Quick wins & big SAP projects - why shades of blue are important in a dark brown world

Unfortunately, we have a modern slavery policy at Resulting IT.

I say unfortunately, because in my house we have 2 sets of stairs.

There’s a main staircase in the hallway, plus what was originally a set of servant stairs leading up to a different part of the house.

The part where, in Victorian times, the servants lived.

But we don't have servants.

Because of our pesky company policy, it'd probably be really frowned upon.

So I have to make do with walking my own dog, ironing my own shirts, polishing my own yellow shoes and cutting my own lawn.

Which is irritating.

I also have to do most of my own decorating.

Like most things in my Victorian project house, the wood panelled servant stairs were stained dark brown many years ago by somebody who had a Ronseal addiction. And, because the servant stairs are on the North side of the house, this makes a very dark windowless back hallway darker still.

So dark, that it sometimes seems not to get any lighter when you turn on the lights - a kind of luminance vacuum.

Even the dog finds it depressing.

On the 300 line tracker that is our house restoration project plan, with a go-live date sometime in late 2027 (somewhat ironically for somebody who runs a SAP consultancy) we have to take quick wins alongside the long lead-time parts of the restoration proejct.

If we didn't, we'd suffocate in the gloomy multi-room and muilt-trade interdependencies we have to plan around.

Remove the radiators to plaster the walls. Drain the heating to remove the radiators. 1st fix electrics before plastering. Re-plumb the washing machine before the plastering. Paint the plastered walls before re-fitting the radiators. Get the radiators short blasted and powder-coated. Fit the floor before refitting the cast iron radiators that sit on the floor. Fit new skirting boards before the radiators go in. Fit units to create the laundry room before 2nd fix electrics.

Critical path - floor. No, paint. No, units.

Arrrrghhhh...

Anyway, alongside the black-forrest cuckoo clock days, where different tradespeople take turns coming in and out of different doors on the chime of every hour, we look for quick wins.

And my latest quick win was the "servant stairs".

We'd already sanded the pitched pine wooden floor, removing the dark oak panels that had been covering it, and restoring the pine to it's lighter golden beauty.

Next was to attack the brown wood stain.

Sanding, scraping and filling first.

Preparation is everything - it's so easy to rush and start painting before you've done the ground work. More sanding, wiping down, vacuuming and masking - a perfect Phase Zero.

"I can't emphasise how important it is to remain in Phase Zero until you're ready to get started with Phase 1."

I got home one evening and notices that we were switching from a brownfield upgrade to bluefield approach. Sophie had already daubed a range of Farrow & Ball blue shades onto the brown panels to get a sense of the finished look.

But, you never know how it will look until you've covered a larger area do you?

Towards the end of Phase Zero, we chose our tools before setting about our conversion.

I'd thought carefully about my tools - something that would cover large surfaces of flat panelling, but was also able to deal with turned wooden spindles. A foam roller was the answer to that.

The panelling had both bevelled edges and very deep grooves. I'd need a conical brush and a thin brush to deal with these.

You need to take time choosing the right tools if you're going to do an upgrade justice.

Tools locked and loaded, we stirred the paint in readiness.

Saturday afternoon, early Sunday morning, a few midweek evening touch-ups and the conversion was almost complete.

Remove the green frog-tape and cutover was complete.

A new blue servants staircase ready for a stair runner and few finishing touches which can follow in the coming weeks and months.

You don't need to change everything when you upgrade. Some things can be done later when the time is right, and you've lived with with the new version for a little while.

If you're in the middle of an upgrade and are wondering whether to stick with dark, dirty brownfield, or consider alternative upgrade approaches, you might want to read 50 Shades of Blue - the secrets to taking control of your S/4HANA journey.

You may even get some home decor inspiration as part of the bargain...