Tiff, a decorative painter, lives in a detached Suffolk cottage with husband Roly, daughters Willow and Margot, and cockapoo puppy Ziggy.

The exterior of the property comprised previously painted and unpainted smooth render.

KEIM specified KEIM Soldalit Grob for surface equalisation, KEIM Soldalit-ME to create a photocatalytic opaque base colour and KEIM Design Lasur to create a highly coveted limewash aesthetic finish without the hassle of traditional limewash.

“I wanted the exterior to look like beautiful old lime wash even though the house has a modern cement render.”

Tell us about your property

We moved to the house between lockdowns in early Autumn 2020. Due to the pandemic, we had only visited the house once briefly before we packed up our lives and moved to the middle of the Suffolk countryside. The house is situated on the top of a hill with glorious “Constable” countryside in all directions.  

The original part of the house is a typical Suffolk cottage. However, over the decades there have been a number of extensions added on and although the bones of the property were good, we felt that the house had lost a lot of its original charm.  We immediately set about putting our stamp on it, uncovering original features, and re-working the floor plan to bring it back to the wonderful family home we knew it could be.

Why did you choose KEIM Mineral Paints?

I discovered KEIM whilst desperately searching for paint companies that could help bring my vision to life. I had a very specific colour in mind (the terracotta end of the traditional Suffolk Pink spectrum), and I was very set on the notion that I absolutely did not want to paint it a block colour. I wanted the exterior to look like beautiful old lime wash even though the house has a modern cement render.  I was very keen to soften and age the more modern extensions so the whole house had the appeal of the original part.  I also wanted to avoid paint with any plastic in it. 

How did you achieve these amazing results?

My husband and I decided to embark on the painting ourselves. We knew it was a mammoth undertaking, but I felt that it was absolutely achievable, and it would save us a considerable amount of money. KEIM Soldalit Grob and KEIM Soldalit were very simple to apply. The paint has wonderful coverage, and you can paint with a roller very simply without having to do multiple coats.  The next part, KEIM Design Lasur, needed to be applied with a brush.  I didn’t trust my husband with this bit so I single handily hand brushed the whole house! This was a very daunting task as the paint needs to be worked into the surface in a cloud like action.  It took a couple attempts for me to get it right- I had to repaint over a few walls, but before long I was on a roll. It took me several weeks, but I am so pleased with the results.  The depth of colour and texture is exactly what I was looking for and I couldn’t recommend Keim more highly.

“My experience of Keim has been an extremely positive one.  Their customer service is second to none. Thank you for helping me achieve my vision.”