decorating advice now please

[janeyo]

forgot to say, if the pipes don't need to be accessed, countersink the screws, then fill with some kind fo decorators plaster, not paste, sand lightly, paint over.

YES make sure you don't need to get to them. Some fool tiled then added pine panels on top of the tiles then a hundred layers of paint on top of the pine, on the access panels in the bathroom in our old house and we had a major leak. Nightmare it was. Ended up having to replace the whole thing once we had ripped all the layers off to find the leak as we didn't know where to start looking for the access point, and the insurance would only pay for the damage downstairs where the water had come through not the actual original leak mess (and no the fool wasn't me for once )

[taff]

thanks you guys, for all your suggestions.

It seems a lot more work than I'd imagined

sounds a lot worse to do than it actually is. It's anything from a 15 min job to a days job, you just have to decide what you want to do

[Two_Sheds]

Put a nail in next to each screw and take out the screws all together.

that sounds like a plan The panels in the other room were nailed, but only with flimsy panel pin type things, so the panel kept flapping about

[bearded bloke]

If you go for nailing & intend to decorate with either wallpaper or emulsion paint get sheradised to prevent rust spots appearing or you could give plain steel nails a dot of oil based undercoat

[green thing]

PSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Put a nail in next to each screw and take out the screws all together.
that sounds like a plan

YouTube - nail in pipe

watch out for the pipes

[bigt1888]

i still think the glue is the safest,quckest and easiest method

it will also give the best finish as the acrylic seal will give you nice neat joints and corners....

[Two_Sheds]

i wouls remove the screws ... and squeeze a bead of "no nails" or similar therefore gluing the panel on

That sounds like today's plan

[bigt1888]

That sounds like today's plan

let me know how you get on.

[Two_Sheds]

Well, I can't get the screws out, they've been painted in.

So my only option now is to paper over them. I'm going to try a test patch in the morning

[bigt1888]

gently tap a small screwdriver with a hammer along the screw slot to knock the paint out..then they should come out much easier with a larger srewdriver (one that is big enough to fit tightly into the slot)

[Two_Sheds]

gently tap a small screwdriver with a hammer along the screw slot to knock the paint out.

Ah, good thinking Batman. I'll try that in the morning when I can see what I'm doing (I've already slopped brown paint on the new jeans and new carpet while doing a test patch )

[Flummery]

Got any Nitromors? (Other paint strippers are available)

[Two_Sheds]

Thanks everyone. I've added a pic of the result to my first post, and I've discovered that I actually like decorating

From Magnolia to Mustard (well, I like it)

[Two_Sheds]

Oh, get a load of these phone wires with 10 layers of gloss paint on them (some of the chunks I pulled off weren't quite set, I swear)

[Nicos]

Good grief gal- that's a fantastic job you've done!!!

...love the phone wires!