Painting & Decorating

Decorating That Looks Right Up Close

There is a particular standard that good decoration has to meet. Stand ten feet away and almost any paint job looks acceptable. Stand a foot away and the truth comes out: the brush marks at the cutting-in line, the missed bit behind the radiator, the dribbles down the skirting, the orange-peel surface where the roller went too dry. A professional decorator's job is to make all of those small things invisible, every time, on every wall, on every surface. We have spent years getting good at the boring bits, because the boring bits are what separate a finish that lasts and looks good from a finish that is already starting to chip and patch within months.

We work right across Middlesbrough on interior and exterior decoration jobs of every size. Single rooms, full houses, hallways, stairs and landings, exterior render, masonry paint, woodwork, cornicing, ceiling roses — if it has a paintable surface, we paint it. We use trade-grade paints, we sheet and protect everything we are not painting, and we leave the room cleaner than we found it. Sounds simple. Often is not.

Interior Decorating

Most of our interior work involves the kind of refresh that domestic homeowners need every five to ten years: a tired hallway, a bedroom that needs updating, a kitchen-diner that has gone too dark and needs lifting. Preparation is the bulk of the work. Walls need to be filled where the picture hooks have been, sanded smooth, and sealed if there are any patches of bare plaster. Woodwork needs to be sanded back, dust-extracted properly so we are not blowing fine dust across the new wall paint, and primed where the existing finish has flaked. We use water-based eggshells and satinwoods on internal woodwork because they yellow far less than oil-based paint and dry quickly enough to apply two or three coats in a day.

• Walls and ceilings, including problem ceilings with stains or cracks
• Internal woodwork: doors, frames, skirting and architraves
• Stairs, landings and stairwells
• Hallway re-decoration with high-traffic-rated paints
• Wallpaper hanging, including feature walls and full rooms
• Wallpaper stripping and surface preparation
• Coving, ceiling roses and decorative plaster restoration
• Window frames and sash refurbishment
• Radiator painting with heat-resistant finish
• Tile painting and cabinet repainting in kitchens

Exterior Decorating

Exterior work in Middlesbrough is dictated by the weather, and the Tees Valley sees its share of damp, wind-driven rain. We will not put exterior paint on a damp wall or in conditions that will compromise the finish; we will reschedule rather than rush. When conditions are right, we apply masonry paint, masonry creme, exterior wood paint, garage door paint and gloss to fascias, soffits and bargeboards. Preparation is again the key: we wash the walls, treat any algae, scrape and feather any flaking patches, and prime as needed. The result is a finish that lasts the seven to ten years that good exterior paint should last in this climate.

Wallpaper, Feature Walls and Effects

Wallpaper has come back strongly in the last few years, and we hang a lot of it. Modern non-woven papers are vastly easier to hang than the old paste-the-paper varieties, and the results can be transformative. Feature walls in living rooms and bedrooms are particularly popular, and we are also doing more full-room wallpaper jobs in dining rooms and home offices. We will help you with paper choice, calculate the rolls you need accurately, and hang the paper with proper pattern matching at the joints. For older terraces with crooked walls — common in TS1 and TS5 postcodes — we know how to start the run from a plumb line rather than a wall edge so that the pattern stays straight.

Decorative effects, including limewash finishes, polished plaster effects and stencilled panels, are also part of what we offer for customers who want something more distinctive than plain paintwork. Talk to us about ideas: most things are achievable with the right preparation.

How We Quote

We provide free, no-obligation written quotes for all decorating work. For a single room we can usually quote by email if you send us approximate dimensions and tell us about the existing finish; for whole-house jobs we will come out and measure properly. The quote will set out the products we will use, the preparation steps included, and the likely number of days on site. There are no hidden extras. Get in touch via the contact form, and we will get back to you the same day.

Frequently Asked Questions