We decorate hallways, staircases and landings in Hartwell, a village about 6.5 miles south of Northampton beside Salcey Forest. The work ranges from cramped, steep stairs in one-storey-and-attic stone cottages to the conventional halls and landings of the 1930s council houses and the 1960s and 1970s private estates.
Stairs that were never meant for a ladder
Some of Hartwell’s oldest houses are one storey with an attic, built in coursed limestone rubble in the 17th or 18th century. Upstairs rooms sit partly in the roof, and the stair that reaches them is usually narrow and steep, sometimes little more than a boxed flight between walls. The 1681 house at 38 Forest Road follows the lobby-entrance plan. In a layout like that the front door opens into a small lobby against the central chimney stack, and the stair is commonly squeezed in beside the stack, often turning as it climbs.
A stair like that leaves no room for a standard stair ladder. We use a compact adjustable platform where one will fit, short boards bridged between treads and the landing, and in the tightest cases we work the upper wall in stages from the landing side. The plan for access is worked out at the quote visit, because it decides how long the job takes.
Walls with three hundred years of movement
The walls in these stairwells are usually lime plaster on stone, often patched where services were run in later. Mains water was not piped to Hartwell until just before 1914, and pipes, wiring and bathrooms were added to most older cottages long after they were built, and the chases show. We fill with materials that suit lime plaster, line badly crazed walls where the owner prefers a flatter look, and finish in a breathable paint. Modern vinyl emulsion over damp-prone solid stone tends to blister on the lowest part of the stairwell first.
Handrails and banisters in older cottages are often simple and worn smooth by hand. We key and repaint or re-oil them rather than building up thick coats that feel tacky.
Straight flights in Salcey Avenue and the estates
The 1930s council houses, the 74 post-war houses and flats on Salcey Avenue and Salcey Close, and the private housing that followed from the 1960s at Lower End and on the south-east side of the main street have the more familiar layout: a straight flight from the front hall to a landing, with a tall wall over the stairwell. Here we set up a combination ladder on the treads with a platform across to the landing, which reaches the head of the stairwell safely. Our hallway, stairs and landing page explains that equipment and the order we work in.
In these houses the wear is usually the issue. Scuffed walls at shoulder height, banister spindles chipped by bikes and pushchairs, and a dado line of marks where the vacuum cleaner hits. A scrubbable matt or eggshell on the walls and a durable satin on spindles and strings make sense for a busy family hallway.
Mud, leaves and the front door
Living next to Salcey Forest brings leaf litter, mud and damp into the hall for much of the year. For that reason we often suggest a darker or mid-tone colour on the lower part of the hall wall, or a dado rail splitting a hard-wearing lower section from a lighter upper one. Skirtings and the inside face of the front door take the most abuse, so we give them the toughest finish in the scheme.
Keeping the stairs in use
A family still needs to get up and down while the stairwell is being decorated. We leave a clear route on one side of the flight, never leave boards bridged overnight, and paint treads or strings in halves if they need doing. Since we are driving out from Northampton, we book a hallway as a run of consecutive days. There is more on Hartwell’s houses on the Hartwell area page.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
