Dean paints internal doors, skirtings, architraves, picture rails and staircase woodwork in Spinney Hill, NN3, a 2.1-mile run out along Kettering Road from the town centre. Most of the work here is in 1930s-1950s semis that still have their original joinery, plus matching new woodwork in rear extensions and annexes.
Mid-century joinery that is worth keeping
The bay-fronted semi-detached houses along Spinney Hill Road went up between the 1930s and the 1950s, and a lot of them still have their original internal doors, skirting boards and picture rails. Joinery of that age is usually solid, well-seasoned timber, and it tends to outlast the cheaper replacements that went into many houses later on. What lets it down is the paint: seventy or more years of gloss layered on gloss, with runs, chipped arrises on the door edges and skirtings that have taken a hoover knock every week for decades.
We treat that paint build-up as the first job. Where the old coats are sound we key them back and fill the dents. Where they are crazed or flaking we take them back further, and on houses of this age we test for lead in the older layers before any dry sanding. Then the woodwork goes into a modern satin or eggshell, which sits better against today’s wall colours than a high gloss and shows fewer brush marks on a long run of skirting through a lounge-diner. Our main door, skirting and woodwork painting page covers primers, sheens and drying times in more detail.
Picture rails, bays and the through lounge-diner
The typical layout here is a through lounge-diner with a bay at the front. That gives two long skirting runs, a bay with angled returns where the skirting has to be cut in around several corners, and often a picture rail running the full length of the room. Picture rails are a decision point. Some owners want them picked out in the woodwork colour, some paint them into the wall colour so they disappear, and a few take them off. We can paint them either way and fill and make good if one is removed.
- Bay skirtings: extra corners and mitres to fill and caulk before painting.
- Door frames: original architraves often have years of hinge-side paint that stops doors closing; we ease that back.
- Picture rails: painted in, picked out, or removed and made good.
Matching old woodwork to the extension
A lot of Spinney Hill semis now carry a rear family room, conservatory or self-contained annexe. The extension usually arrives with new MDF skirting and modern moulded doors, which sit right next to the original timber in the hall or kitchen doorway. New MDF needs a sealing primer on its cut edges and bare timber needs knotting, otherwise the two rooms end up with visibly different finishes. Painting both in the same product and sheen is what makes the old house and the new room read as one home. In an annexe with its own kitchen or shower room, we use a woodwork paint that copes with steam on the frames and door edges.
Panelling and doors at Manfield Grange
The apartments in Manfield Grange are inside the Grade II listed former Manfield Orthopaedic Hospital, and the protected interior takes in panelling, screens and a Jacobean staircase as well as plasterwork. Original joinery in a listed interior is not something to strip, sand hard or repaint in a different system without checking. If you own or manage a flat there, the first step is to confirm with the council or the managing agent what consent is needed. Where repainting goes ahead, we use traditional, reversible finishes and hand-brush everything.
Garage doors, front doors and getting the job done
On Lindale Close the chalet-style semis have integral garages with up-and-over doors, which can be repainted along with the other woodwork. Many of the semis now have composite or replacement front doors, and those are normally left alone. Front driveways mean we can usually park at the house, and side gates help when doors are taken off and painted flat. For a house across from Northampton School for Girls, deliveries are timed away from the school run. See the Spinney Hill area page for the other work we take on here, and our cost guide for what affects a woodwork quote.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
