Aargh, any tips for painting old plaster walls?

[Tiggeroo]

I decided to paint my house, starting with the living room and hallway today. This place is old and has (I thought) all plaster walls. The walls are cracking and really need work. But I am going with patches in most places and a few where I am tearing them down a bit more. You think you'll just patch a tiny hairline crack, then you see another spot, then another. I am going nuts. It will never be perfect, I just can't seem to figure out where to stop and what to let go. To top it off apparently there are a couple of sheetrock patches. When I touch them I am peeling of the blue paper. Then it is uneven. And what about window sills with several old coats of paint, all in good shape except a coupld pieces missing that go down thru several layers. If I paint over it you will see uneven spots. But I am not sanding all the wood down to the bare surface. AARRRRGH! what was I thinking. Has anybody ever done this and survived.

 

[wdwnutze]

My house is over 160yrs old so all the walls are plaster. Since it is so old, there are cracks and is uneven in many places. I have painted most of the rooms in the house and what I had to do was just remind myself that anything I did was going to be an improvement. I did the best I could patching the walls but in order to get them perfect, I would have to have someone come in and completely re-plaster them. I patched and sanded and filled any grooves that were there(window sills too). Once I painted and got the house somewhat up to date, the imperfections were much less noticeable. Just keep in mind that new paint will look better than the old paint so you're already ahead of the game. Good luck!

 

[Tiggeroo]

Thanks wdw. This is what I keep telling myself. Originally we were patching here and there and going over it with the old paint. But I am out of the paint in the existing color so it's either paint or keep staring at the plaster patches now on my walls. I know what really needs to be done is break out the soft spots and completely fix them, but not gonna happen. Now the ceiling is starting to crack too, and that I guess something will have to be done when a piece actually falls down.