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Hallways, stairs and landings Beckenham

A three-storey Victorian hallway in Beckenham

Stripped below the dado, the blown plaster repaired and lined, then Coat Reverie with Farrow & Ball Off Black on the handrails and newel posts.

  • ReverieCoat. Walls and woodwork
  • Off BlackFarrow & Ball. Handrails and newel posts
Foot of the staircase with a dark newel post and handrail, white spindles and a geometric tiled floor
Farrow & Ball Off Black on the newel post and handrail, with white spindles and Coat Reverie walls.

Blown plaster below the dado in a Victorian hall

This is a large three-storey hallway in a Victorian house in Beckenham, for clients we had worked for before. Below the dado rails the walls were in a poor state, with patches of blown plaster that would have shown through any amount of new paint.

Wallrock lining, then Coat Reverie colour-washing

We stripped everything below the dado rails, repaired the blown plaster, sanded it back and lined it with Wallrock reinforced lining paper. Wallrock is a reinforced lining paper made for tired, repaired plaster like this, which is why it goes on before any paint.

The walls went into Coat Reverie, an earthy light pink. We colour-washed the doors, skirtings and architraves in the same colour in Aqua Guard Matt, which makes the hall feel calm and continuous rather than chopped up by white woodwork. The handrails and newel posts are Farrow & Ball Off Black, and we kept the spindles and stair strings white so the contrast sets the staircase off. Ceilings were done in Albany AF-1, an anti-reflective brilliant white.

The arched stained-glass window, before and after

Pink walls, a dark rail and white spindles above the Victorian-style tiled floor. The before and after of the arched stained-glass window shows how much of the job was preparation.

By Colin Fry, Founder and Director. Published . Last reviewed .

Checked and approved by Colin and Harry Fry, .

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Before and after

Cream woodwork and stripped plaster, then the same corners in Coat Reverie.

Inner hallway with patchy stripped walls below the dado rail, panelled doors and a geometric tiled floor
Inner hallway with light pink walls and woodwork, panelled doors and a geometric tiled floor
The inner hall lined and painted in Coat Reverie, with doors, skirtings and architraves colour washed to match.
Ground floor hallway with cream stair panelling, spindles and a stained glass front door, before decorating
Ground floor hallway with pink walls and stair panelling, white spindles and a stained glass front door
The main hallway in Coat Reverie, with white spindles and an Off Black handrail and newel post.

Every photo from the job

All three floors, from the stripped dado to the Off Black newel posts.

  • Victorian hallway with plaster stripped below the dado rail, a geometric tiled floor and a stained glass front door

    Walls below the dado rail stripped back, ready for plaster repairs and Wallrock reinforced lining paper.

  • Inner hallway with patchy stripped walls below the dado rail, panelled doors and a geometric tiled floor

    The inner hall with the old wall finish taken off below the dado rail.

  • Hallway corridor with patchy stripped walls below the dado, leading to the staircase and under-stair door

    Bare, patchy plaster on both sides of the corridor before the repairs and lining.

  • Ground floor hallway with cream stair panelling, spindles and a stained glass front door, before decorating

    The main hallway before repainting, with the existing cream woodwork and dark handrail.

  • Entrance hall with bare plaster patches, a leaded stained glass front door, arched window and newel post

    The entrance hall with bare plaster patches exposed below and around the dado rail.

  • Gothic arched stained glass window with three Coat paint tins standing on the sill

    Tins of Coat paint waiting on the sill of the arched stained glass window by the front door.

  • Stair wall with blown plaster and a stripped finish below the dado rail, with dust sheets on the stairs

    Blown plaster on the stair wall, which was repaired, sanded and lined before painting.

  • First floor landing and stairs up to the next floor, with the walls stripped below the dado rail

    The first floor landing with the walls below the dado stripped back.

  • Top floor landing under a skylight with a white balustrade, cream walls and stripped walls down the stairs

    The top floor landing in the old cream, with the stairwell walls stripped below the dado.

  • First floor landing with light pink walls and doors, skirtings and architraves painted to match

    Walls in Coat Reverie, with doors, skirtings and architraves colour washed to match in Aqua Guard Matt.

  • Landing with pink walls and doors, white spindles and dark painted newel posts and handrails

    Farrow & Ball Off Black on the handrails and newel posts, against white spindles and Coat Reverie walls.

  • Dark painted newel posts and handrails with white spindles on a carpeted staircase

    The white spindles and stair strings set off the Off Black handrails and newel posts.

  • Top floor landing with pink doors and walls, a white balustrade and a dark newel post

    The top floor landing, with doors and architraves colour washed to match the Reverie walls.

  • View across the stairwell to the top landing balustrade, with white spindles and a dark handrail

    White spindles and an Off Black handrail run along the top landing of the three storey stairwell.

  • Top floor landing under a skylight with pink walls, white spindles and a dark newel post and handrail

    The same top landing in Coat Reverie, with the handrail and newel post in Farrow & Ball Off Black.

  • Looking down through dark handrails and white spindles to the tiled floor three storeys below

    Off Black handrails and newel posts frame the view down to the ground floor tiles.

  • Overhead view of the winding carpeted staircase with dark handrails and white spindles

    The full stairwell, with white spindles and stair strings against Off Black handrails and newel posts.

  • Inner hallway with light pink walls and woodwork, panelled doors and a geometric tiled floor

    The inner hall lined and painted in Coat Reverie, with doors, skirtings and architraves colour washed to match.

  • Ground floor hallway with pink walls and stair panelling, white spindles and a stained glass front door

    The main hallway in Coat Reverie, with white spindles and an Off Black handrail and newel post.

  • Panelled stair side and under-stair door painted light pink, above a geometric tiled floor

    The under-stair door colour washed in Reverie to match the walls, with an Off Black newel post at the foot of the stairs.

  • Foot of the staircase with a dark newel post and handrail, white spindles and a geometric tiled floor

    Farrow & Ball Off Black on the newel post and handrail, with white spindles and Coat Reverie walls.

  • Gothic arched stained glass window set in a light pink wall with a painted surround

    The arched stained glass window, with the walls and woodwork around it in Reverie.

  • Stained glass front door and arched window with pink walls, a white cornice, lantern and brass bell

    An anti-reflective brilliant white ceiling above walls in Coat Reverie around the Victorian front door.

  • Entrance hall with pink walls, a front door painted to match and an arched stained glass window

    The entrance hall, with the walls in Coat Reverie and the woodwork colour washed to match in Aqua Guard Matt.

  • Looking straight up the three storey stairwell past pink panelling and doors to the top floor

    The view up through all three storeys, with brilliant white ceilings above the Reverie walls.

  • Close-up of white turned spindles beside a dark painted newel post and handrail

    White spindles against the Farrow & Ball Off Black handrail and newel post.

  • Close-up of a dark painted newel cap and handrail above white spindles and a stair string

    The Off Black handrail meeting the newel post, with the white stair string beyond.

  • Four-panel door with frosted glass panes painted light pink, with a matching architrave

    A landing door colour washed in Reverie in Aqua Guard Matt to match the walls.

  • Close-up of a dark newel post beside carpeted stairs and white spindles

    An Off Black newel post with white spindles and stair string.

  • Close-up of white spindles and a dark handrail above pink stair panelling

    White spindles and stair string between the Off Black handrail and the panelled stair side.

The company that DOESN'T live up to its name.

A Victorian hall with tired plaster below the dado? Tell us how many floors it climbs and we'll come and see it.

Request a visit or call 07970 500150

Before you book us

The things we'd want to know if it were our house.

  • On the books since 2002

    Splat Decorating Ltd, company no. 04553807. Colin has been a director from the start.

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  • Insured, and checked

    Our public liability insurance was verified by TrustATrader in May 2026.

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  • The two of us, every day

    Colin and Harry Fry, father and son, do the work themselves. No subcontractors, no strangers in your house.

    About Colin and Harry

  • Paint we'd use at home

    Farrow & Ball, Little Greene, Coat, Johnstone's, Dulux Trade, Zinsser and Sadolin. We buy it, so it never runs out halfway.

    Our prices, timings and paints