Victorian Terrace Complete Renovation, Paultons Square

The Challenge

The combination of new-build and existing Victorian fabric presented distinct preparation challenges that required two fundamentally different approaches within a single project. Newly plastered surfaces in the extension — plasterboard with skim coat throughout, totalling approximately 120 square metres of wall and 45 square metres of ceiling — needed appropriate curing time and careful mist-coating protocols to prevent the suction problems that cause patchy finish coats. The original Victorian plaster in the main house presented entirely different issues: hairline cracks throughout from the vibration of eighteen months of structural works, lath-and-plaster ceilings that needed stabilising with flexible filler and scrim tape, and decades-old surfaces with varying porosity that required thorough preparation and appropriate priming before any finish coat would sit evenly. The exterior front elevation sits within the Paultons Square conservation area, requiring colour approval from RBKC planning before any work could begin — a process we initiated six weeks ahead of the painting programme to avoid delays. The new kitchen cabinetry — a substantial run of thirty-two Shaker-style door and drawer fronts plus visible carcass ends — needed spray-finishing on-site to a furniture-grade standard while other trades completed final fix electrical, plumbing, and flooring items around us in the same open-plan space. The rear facade, newly rendered with sand-and-cement as part of the extension works, required a paint system compatible with fresh render that was barely eight weeks old and still releasing moisture — significantly shorter than the three-month curing period typically recommended before painting.

Our Approach

We divided the project into three workstreams running in parallel, each with a dedicated team and team leader: interior existing house (three painters), interior new extension (two painters), and exterior (two painters plus a labourer). The existing house team began with a comprehensive preparation programme — Erfurt Mav lining paper throughout the hallway and staircase to create a flawless base over the cracked and uneven Victorian plaster, hairline crack repair with flexible filler and scrim tape in every room, and full woodwork preparation including chemical stripping with Peelaway 1 of the original Victorian front door and staircase handrail where decades of paint build-up had obliterated the moulding profiles. Every piece of woodwork in the existing house was washed, sanded, filled, spot-primed, and given two coats of Little Greene Intelligent Eggshell. The extension team managed new plaster preparation carefully, applying diluted mist coats and working with the plasterer's recommended drying schedule to ensure adequate curing before finish coats. Kitchen cabinetry was spray-finished using Little Greene Intelligent Satinwood in a sealed enclosure constructed within the garden room from timber framing and polyethylene sheeting with extract ventilation, achieving a smooth, furniture-grade contemporary finish on the traditional Shaker profiles — each of the thirty-two doors received three spray coats, lightly de-nibbed between coats with 400-grit paper. The exterior front elevation received two coats of Dulux Trade Weathershield Smooth Masonry Paint in an RBKC-approved Portland stone shade over Dulux Trade Weathershield Stabilising Primer, while the rear elevation was treated with Keim Ecosil ME — a specialist breathable masonry paint specifically formulated for new and under-cured render — before receiving two coats in a complementary off-white. Little Greene colours throughout the interior included Slaked Lime for hallways, French Grey for the drawing room, Hicks Blue for the study, Loft White for the extension, and Shirting for the bedrooms.

The Result

The completed project unified a property that had genuinely risked feeling disjointed after such substantial structural changes — the transition from Victorian period rooms to the contemporary open-plan extension was seamless, with the carefully graduated Little Greene palette providing a warmth and depth of colour that tied the old and new together beautifully. The owner described the kitchen cabinetry finish as exceeding their expectations significantly, noting that the spray-applied Little Greene Intelligent Satinwood gave the Shaker units a sleek, contemporary quality that brush-finishing could never have achieved, with several visiting friends assuming the cabinets had been factory-finished. The exterior front elevation was completed to full Paultons Square conservation area standards, with the Portland stone shade complementing the neighbouring properties perfectly. The rear elevation's Keim Ecosil ME breathable masonry system will accommodate the ongoing moisture release from the relatively new sand-and-cement render without the paint failure that a non-breathable system would inevitably produce. The project was completed one day ahead of the seven-week programme and came in within 3 percent of the original quotation — the only additional cost being two areas of unexpected plaster repair in the second-floor bedrooms that were discovered during preparation. The family have since recommended us to two other Paultons Square homeowners planning renovations.