Any work on internal paint finishes was intentionally excluded from the scope of the builders’ contract for the Outbuildings, giving the structure chance to dry out and allowing the opportunity to review how many of the rooms to paint. My Architect had suggested leaving all the blockwork walls unpainted, but two different lorry-loads of blocks had been used so the colour and texture of the upper walls was different from the lower walls. Painting the walls white also reflects a lot more of either natural or artificial light and the gritty grey dust that seems to be forever coming off bare concrete blocks gets sealed in by the paint, making for a much cleaner environment. (The extract-side filter on the MVHR system is also trapping a surprising amount of plaster-coloured dust, which can only be coming off the unpainted ceilings.)

While the overall impression is still very much that of a prison cell, the walls in the Outbuildings’ Shower Room look a lot better with a couple of coats of white emulsion paint.

The small Plant Room is next on the list, then the Utility Room (which has the same grey vinyl flooring as the Shower Room). While it would be nice to paint the Workshop too that’s not a high priority. I’m currently thinking all the unheated rooms (i.e. the Garages and Store Rooms) will just be left as bare blockwork.