DH Painter & Decorator carries out decorative paint finishes in Camp Hill, the Hunsbury Hill estate about 1.8 miles south-west of Northampton town centre. In homes this size Dean recommends one well-placed feature, such as painted panelling or a colour-drenched room, rather than a whole-house scheme.
Scaling decorative work to a compact estate house
Most of Camp Hill was built in the 1980s, and much of it is small: the two-bedroom semis on Harksome Hill are around 721 square feet, and the terraces and flats in the Squares off Dayrell Road are of a similar scale. In houses like these, decorative work tends to be occasional and targeted. One strong idea in the right room has far more effect than effects spread through every space, which in a small house quickly starts to feel busy. In a two-bed semi or a Squares terrace that usually means the living room, the main bedroom or the narrow entrance hall.
Panelling where it earns its place
Camp Hill’s 1980s rooms have plain walls with no original cornices or mouldings, so painted panelling added now has nothing period to compete with. A few options that work in homes this size:
- Half-height panelling in the hall. On a narrow straight-flight staircase, panelling to dado height takes the scuffs from bags and shoulders and can be wiped down, with a lighter colour above to keep the space open.
- Shaker-style grid behind the bed. A simple grid of flat strips, painted in the same colour as the wall, adds texture to a small bedroom without using floor space.
- Slim vertical battens on a lounge feature wall. Vertical lines make a modest ceiling height feel taller.
The paint finish is what makes panelling look built in. Joints are filled, nail holes stopped, edges caulked and everything is primed before two coats of a hard-wearing eggshell, so the strips read as part of the wall rather than something stuck on.
A palette from the ground beneath the estate
Camp Hill stands largely on worked-out Northampton Ironstone, the Camp Pit quarry of the 1880s, right beside the Iron Age hillfort in Hunsbury Hill Country Park. If you like the idea of a scheme with a local thread, the rust, ochre and warm brown tones of ironstone make a good basis for a colour-drenched room, where walls, skirting, door and even the ceiling are painted in one or two closely related shades. Warm earth colours also suit the many rooms here that face north or east down the hill, where cooler effects can look flat. Our Camp Hill colour advice page goes into choosing shades for that light.
Larger rooms towards the West Hunsbury side
Detached homes appear towards the western edge of the estate, such as the bungalow on Claystones on the West Hunsbury side. More floor area and wider walls give room for bigger ideas: a full-height panelled wall in a lounge, a limewash-effect finish with soft movement across a long wall, or a two-tone scheme splitting a wall horizontally. These finishes need wide, uninterrupted surfaces to look right, which is why they are less suited to a short wall in a compact terrace.
Before you commit
Decorative work shows the surface underneath more than plain emulsion does. Walls in 1980s houses often carry decades of filled holes and patches, and a limewash or sheen effect will pick up every one, so preparation is part of the price. Dean can bring sample boards to a Camp Hill house so you can try an effect in your own light before work starts. The full range of finishes we offer, from feature walls to detailed period work, is on our main decorative finishes page, and general decorating across the estate is on the Camp Hill area page.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
