The Strange Story of Purdy Sprig and the Kitchen Painter’s Tools
People ask me all the time what tools I use to hand paint kitchens.
I tell them, “A purdy sprig and two fussy blokes.”
Nobody ever believes me. They think I’m having a laugh. I’m not.
I explain, “I cover two fussy blokes in paint and roll them over the surface. Then I follow up with a purdy sprig to get the finish I’m known for.”
At this point, I can tell people are torn between two courses of action:
Hire me and my duo of paint covered blokes (who, by the way, can’t be that fussy if they put up with being treated like that).
Report me to the guards.
So I say, “Let me show you my purdy sprig,” and reach into my bag to take it out. Inevitably, they take a step backwards, perhaps wishing they had their own purdy sprig with which to defend themselves.
They seem ever so relieved when I pull out a Sprig paint brush made by Purdy.
Yet some suspicion remains. “And the two blokes?” they ask.
I produce a set of paint rollers made by Two Fussy Blokes. Their slogan is, “We’re fussy but that’s just how we roll.”
Often people are a bit disappointed. Maybe they’d actually prefer their kitchen to be painted by two blokes covered in paint rolling about the place? To be fair, it would make a great dinner party story. The finish on the kitchen would be shocking, though. So would the laundry bill. (Yes, of course they’d be dressed. Why? What were you thinking?)
High-quality tools for a high-quality kitchen paint finish
So what makes Purdy Sprig brushes and Two Fussy Blokes rollers so special? Apart from the names?
The Purdy Sprig is the only brush I’ve ever found that gets me the finish I’m looking for. It’s a very thin brush that transfers paint beautifully to the surface. And they never, ever shed a fibre. If you’ve ever painted something using a cheap brush, you’ll know what it’s like to find dislodged fibres drying into your freshly painted surface. A polite way of describing it would be ‘an absolute misery-making disaster’. (Which is still several levels of catastrophe better than Wales’ performances in this year’s Six Nations—No, I don’t want to talk about it.)
Purdys need care, though. Because the fibres are so thin, you have to wash them out regularly to stop paint drying on them and clogging up the brush. They also lose their shape fairly quickly and fan out like a flower. I’m lucky if I get two kitchens out of one brush.
Two Fussy Blokes rollers are equally well made. They are high-density microfibre rollers designed to coat quickly, evenly and smoothly. If you’ve ever seen me work, you’ll know I like to paint swiftly, so it’s important my tools allow me to do so.
These tools come at a price, the Purdys especially. But the quality of the painting in your kitchen is only as good as its weakest link. You need:
quality paint,
applied by quality tools,
by a (dare I toot my own horn on my own blog? Yes, I do dare) quality kitchen painter.
If any of those three key ingredients is missing, your kitchen won’t look as good as it should.
If all three are missing, your kitchen could end up looking like it actually was done by two men rolling around covered in paint.
A Purdy spring and a Two Fussy Blokes roller