Painting mistake - advice needed please.

Use a rag soaked in turps to remove the emulsion,apply some elbow grease as well.

emulsion is water based, no need for turps.

Yes. Emulsion doesn't rub down as well as a proper primer/undercoat but I doubt you'll notice the difference in the end

Just use the emulsion as undercoat. That's what builders do [more often than not] for skirting boards etc. The only place a three coat system really matters is outside. That's if its a good surface of course. The surface needs to be matt and flat so you may end up sanding anyway.

You can paint over it no problem, as Bob says.

If it was painted on for its colour, and you cant find the wanted colour in gloss, varnishing the emulsion is also a fringe option, but beware of the colour of the varnish. This approach was common long ago, with distemper.

NT

Thanks very much for all replies! (To summarise, no damage done! :o)

I've painted all the woodwork in our new extension with emulsion (I mixed the emulsion colour myself, and couldn't be bothered to do the same with the eggshell finish that I normally use for woodwork) and used water-based varnish to seal it. Works a treat, and water-based varnishes are not only as hard or harder than oil-based ones, they're less prone to yellowing.

Edward

It may be water based but it polymerises when it dries & isnt then water soluable.

Nor is it soluble in white spirit.

Do you want to tell us which varnish you used, as many aren't sufficiently clear colour-wise?

NT

If water based varnishes are hard, they're usually not clear. Clarity is achieved at the expense of durability. Nature of the beast I think unless you have a sophisticated, temperature controlled environment.

Acid cat varnishes are the only products I know of that give you both without yellowing