Painting

In a London house, painting is rarely a matter of walls alone. A project may take in ceilings and cornices, skirtings and architraves, panelled doors and sash windows, and outside, stucco, render, timber joinery and iron railings. Each surface needs its own preparation and coating system, and each fails in its own way if either is wrong.

• Interior painting: whole rooms, in the right order.
• Exterior painting: facades, joinery and metalwork, planned around the weather.
• Walls and ceilings: cracks, lining paper, cornices and ceiling roses.
• Woodwork, doors and windows: the joinery that is handled most.
• Period properties: lime plaster, old paint and historic fabric.

• Preparation. Most paint failures start underneath: flaking over powdery distemper, peeling over unkeyed gloss, blistering over damp timber. We test and prepare until each surface is sound and clean.
• Protection. Floors, furniture, fitted joinery and ironmongery are covered or masked before work starts, and the protection is checked every day.
• Craftsmanship. Brushwork is still the core skill: a clean line beneath a cornice, a door laid off along the grain, edges kept free of build-up.
• Precision. Straight junctions between colours, an even sheen across each wall, and no paint on hinges, cords or glass beyond the narrow seal a window needs.
• Finish. We judge each room in its own light, from where you will actually stand in it.

1. Survey. We look closely at every surface with you, checking for moisture, loose plaster, failing coatings and old paint that may contain lead.
2. Specification. A written schedule sets out, room by room, the preparation, the type of coating, the number of coats, the colour and the sheen.
3. Protection. Floors are covered to suit their surface, furniture is moved and sheeted, and stone, joinery and ironmongery are masked. Artworks and fragile pieces should be moved beforehand.
4. Dust control. Sanding is done with extraction, behind dust screens where the work calls for it.
5. Sequencing. Preparation first, then ceilings, walls and woodwork, working downwards so nothing falls onto a finished surface.
6. Daily tidy. Each evening tools are cleaned, floors vacuumed and protection checked, and the rooms you need are left usable.
7. Snagging. We walk each room with you in daylight and under its evening lighting, and put right anything that falls short.
8. Handover. You receive a record of the colours, products and sheens in each room, with labelled leftover paint for touch-ups.

We choose coatings for what the surface needs and how the room is used. Vapour-permeable paints suit lime plaster and older masonry; harder-wearing finishes belong where hands and shoulders meet the wall; water-based trim paints avoid the yellowing of oil-based whites, while oil-based systems still earn their place where flow and levelling matter. Where several manufacturers make a suitable product, we discuss the options with you and follow the data sheet for preparation, conditions and recoat times.

Sheen is part of the design. Flat matt reads softly and forgives old plaster; eggshell gives woodwork a gentle, practical sheen; gloss is traditional on front doors but shows every flaw beneath it. Samples in the room settle most decisions, and our note on matt, eggshell or satin sets out the trade-offs.