Owners in Candolim furnish for their own comfort over a long winter as much as for letting, so wallpaper is worth doing properly there, in the right rooms. The beach side takes salt, and a wall facing the weather should stay painted. The lanes inland are sheltered and green but humid, and a villa closed between stays can grow mould on a poorly prepared wall. In both cases use vinyl-coated paper on an anti-fungal primer, on inner walls only, once the plaster has been looked over for salt; give damp walls PVC panels instead. Villa living rooms have the size for a bold mural. Air-conditioned bedrooms keep wallpaper in good order.
- Main bedrooms of long-stay villas: a textured vinyl for the bed wall, provided it is an internal one, in a calm design the owner will not tire of.
- Serviced apartments on the main road: hard-wearing vinyl away from corridors and luggage, with one spare roll stored for repairs.
- Large villa living rooms in the lanes: a mural on the driest internal wall, with the room aired or air-conditioned through the wet months.
Candolim is the beach town south of Calangute, running down to Fort Aguada and Sinquerim. Its long main road is lined with restaurants and shops, with hotels and resorts towards the beach and villas and holiday apartments in the quieter lanes inland.
Candolim is a little more upmarket than Calangute: more villas, serviced apartments and long-stay visitors, many of them retired people from abroad who return each winter. Property is furnished for comfort as well as letting.
The beach side is salty and breezy. Inland lanes are sheltered and green but humid. Anything outdoors needs to resist sun and salt.
Sea-facing homes
Sea-facing walls take in salt and moisture, and paper lifts at the seams if the wall is not sealed. Use vinyl-coated wallpaper on an anti-fungal primer, and keep it to inner walls or walls that do not face the weather. Check for salt bloom on the plaster first.
Holiday lets and guest houses
For a let property, choose a hard-wearing vinyl in a design that will not date, and use it where luggage and furniture will not scrape it: behind the bed, not in the corridor. A spare roll kept back makes later repairs possible.
