Painting and decorating in North West London

We do not publish standard prices for painting and decorating. Period fabric, access, extract, tenure and consent in Hampstead, St John's Wood, Maida Vale and the wider list change the figure. We visit, then write a proposal against a defined scope. 020 7101 3168.

Internal painting and decorating within existing rooms often does not need planning permission. Conservation-area, listed-building, Article 4 and freeholder rules still apply to extract, windows and elevations. We check the address. We do not assume permitted development in Hampstead, Highgate or Hampstead Garden Suburb.

Painting & Decorating pages on this site cover Hampstead, West Hampstead, Belsize Park, St John's Wood, Maida Vale, Swiss Cottage, Primrose Hill, Highgate and the wider list. If the property sits just outside those pages, contact us and we will say whether we can take it on.

Tell us the rooms, whether you are staying, and whether the building has hours. We survey substrates and joinery, write a prep specification, and sequence rooms so a kitchen, a bathroom and a bedroom stay usable.

Interior decoration within existing rooms is ordinary work. Listed and conservation rules bite when coatings, windows or external joinery change. We check the address before we open a tin.

No. Preparation takes the majority of the time. Failed plaster, lime backgrounds and original sashes are specified as joinery and substrate, not as a cheap emulsion over defects.

Where movement would telegraph through paint, yes. It is written into the proposal, not slipped in on the day. Mixed later patches in West Hampstead, Kentish Town and Crouch End conversions are the usual reason.

Yes, where they are in scope. Failed cords, staff beads or putty are not a paint item; we say so before we start. Conservation-area and listed windows are checked on the address.

A single drawing room, a floor of a conversion, or a whole house. The prep specification is written either way. A cheap emulsion over unprepared walls is not the work.

Yes, with a system that suits the substrate. Lime, gypsum and mixed later patches are surveyed first. We will not put a modern acrylic over lime as a default.

Previously painted windows, doors and joinery where access and weather allow. A new outside colour in the Suburb is not assumed. Internal decoration that does not change the elevation is ordinary work.

Yes. A large share of the work is in lived-in houses and flats. We sequence rooms, control dust, and agree working hours with you (and with the building, in a mansion block).

Spray is efficient on empty rooms and new plasterboard. In occupied period interiors, brush and roller usually produce a more controllable result around original joinery. We will recommend one method per room, not a single house rule.

We work with established heritage colour ranges as generic categories. We do not claim an exclusive relationship with any manufacturer. Samples are painted on the wall, because limewash, estate emulsion and modern acrylic all read differently in NW London light.

Hairline cracking and filling are part of preparation. Failed plaster, damp, or timber decay are not decorating items — we will isolate the cause and, where it sits inside a light refurbishment, include the repair in the proposal rather than paint over it.

Yes. Fully insured.

A flat can be a matter of days or a small number of weeks depending on prep. A family house, empty, is typically measured in weeks; occupied, longer, because we work around you. The survey produces the programme.

Yes. Prep standard, number of coats, product type and sheen are written down. That is what we snag against, in daylight and with the lights on.

In a conservation area or on a listed building, often yes. In Hampstead Garden Suburb a new outside colour is not assumed. Internal decoration that does not change the elevation is ordinary work. We check the address before we quote the elevation.

Yes, as a separate scope from the demise, and to the building's hours and specification. We will not treat the stair as an extension of the flat.

Charts are a starting point. Samples are painted on the wall, in the light the room has. North-facing Hampstead rooms and west-facing mansion flats do not read the same emulsion in the same way.