Dean paints interiors in Yardley Hastings, a village about 7.3 miles east of Northampton on the A428. The older cottages along High Street and Little Street get breathable paints over solid limestone walls and lime plaster; homes on The Leys, Highfield Way and the Castle Ashby Road bungalows take a conventional repaint.
Rooms behind coursed limestone rubble
Yardley Hastings sits about 7.3 miles east of Northampton town centre, strung out along the Grendon brook with the A428 crossing its southern end. Most of the older houses on High Street, Little Street, Little Lane and around the Square went up in the 17th and 18th centuries in coursed limestone rubble, and inside they have solid walls finished in lime plaster rather than gypsum. That combination decides how we paint them. A solid stone wall has no cavity, so moisture moves through it, and lime plaster is meant to let that moisture out into the room. Seal it under a modern vinyl emulsion and the damp has nowhere to go, which shows up later as flaking, blistering or a powdery surface.
For those walls Dean uses breathable emulsions, such as mineral or clay-based paints. Before anything goes on, we find out what is already there. Old cottages often carry several generations of earlier coatings, and some will not accept what you want next. Loose, chalky layers come off; sound ones are cleaned and keyed. In houses close to the brook or under the High Street trees, we also look for damp patches at skirting level and talk about the cause before painting over them.
Low ceilings, small casements and rooms in the roof
The cottages were mostly built as two storeys, and plenty have since been taken up into the attic, lit by gable windows or roof lights. Many keep the steep pitches left over from thatch, which was lost in the 19th century and replaced with Castle Ashby pantiles, plain clay tiles or slate. Inside, that gives bedrooms with sloping ceilings, awkward dormer reveals and junctions where wall meets roof at odd angles. Cutting a clean line along those junctions takes longer than on a flat ceiling, and we allow for it in the quote rather than rushing it.
The windows are small timber casements, and the daylight they let in is limited. Ceilings and upper walls in a warm, flat finish help spread what light there is. Window boards and reveals set in deep stone walls take knocks and condensation, so they get a harder-wearing finish than the walls around them, and the plank and panelled doors are brushed in an eggshell or satin that suits their age.
Listed interiors and estate-owned cottages
The village has 23 listed entries, including the Grade I Court Parlour, the Grade II* Old Rectory and a run of Grade II cottages and farmhouses on Little Street, Little Lane and High Street. Listed building consent can apply inside as well as out, so if your home is listed and the work goes beyond repainting like for like, check with West Northamptonshire Council first. We can describe the existing finish and what we propose, which makes that conversation easier.
About a third of the buildings still belong to the Compton family’s Castle Ashby estate. If you rent one of those cottages, the estate may have its own view on materials and colours, so ask before booking any decorating.
The Leys, Highfield Way and the Castle Ashby Road bungalows
Not every interior here needs that care. The Leys, built by the local authority in 1935 to the west of the village, the dark brick houses on Highfield Way and the bungalows put up on Castle Ashby Road in 1962 have conventional plastered walls and ceilings. These take a standard repaint: filling, sanding, spot-priming repairs and two finish coats of a durable emulsion. Rooms are squarer and better lit, so a wider range of colours and sheens works. The Greenyard barn conversions are judged room by room, because new plaster can sit beside much older structure.
Booking a quote in the village
We cover Yardley Hastings from our Northampton base. Parking is tight around the Square and on Little Street, where many cottages open straight onto the road, so we agree where the van goes and how materials come in before the first day. Dean walks each room with you, notes the walls and existing finish, and puts a written quote together. For what a full interior job involves, see our interior painting service in Northampton; for typical costs, read the painter and decorator cost guide. Other work we cover in the village is on the Yardley Hastings area page.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
