. I got the mix just right – firm but sticky. I forgot the timing and did the finishing too late but it worked out OK with a bit of water spraying. Now I’m getting the hang of it the remaining ceiling should be done in a couple of days with a rest in the middle for sore arms.

While resting I’ve been fussing about the wall with the arch. It is side lit by the window so you can see the crookedness. I’ve figured out what it is for. It’s not a chimney as it’s under some stairs built at the same time.

It was originally part of a lean-to and there were bull-nose bricks on the base. I think those were to make it easier to push barrels on top and this was where the beer was dispensed. This area was the bar after 1920 and I suspect the lean-to was open to the main room and acted as the bar before 1920.

The ceiling plaster is finished and I’ve started painting the woodwork. It took all day to re-paint the mock tudor ceiling beams. 50m of edges done at a snail’s pace.

The linseed paint should dry to a satin matt finish but it will take many days to dry. By then I should be ready to paint everything else.

Most things now have the first coat of paint. I’ve plastered the ceiling in the cubby under the stairs and the last thing is the entrance vestibule.

Outside was easy – scraping off any loose paint and sanding the edges smooth seems to be working. Inside the thick textured paint has shrunk and cracked. I’ve found I can get the walls smooth with a paint scraper and am planning to paper over the cracks with lining paper. But I’ll do that when I decorate the snug where I will be using use lining paper to protect the lime from inappropriate paints.

With that I’m done posting about decorating. I’m sure to do a before and after once I’ve finished.

The downstairs has been looking dreary in bare plaster with lots of patching for nearly 3 years. After 3 days of filling most of it now has the first coat of paint. It’ll get the second coat done once the electrics are finished.

I’m using Earthborn clay paint because it’s breathable. It’s also expensive but should cover the walls in 2 coats which will save a lot of time. I’ve not finished yet as I ran out of paint but already the room is transformed.

I have no idea what the cubby with the overhanging roof was for. With the addition of a little woodwork and a door it will become a handy place for vacuum cleaners and wifi.

The wall with the arch is side lit and all the bumps show up. It’ll need more work.

I did a bit of plastering on the bay window too. The plaster at the edges under the window didn’t align with the surface of the wood panelling. Now it does.

I want to bring the architrave down to the skirting to tie in the wooden panelling with the lack of panelling beneath and make the huge window opening look more grand.

Plaster repairs, filler, and prep for painting all take ages.  It was beginning to feel a bit overwhelming working day after day without any obvious progress.

So I’ve put the first coat of paint on the walls that are ready so far.    That feels better.

The ceiling ended up with quite a lot of plaster and filler in the repairs and cracks.  As the filling neared the end the thing that took the most time and effort was moving the scaffold tower around.   It’s been good exercise.

I finally measured the ceiling height – it’s about 4.5m and quite awkward to access.   That probably explains why it has only had 2 coats of paint over the last 99 years.   The first coat was a purple-red which must have been very dark.  The second was an off-white which has become brown due to tobacco smoke.

Finally a photo that isn’t completely brown.  I’ve painted the centre panel with Earthborn clay paint.   I took the photo before covering up the last little bit just to show the coverage.   Two coats should be enough for the ceiling which is handy as around 30 moves of the scaffold tower will be required for each coat on the whole ceiling.

So far the repairs aren’t noticeable through the paint.   But I have found a couple more cracks and a bit of lifting paint that I missed.   Overall it’s looking pretty good so far.

It’s starting to look smart with the rest of the ceiling painted.   Some salts have come through from a bit of plaster that got wet before the roof was replaced.   It’s dry now so a bit of primer should block the salts.

The white paint has changed the light in the room.  It is becoming much brighter in there.

A bit of paint is quite motivating.  The plan is to repeat the process on the walls, but I’ll likely do one or two walls at a time and then paint them for a sense of achievement rather than wait for all the walls to be finished.