We decorate hallways, staircases and landings in Grange Park, the NN4 village on the southern edge of Northampton. Dean works from our Northampton base, about 3.4 miles away, and gives a free quote covering walls, ceilings, banisters, spindles and all the woodwork in between.
Stairwells that carry a whole household every day
Grange Park grew quickly. From 327 residents in 2001 it reached 4,700 by the 2021 Census, and when Manor Oak Homes published plans for 330 more homes in 2019, people worried that local services were already stretched. Woodland View Primary School on School Lane is the only school in the village, and the picture is of a place full of families. In practice that means hallways and stairs here get more wear than any other part of the house: hands on the wall going up, bags dropped at the bottom, bikes and buggies scraping the skirting.
So the first decision is the paint itself. A standard contract matt marks if you look at it, and wiping it often leaves a shiny patch. For a Grange Park stairwell we normally specify a scrubbable or durable matt on the walls, a satin or eggshell on banisters and spindles, and a tough water-based finish on the skirtings and stair stringers, chosen so that fingerprints wipe off without leaving a mark.
Reaching the high wall over the stairs
Modern estate houses often have a tall, unbroken wall rising from the hall floor to the landing ceiling, plus a landing that overlooks the stairwell. It is the wall people leave until last, because a stepladder will not reach it safely. We set up stair platforms, adjustable step units or a small scaffold tower depending on the shape of the stairwell, so every part of the wall and ceiling is reached from a stable footing. The stairs stay usable while the work is going on. We leave a clear route and keep wet paint off the handrail you need to hold.
Our main hallway, stairs and landing decorating page explains the access kit and the order we work in. Here we focus on the houses you find in Grange Park.
Moving on from the developer’s magnolia
Homes from the first phases, roughly 1998 to 2010, were handed over with builder-applied magnolia or a similar pale contract emulsion. Twenty-odd years on, the stairwell is usually where it looks most tired: grubby at hand height, cracked where the plasterboard meets the ceiling, and scuffed along the dado line by the stairs. Before the new colour goes on, we:
- wash down the walls so grease from hands does not stop the new paint bonding
- rake out and fill the hairline cracks that open in plasterboard joints and at wall-to-ceiling corners
- sand and fill dents in skirtings and stringers left by years of hoovering
- spot-prime any repaired areas so the finish dries evenly
One colour plan from the front door to the landing
In many modern layouts the hall flows into the stairs and the landing opens onto every bedroom door, so these spaces read as one. That is why we look at the colour scheme across the whole run before picking shades. A darker colour below a dado line and a lighter one above it can hide wear without making a narrow hall feel cramped. Carrying the same woodwork white from the front door to the top landing keeps the space feeling joined up. If you want help choosing, our colour advice can sit alongside the decorating quote.
Outside, there is no conservation area in Grange Park, so if you are repainting the front door at the same time you have more freedom than owners in nearby Wootton or Collingtree, subject to any covenant in your deeds. You can read more about the village on our Grange Park page.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
