Painting the woodwork. Ho hum. By woodwork I am referring to the skirting, the window and door frames (inside) and the doors.

All of these areas will probaly need preparation. By preparation I mean the following:

Remove nails and bits sticking out, whatever they are. Fill in any holes or cracks with a good quality filler, let it dry and sand it smooth. Rub down doors with a solution of sugar soap and water, or hot water and washing up liquid if you don't have sugar soap. Make 'em clean basically.

Vacumm. Yes vacuum all your dust and bits so they are totally gone. There is NOTHING in the world of decorating more infuriating than seeing bits of stuff all over your newly-glossed woodwork. o vacuum. If you can't use a vacuum cleaner, ask your other half. She'll know. If she doesn't, you probably won't be civilised enough to do painting. Watch telly instead.

Using a one-inch, a one-and-a-half-inch or even (max) a two-inch paintbrush, apply a good, full coating of acrylic primer undercoat (dries fast) to all woodwork, using smooth, even strokes. Do all the woodwork except the actual door. We'll come to this in a minute.

When it's dry (one hour on a warm day) do exactly the same with your top coat, which will probably be a white gloss. Smooth even strokes remember. Use enough paint to put a good coat on, but if it's running after a few seconds, you're using too much. In fact, why not use something like Crown Non-Drip-one-coat? A fantastic product. Can't go wrong with it.

When it's done. Leave it alone, don't mess with it. any touching up can be done when it's dry (about five hours in a warm room or whatever it says on the can).

The door is another matter. I prefer to use a mini foam roller and a mini roller tray and put several coats on. That applies to primer/undercoat and the gloss. Use a different roller for different paints of course. Throw the rollers away when you're done. Wrap the gloss roller up in a plastic bag between coats. You'll probaly need three coats of gloss because it doesn't go on too thick, but does give a nice finish.

That's it!

Keep the kids and the cat and the dog away until it's dry.