We decorate hallways, stairwells and landings in Rectory Farm, the NN3 estate about 4.2 miles north-east of Northampton town centre. Most stairs here are narrow straight flights in 1970s and 1980s houses, so Dean works from a stair platform and plans the job so the stairs stay usable.
The staircase most Rectory Farm houses share
Rectory Farm was planned in the New Town years, and the house types repeat. In the northern half, around Crowthorp Road, Elmington Road and Leben Square, over half the homes are terraced. In the 1980s closes off Deansway, most are detached or semi-detached. In the terraces and semis, the stairs are usually a narrow straight flight between two walls, with a small landing at the top and a boxed-in stringer on one side.
That layout is hard to decorate. The highest wall is the one at the head of the flight, above the bottom treads, and there is no floor under it to stand a stepladder on. The landing is often too small to set up anything stable, and a ladder leaning on the opposite wall marks the paint you have just finished.
How we reach the top of the stairwell
We use an adjustable stair platform whose legs sit level on different treads, with a staging board across where the span allows. This gives a flat, guarded place to stand at ceiling height above the drop. On a narrow 1970s flight we set the platform up so there is still a clear way past, because in a terrace with no other stairs you cannot shut the staircase for a day.
Access outside the house matters as well. Under the estate’s Radburn layout, some front doors open onto footpath walks rather than a road, so a platform, boards and dust sheets may have to be carried from a shared parking area. We look at this on the survey visit and allow time for it in the plan. Equipment is not left blocking a walk that neighbours use.
The general method, including sequencing ceiling, walls and woodwork, is on our main hallway, stairs and landing decorating page.
Scuffs, handrails and the bottom metre of wall
A narrow hall in a family home takes knocks every day. Bags, buggies, bikes and shoulders all rub along the same strip of wall at waist height, and the paint around the newel post and along the handrail goes grey from hands. We suggest finishes to suit:
- A durable, washable matt or a scrubbable eggshell on walls below dado height, so marks wipe off without leaving a shiny patch.
- Water-based satin on spindles, handrail and stringers, which stays white and copes with being held every day.
- A colour pale enough to lift a hall with little or no daylight, which is common where the front door is the only glazing.
In a home that is privately or socially rented, which applies to a large share of the northern 1970s streets, washability usually matters more than the exact shade. Shared owners there may also want a hard-wearing first redecoration once they have moved in.
Landings in the detached closes
In the larger 1983 to 1992 houses on Healey Close, Bentley Close and Deacons Court, the hall can be wider and the landing may have several doors opening off it. The challenge there is less about reach and more about the amount of joinery: banister runs, a door at every turn and long lengths of skirting. Nearly nine in ten homes in these closes are owner-occupied, and owners may want a wallpapered stairwell or a feature colour instead of a plain neutral, which changes the order we work in.
Our Rectory Farm area page covers the estate’s housing in more detail and lists the other services we offer there.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
