Celia Rufey answers your queries.
Our expert, Celia Rufey, answers your interior design questions and decorating dilemmas
WHERE CAN I FIND A DOORBELL DESIGNED TO BE SEEN?
We’ve inherited a plastic doorbell, which visitors never seem to see. Can you suggest a more visible and traditional replacement? AT, Nailsworth, Gloucestershire.
Broughtons, 0116 234 1888, broughtons.com, stocks every traditional style of doorbell and bell push you could wish for, from the jangling butler’s bell to a 10 Downing Street doorbell (rather handsome) that measures 25x9.5cm, £69. Broughtons’ website also hosts an excellent guide called Choosing a Doorbell by the company’s Natalie Iredale that will help you find a style to suit your house and the correct system to make it work. If you only need to change the front of house element, you could also look at the traditional Door Bell Cover with ceramic push button (below), Dia10cm, £42.40, in antiqued, polished or nickel-plated brass or a black or iron finish from Jim Lawrence, 01473 826685,
jim-lawrence.co.uk. This can be used with a wired, battery-operated bell system or a transformer system supplied by the mains.
MARTIN WALLER, Andrew Martin, 020 7225 5100, andrewmartin.co.uk.
IS A MATT FINISH PAINT SUITABLE FOR MY KITCHEN CABINETS?
I’d like to update my units in a matt paint but can’t work out which paints have minimum sheen and if they would be suitable for a project like this? YMCD, Glasgow.
All the paint companies I contacted wanted to know the present finish on your cabinets before fine-tuning their advice, so check out any preparation required before you begin. Sheen levels can be found on companies’ literature or websites and any paint rated at 15 per cent sheen or less is regarded as semi-matt. Water-based Wood & Metal paint in Matt finish by Mylands, 020 8670 9161, mylands.co.uk, is the lowest
I’ve found with a sheen level of only eight per cent. It is recommended for interior woodwork so would be suitable for your cabinets. It comes in all the company’s Colours of London at £28 for 1L. Little Greene (above), 0845 880 5855,
littlegreene.com, offered an alternative solution. Its technical team told me that the method often followed by bespoke cabinet makers to get a completely matt finish is to paint furniture in the company’s Intelligent Eggshell, £30 for 1L
(15 per cent sheen), then apply Dead Flat Decorator’s Varnish, £20.04 for 1L, Polyvine, 01934 740305, polyvine.com. That way you’ll get a matt finish that will also be extremely durable.
“Import hotel glamour in to your bedroom by introducing an extravagant headboard. Then allow it to define the space.”