Happy new year!

Welcome to 2023…

Our company is now in its 54th year, and I’ve been reminiscing about new things that I watched arrive in my 36 years here and that are no longer with us!

Innovations such as the Hammerite Magnetised spray machine, the Dulux PaintPod, the Hedgehog wallpaper scorer, the folding ruler, the Beeline self pasting table, Dulux Duette and Sonata, and my favourite: Mythic Paint.

There have been loads more but the point is, so many innovations have failed to capture the market, it makes me wonder what’s needed to truly change things up?

I’d probably hark back to the glory days of ICI and their introduction of Diamond Matt in 2003 if I wanted to point to the real last industry changing introduction.

However, I’m not alone in seeing that one area of our industry has seen a sea change: varnishes.

We used to varnish every wooden surface, yacht varnish, polyurethane varnish, carriage varnish etc…

But out of nowhere came the oil revolution.

Spearheaded by Osmo.

Their Polyx Oil offered beauty, protection, and sustainability all in one go. The industry took to it like a duck to water.

And then the bandwagon arrived, no one quite got to the same level of quality but there was suddenly a crowd.

So…what to do if you’re Osmo, the innovators?

How about a Polyx Oil tinting system? Any colour of transparent oil you like…immediately!

And exterior oils.

Oh, and while they’re at it, what about a new colour system for your opaque garden furniture and fixtures?

It’s called Elements, based on the elements, earth, air, fire and water…

OK. Game on (again).

The hugely anticipated system arrives with us in the next couple of months, we hope just in time for Spring.

I can’t tell you how excited we are about it.

We should have Elements colour cards soon, we’ll play the fanfare when they arrive!

As I say: welcome to 2023!

Be well.

Pat.

So, it’s the most wonderful time of the year again.

If we’re lucky enough to get some time off (and we don’t have power cuts!), we’ll all, no doubt, have a gather round the TV and re watch our favourite festive films! 

Mine will be Home Alone and National Lampoons Christmas Vacation.

One of the things I always notice is that the houses the action is based in, in both films, are fabulous and it’s got me thinking about the decoration in what are now over 30 year old movies…

For the time they were no doubt the absolute height of home decor haute couture…

I still remember selling the New England style wallpaper in the late 80’s!

But how have they aged?

Well, for me, at least, they get more cosy and lovely the older they get.

I suppose for a while they just looked out of date and old fashioned but like, for example, an old car which was last years banger, gets to about 30 years old and becomes a sort of classic, the decorating now seems classic, and I begin to wonder if we’ll see a resurgence of this cosy, big pattern, colour rich type of style again soon?

I think, in its way, it’s already here!

I feel like I’d call it maximalist!

We’ve had many years of minimalist design, much on the grey theme but nearly every paper we now sell has an explosion of colour, pattern and design on it…

Not quite the 30 year old Christmas movie theme but the closest thing we’ve seen since…and I love it!

Tropical, Steampunk, Art Deco, Vintage, Murals and big, bold florals are all on display in our Buckhurst Hill showroom, and as the days get shorter and the lights are on, it makes it such a nice place to work… cosy and warm!

So, if your last minute gift to yourself is to be a beautifully decorated room, pop in, the ladies would love to help you get cosy and up to date, and maybe a little bit back in time just in time for Christmas!

Speaking of which…Merry Christmas to you all, we all wish everyone of you the best of times and everything you could wish for for your loved ones too.

We will be closing for our Christmas holidays at 12:00pm on Friday the 23rd December 2022 and we’ll reopen at 7:30am on Tuesday 3rd January 2023.

Be well.

Ho ho ho.

Pat.

Once upon a time, the decorating world was dominated by ghostly looking apparitions…decorators covered in white filler dust!

Every home would need a proper vacuum cleaning session once the decorators had finished, the cloud of dust would travel to every room, not just the one being decorated!

Easyfill, Tetrion, Polyfilla, Toupret…it didn’t matter what filler was used, the fallout remained the same.

What about wet & dry? Well, that’s good on a nice door or piece of furniture but on a ceiling? Not a chance. What about zip up door covers? Excellent! But as soon as you step through the door into another room, the dust on you is coming with!

The wonderful (but now quite old fashioned) pole sander seemed like the tool of the year but the ability to cover us all in dust to breathe in was increased massively.

And that’s something we never really talked about at the time.

What were we breathing in?

Not just filler dust but in most cases old paint, maybe mould from the surface, dirt, atmospheric pollution…

Health scare anyone?

So, what to do…?

Enter the dustless sanding revolution!

Once upon a time, many of us had the great idea of hooking our electric sander extractor hose up to faithful old Henry! That reduced the dust cloud enormously and also, as an added bonus it reduced the time taken later on hoovering and dusting down.

But, it wasn’t totally dust proof.

So the stage was set for the big boys to come and play.

Sanders and extractors such as Mirka’s DEROS (direct electric random orbital sander) coupled to the extractors 1230L (domestic approved) or 1230M (Industrial Site Approved) 

Auto filter cleaning (AFC) for the 225mm sander Leros 

(Long Electric Random Orbital Sander) adds the convenience of a pole sander and a filter that cleans itself saving valuable time.

So, not only are your customers delighted with a clean and dust free environment while having the place decorated, you save hours a week in cleaning up time and the most important benefit, that to your health, add up to the ultimate industry no brainier!

The investment you make now will pay you back until you retire…and long after too!

So you’ll be much further away from being that ghost!

That’s Sandy!

Pop in to see our range of options and deals at both our Buckhurst Hill and Harlow shops!

And literally, be well!

Pat.