All White

Well, I know it’s typical for the British in Spain, but I’ve painted all of our rooms white now. The rooms only have small windows (with the exception of the dining area) and don’t let in a lot of light. This is to reduce the heat coming in in the summer – however, that means that we have to have the lights on a lot of the time. The rooms were all decorated in mottled dark colours. Very trendy, but not very us.

The paint in Spain is very strange!

When you put it on the walls, it seems to have very little pigment. In fact, it is hard to tell where you have just been. Then, as it dries, it develops a tacky stage – touch it at your peril… you think you have missed a bit, but it turns out to be a translucent tacky spot and… presto… all of the layers of paint in that spot are promptly removed, and wrapped around your roller!!! I slowly learned that you have to do 1 layer of paint, wait a day (and look for any spots to fill) then cut in, wait another day, do a second layer, wait a day, cut in again (bound to have missed a few bits) wait another day, then, if you are lucky, the 3^rd coat will be enough. Phew. 1 week to paint a room? It was a bad do, if it took me 2 days before.