We decorate hallways, staircases and landings in Ecton, a conservation village about 4.9 miles north-east of Northampton between the town and Wellingborough. Dean plans the access and finishes around the property type, which here means anything from a two-unit 17th-century cottage to a four-bedroom detached house or an apartment in Ecton Hall.
Boxed stairs in the High Street cottages
Many of Ecton’s oldest homes are two-unit or three-unit vernacular cottages from the late 17th and 18th centuries. In a two-unit plan the stair is often a narrow, boxed flight tucked beside the chimney or between the two rooms, with a plank door at the bottom and a low ceiling at the turn. There is rarely a hallway as such. The front door may open straight into a room off the pavement.
That changes the job. A boxed stair has no open stairwell to reach across, but it has tight corners, a ceiling you can touch, and walls that scuff every time furniture goes up. We use short staging, small hop-ups and hand brushes rather than long-reach rollers. The work is mostly cutting in round winders, the door frame and any exposed timber. On a cottage, decorating the stair usually means repainting two short walls, one ceiling and a lot of woodwork.
The walls themselves are often lime plaster on lias or ironstone. A stair wall that backs onto the street-facing room can hold moisture, because the cottages sit straight onto the footpath and the slopes south of the village are fed by natural springs. We check those walls before painting and use a breathable finish where the plaster is old.
Single storey with attic: the 80-86 High Street pattern
The late-17th-century crescent at 80-86 High Street is four single-storey cottages with attics, and that layout appears elsewhere in the village too. The upper floor sits partly in the roof, so the landing is short with sloping ceilings on one or both sides and a dormer or gable window for light. Sloped plaster meeting a flat ceiling at an uneven line takes a steady hand. Where the old plaster is cracked along the slope, we fill and line rather than leave a crisp cut-in line that shows every ripple.
Taller halls in the detached houses and Ecton Hall
Ecton’s housing skews large: the Neighbourhood Plan reports that 39.4% of homes are detached and 25.1% have four or more bedrooms. Larger houses around the church and the Hall, reached by private service roads, often have a proper entrance hall and a stair rising to a full-height landing. Here the problem is height, not tightness. We set up a stair platform or staging boards across the flight so the wall above the stairs can be reached safely, and we keep a clear route up the stairs while the work goes on.
Since its late-1980s conversion, Ecton Hall has been a set of private flats. Inside a single flat, the hall and any internal stair are yours to decorate. Shared entrance halls and stairs in a Grade II* building are another matter: they normally sit with the managing agent, and any change in finish or colour may need their agreement and, for listed fabric, the council’s. We are happy to quote to an agent for communal areas.
Getting materials in
| Property | Access point for us | What it affects |
|---|---|---|
| Pavement-fronted High Street cottage | Front door straight off the footpath, or a rear door on some cottages | Where we unload, and keeping the footpath clear |
| Larger house by the church or Hall | Private service road | Agreeing where the van can stand |
| Ecton Hall apartment | Shared entrance | Protecting communal floors and walls on the way in |
| Church View bungalow | Front door on one level | Usually no stairs at all, just a hall |
Considerate parking is something the village website specifically asks for, and it matters most at the narrow High Street stretches near the Three Horseshoes and alongside the Manor House’s walls. For general stairwell methods and finishes, see our hallway, stairs and landing decorating page. Other services in the village are on the Ecton page.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
