We decorate hallways, stairwells and landings in Harlestone, out in NN7 some 4.3 miles north-west of Northampton. Most of the old stock is two-storey cottages in tight rows, which means compact stairs and awkward heights, alongside a handful of larger detached period houses.
Small stairs in two-storey rows
A lot of Harlestone’s older housing was built in tight groups. Lower Harlestone is a line of cottages pressed close to the A428, and Upper Harlestone has houses massed together along three winding valley roads. Most are two storeys, so the stairs tend to be short, steep and narrow, and in cottages of this type they can turn at the top under a sloping ceiling. The planned Althorp Estate cottages of the 19th century, such as the Ten Cottages in both halves of the village, follow the same compact pattern.
In a stairwell like that, the hard part is reaching the head wall above the lower flight without standing a ladder on the treads. We use a stair platform or a combination ladder with a board, set up so the stairs stay usable when the job runs over more than a day. Our main hallway, stairs and landing decorating page explains the access kit in more detail.
Bigger halls in the period houses
At the other end of the scale are the few substantial houses. The Old Rectory and Park Farmhouse, both Grade II listed, are the obvious examples. Houses of that size usually have larger, taller halls and landings, which can mean scaffold-tower work and longer runs of balustrade or panelled joinery. Listed Building Consent applies to interiors too, so stripping old finishes, changing plasterwork or altering joinery in those halls may need Listed Building Consent. We decorate like-for-like and leave decisions about alterations to the owner and the council.
What the walls are made of matters here
The stairwell is often where the oldest plaster in a cottage survives, because nobody wanted to hack it off around a staircase. In the 17th and 18th-century lias stone cottages, that plaster is likely to be lime on solid stone, uneven and slightly soft. Before choosing paint we check:
- whether the plaster is lime or a later gypsum patch, by look and by scratch;
- whether any old distemper sits under the current paint, which would stop new emulsion bonding;
- signs of damp low on the external wall of the stair, common in solid-walled houses.
Where the stair plaster turns out to be lime, it gets a mineral or clay-based paint that lets the solid wall dry out through its surface. On the Victorian terrace on Port Road and the 1950s brick houses, the plaster is conventional and ordinary emulsions are fine. If you want paper on an uneven cottage stair wall, it usually needs lining paper first.
Handrails, spindles and hard-wearing finishes
A stair is the most handled part of any house. Painted spindles and strings get kicked and scuffed, so we finish them in a hard-wearing eggshell or satin rather than a soft wall paint. Where an old cottage has a boarded or plank-sheeted side to the stair instead of balusters, every board joint is cleaned out before painting so the finish does not crack along the lines. Varnished or waxed handrails are kept natural unless you ask otherwise.
Colour on a dark stair helps. Many Harlestone cottages are shaded by tree belts and plantations, and the narrow windows in stone walls admit little light, so a warm, light wall colour on the stair usually works better than a cool grey. Keep the ceiling over the stairwell pale as well.
Planning the job around the household
Because there is usually only one stair, we work in an order that lets you get up and down every evening: ceiling and walls first from the platform, woodwork last, with treads and the handrail left dry and clear overnight. Parking on the A428 frontage needs care, so on Lower Harlestone jobs we arrange where the van goes before day one. For pricing, see the decorating cost guide, and for the village more widely, our Harlestone area page.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
