DH Painter & Decorator provides decorative paint finishes in White Hills, about 2.8 miles north of Northampton town centre in NN2. Dean paints panelling, picks out mouldings and creates feature walls, most often for the formal reception rooms of detached houses on Harborough Road North. Each effect is priced once Dean has seen the room.
Formal rooms in the individually built houses
Decorative work in White Hills is mostly a question for the larger detached homes along Harborough Road North. These were each built individually on big plots, so no two are alike, and many have a separate dining room, a drawing room and sometimes a study as well as the family living space. Rooms like that can carry more than flat emulsion: wall panelling painted in a deep shade, a two-tone wall split at dado height, or a ceiling given a soft colour instead of white. Because the rooms are generous, a stronger colour or effect does not close them in the way it would in a small terraced front room.
Scale works the other way too. On a long wall, any unevenness in a glaze or a hand-painted line is easy to see from the far end of the room. Dean sets out lines with a level and tape, and builds effects in thin layers so the finish stays consistent from one end to the other.
Picking out what the inter-war houses kept
On the 1930s estate opposite Kingsthorpe Cemetery, decorative work is subtler. Where a house still has its picture rail, panelled doors or a moulded fire surround, picking those out in a contrast colour or a different sheen brings the period detail back into view. A picture rail painted the same deep tone as the wall below, with a pale band above, can give a plain room real definition. Panelled doors can take a two-colour scheme, with the panels and frame in different shades.
The preparation is where most of the time goes. Decades of gloss tend to fill the profiles of rails and mouldings, so we often need to clean them out before any new colour goes on. A crisp edge on a contrast line is only possible if the moulding underneath is crisp.
Panelling that has to stand up to family life
Your Move counts Whitehills among Kingsthorpe’s high-demand family areas, so decorative choices in halls and on stairs need to be practical. Half-height panelling up the stairs, finished in a hard-wearing eggshell or satin, looks smart and protects the wall where bags and hands brush it. New MDF panelling needs its joints filled, pin holes stopped, edges sealed and a suitable primer before the top coats, or the seams will show through within weeks. On request we also finish panelling fitted by your joiner, coordinating timings so the paint goes on once the adhesive and caulk have fully cured.
- Stair and hall panelling: eggshell or satin for wipeability.
- Dining room panelling: a flat matt in a deep colour for depth.
- Bedroom feature walls: a softer effect, such as a colour-washed finish.
When plain paint is the wiser choice
A decorative finish is not always right. In a Wardington Court retirement flat being prepared for sale, a feature effect is a personal taste buyers may want to paint over, so plain neutral walls are usually better value. In a brand-new house at Buckton Fields, just to the north, new plaster can show settlement cracks in the first year or so; hand-painted effects are easier to keep intact if they go on after that settling has happened. Dean will tell you honestly if he thinks an effect will not suit a room.
Seeing samples and getting a quote
We cover White Hills from our Northampton base. Dean can paint sample boards so you can see an effect in your own room before committing, and then gives a written quote. More about the types of effect we offer is on our decorative finishes in Northampton page, and other local services are on the White Hills area page.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
