No, its not a smutty post for all those who got sucked into the title, in fact following on from getting our garden ready for the Spring and Summer, we have been busy transforming our tired old fence thanks to Crown Paints and their Sadolin non drip Woodstain.
I love the lighter nights, it breeds optimism… sunshine, barbecues, the feeling of longer days and the motivation to get off my back side and start with getting our humble adobe and its surroundings back feeling its fresher self following a cold, wet and harsh winter.
Since moving house, one of the highlights for me is our garden, its so much bigger than our previous one and means we could fit several bits of play equipment for the children, such as their wooden playhouse and trampoline without compromising the overall space. This in turn allows us to feel comfortable hosting family and friends around for barbecues and get togethers which we had probably shied away from before. The only issue is having a much larger garden does mean more effort in keeping it looking nice. I’m pretty obsessive when it comes to making my lawn look like wembley stadium stripes and turning over the grounds annually but when it comes to painting our 95 meter squared fencing which surrounds our garden… thats one I really detest doing as not only does it take forever, the stuff gets everywhere and is generally hard work.
When the team at Sadolin got in touch previously I will admit their challenge to try out Sadolin non drip woodstain wasn’t exactly met with enthusiasm. However the draw of giving our garden a spruce up, combined with some unusually warm weather had me in the mood for taking a look at what they could offer. For those not familiar with Sadolin they are renowned throughout the professional and DIY markets for offering the highest possible standard of wood protection. Boasting a rich heritage stretching over 200 years, the products benefit from the latest advances in coatings technology. Their non drip woodstain is described as the perfect solution for exterior woodwork projects such as doors, windows, conservatories and garden furniture as well as not needing to be a professional user in order to achieve professional results.
Although only having only a choice of 7 shades within their Non Drip Woodstain range (5 wood coloured shades and 2 new shades (green and grey) I was a little sceptical given I know how picky Mrs F can be when making a decision. As it turns out, we both instantly picked out their Horizon Grey colour as being a shade we really liked and inspired by Katie / MummyDaddyMe‘s bold fence colour we both wanted to move away from our traditional red cedar and dark oak combination which we had inherited from the previous occupants.
Looking at the tin sizes I was a little taken back by the size given they only came in 2.5 litre tubs, in comparison to my previous experience of using several 5 litre buckets I wasn’t convinced about their claim of 18 meters square coverage per litre but put this aside and spotting a good couple of days, decided to enlist the help of Mrs F’s Dad and crack on…
The paint itself doesn’t need shaking prior to use (despite telling my father in law this several times) and is ready to go. My first impressions were how thick the paint was in comparison to typical fence paint, this meant there was no splashing and all the paint on the brush, stayed on it, rather than drip across my beloved lawn. The paint was also extremely easy to spread out too despite its thick appearance meaning before long, well a full day using two people later, much of the fence had received a first coat.
Standing back I was worried, it was incredibly patchy with the old red cedar coming through… was this fence going to take several coats and with the paint not on the cheap and cheerful side, I was beginning to think this could get expensive.
However having waited the recommended 24 hours between coats (although touch dry in 2 hours), I began the second coat early on a Sunday morning (7am to be precise) and was instantly reassured as the second coat magically seemed to really cover the fence… and was so much easier and quicker to do too.
Before 10am I had covered over half of the fencing alone and was finding myself actually using much less paint than the first coat too despite the drastic difference in visual coverage. With Mrs F’s Dad turning up for further fence painting duties (he’s a good un) we were finished in no time and my personal opinion the fence looks both amazing and also like a new fence.
Once was old, dry and mossy, now looks like we had a brand new pre treated fence installed over a weekend. I may be also imagining it but I have also noticed a huge increase in the number of birds in the garden.. maybe they love the colour too. The garden feel so much more open than before too and I suspect thats due to the lighter colour. Finally the greens, reds and wood within the garden really contrasts with the fence really intensifying the colours.
I’m really impressed with Sadolin Non Drip Wood Stain and would definitely recommend ditching the cheap and cheerful and going for their collection. I have a feeling this paint is made to last…
Now I just need to convince Mrs F for a robotic lawnmower and a new barbecue and let the summer outdoor hosting commence… 🙂
Until next time
Jim x
NB: I was provided with my choice of Sadolin Non Drip Wood Stain Paint in exchange for an honest review. All opinions remain my own.