The course to be adopted in painting a staircase hung with wallpaper is as follows. The first thing is to remove the paper with water containing a little soda, and to rub down the walls afterwards with pumice-stone and water. Then fill up with distemper paint, and, when dry, rub down with glasspaper. Give two good coats of size, one hot and thin, the other chilled, to stop suction, make good any defective parts, and again glasspaper down. Coat with colour, nearly all oil and very thin, and follow with successive coats of paint until a satisfactory appearance is gained. Over distemper filling the first coat should be oily; over woodwork it should be flat - that is to say, it should contain a comparatively large quantity of turps.