Hi everyone, I have been reading a lot about Painting in France & all the do’s & donts & what’s best & what’s rubbish !!!
I have been commissioned too refurbish a large property in St Jean yes it’s in very poor condition internally & externally, I can’t comment on French paint apart from the cost & have never used it & never will. I bring all my materials from the UK not from any particular supplier but yes they can match all your Little Green colours and a like.
I have been Decorating for almost forty years & as long as you prepare any surface correctly inside or out, you can repaint as you would at home although you may need some specific primers & sealers for any paint too adhere too a surface, which are much more resonable in price than here, with out them you’ll be in trouble.
I have never been a lover of acrylic based exterior paints unless it has been applied correctly when the timber was new & really wouldn’t apply it too a previously Oil based surface.
On a Shutter project, prepare them well and wood needs Oil and it has too be my no 1 favourite Sadolin & Sikkens there absolutely perfect for the job comes in a range of colours, have UV properties & are also which is very important when dealing with any timber at home or abroad !! They are Micropourous, which any time served Tradesmen will tell you, The timber has too breathe, timber externally & in some internals depending on the type of wood is a living breathing product which we continue too paint and seal it up with our gloss non nicropourous paint, it cannot breath it drys out, moisture penetrates and the paint peels.
Bottom line, the products are available, it’s just the knowledge generally of the guy selling it too you is poor.
Sorry any Diy ers but it’s Horses 4 courses.
Replies welcome
Signing off
Andrew Povey
City & Guilds Apprentice 1983 completed
Fully skilled time served tradesmen.
Or just buy violet roulants or aluminium shutters painted the colour of your choice like most people do these days.
Wooden shutters have had their day. Pain in the bum. They will deteriorate over time no matter how super dooper the UK paint is and how super dooper the painter is. LOL.
You say “I can’t comment on French paint apart from the cost & have never used it & never will. I bring all my materials from the UK”
Apparently the food is carp as well.
These days all French DIY stores carry excellent paints and if you shop around you can get good prices too. Try www.bricodepot.fr if you have one near you.
Just avoid the cheapest ranges as they are generally poor quality!
Oh come on, you’ll be fitting PVC windows next in a 300 year old property !!! Omg they already do.
The finish is only as good as the prep & previous coats, a bit like having a nice dress on & wearing dirty underwear. !! & anyone can achieve these quality finishes not just the Tradesmen.
Mark. You’ve disappointed me mate, I must tell my clients the next time they visit their 300 year old 7 bed 5 bathrooms countless rooms too entertain in,
that I’ve ordered the PVC windows, Aluminium Shutters, PVC white Facia Gutters & Downpipes and the composite decking is coming in Tuesday. 
Hi James.
I don’t deny the quality of their paint, as I’ve never used it, but the cost is something too consider, & like I said I bring my Materials with me as I have faith in what I’m using.
Volets roulants? Aluminium shutters? UGH, c’est MOCHE.
Sorry, disagree. If PVC or Aluminium was around 300 years ago they would have used it.
After two renovations and an aching body (I am only in my early forties), the last thing am going to do is paint flipin shutters again. Enough.
PVC is Ok, but Aluminium rocks.
Provence blue/ farrow & Ball painted wooden shutters are for tourists and expats…who eat fish and chips from vans. lol.
In fact, the dark grey or brown (very popular in France) aluminum windows/shutters on an old house (nice exposed stone) looks the business.
The French have taste. Well my neighbour does.
You still have no soul…
That’s why we have Tradesmen, Carpenters & Decorators that have the skills & knowledge too maintain these traditions & buildings.
My dad was a Master Carpenter …you know 7 years apprenticeship in the city of London. He could do every joint going. Hidden dovetails cut by hand and all that. No probs.
I grew up in a 15th century renovation done by my dad in the UK.
Do you know what, he not only did he paint the wooden windows of the house himself, but he made them ALL HIMSELF. Every single one of them.
Buying some cheap wooden windows from Brico or Lampyre and painting them in a fancy colour is not a renovation.
So what is a renovation ?
Well done your Father, so why on earth are you promoting Aluminium Shutters when your own Father would disown you.
He would renovate & repair the existing with the skills & knowledge that he was taught !! & I would Paint them with the same care & attention, not replace them with Aluminium.
Live by your Fathers methods !!
( Tradesman ) that says it all.
You have a very different idea about taste to my own. You are welcome to do as you want but please don’t play the I’m better than an expat card and tell the rest of us that we’re wrong. My natural wood shutters and Tollens paint covered windows look right and will stay as they are now for the foreseeable future. Minimal maintenance for the appearance my stone house needs. I left ugly roller shutters behind when I left Germany.
Would he disown me ?
You have a lot to learn.
To be honest, when I see a renovation of an old house in the UK and a renovation of a French house by expats in France, they all look the same. Same flooring, B@Q kitchen, magnolia walls and all the rest of it. It looks totally boring, uninspiring and dull dull dull.
I and most of my generation in France prefer new houses or a subtle contemporary look given to an old french house that breaths life back into it and makes it happy.
I live in a very old house (monument historic) and we kept as original as it could be. We are slowly modernising it to make it a proper house again. The kids are very happy. LOL
You can modernise a old house without losing its appeal. There are plenty of ‘house’ magazines in France that prove that point.
You said, you grew up in a 15th century renovation & your Father pain stakinkley replaced/ repaired & renovated the timber !!
Thankfully he would not have taken your advice and stuck some lovely white PVC windows in there.
This discussion, started with Painting shutters & the products that are available to do so, if prepared correctly, we can all have our opinions fair play, BUT ALUMINIUM IS not the way forward & it will FAIL in appearance in time. Trust me, I’m a Tradesman.
You can’t paint aluminium Mr tradesman ?
I just had to nip out and so I took time to look at the type of windows people had installed here. I am talking beautiful Haussmann apartment buildings and houses that you could only dream of owning. We are talking a 1 million + for a decent flat and 1.5-2.5 Million +++ for a house.
They mostly had PVC windows. The ones that had wooden windows looked tatty.
It is the same across Paris. It is the same everywhere.
Wooden windows and shutters are redundant. No point investing money if you are doing up a house or a renovation. If you do, someone will come along and rip them out again in future and replace them.
I never mentioned anything about Painting Aluminium??
Generally there Powder Coated but they will fail.
As long as your happy in your Monumental Historic house, with your Aluminium shutters, that’s all that Matters. ( too you )
I must add, almost anything can be Painted with the appropriate etching primers.
Whatever you do, don’t go & retrain as a Painter!! You’ll be out of business before you start !! You’ll have, PVC, Aluminium, Laminate flooring, you have nothing to paint/restore/renovate. if we take your lead.
Don’t worry, I can paint like a pro. I did not grow up in a renovation for nothing…lol
Now, my renovation snob (I mean that in the nicest sense) a customer calls you and says I want all my beams painted white…or off white. Nice beautiful beams in a period home.
Would you do it ? You can’t paint beams can you ? You know…200 year old beams ?? That is vandalism !
P.S nothing wrong with laminate flooring…well the expensive stuff. Nothing wrong vinyl ‘lame’ flooring either !!!
You are missing the point.
No you have missed the point all the way through, but why would you paint them, ok it’s what the client wants, yes you can paint them, with the appropriate primers, like I said in my opening messages, timber is a living, breathing product, there timber, prepare them properly, prime them properly, & finish them in the proper finish. It’s not a problem.
Thankfully I don’t, get commissioned, by a client that would want them painted. But if they pay my wages, it’s not a problem to me, maybe vandalism, but hey, I have bills too pay lol
Hold on, hold on.
No PVC shutters, no aluminium windows, no laminate flooring because it is not proper renovation of an old house.
BUT if they want their beams painted white then f*** it …yeah I will do it. I’m hungry.
Read a few French renovation/life style magazines and watch ‘chasseurs d’appart’ on M6.
People want ‘liveable’ contemporary houses not a museum.
