Richmond holds one of the densest strips of Georgian building in outer London, and the further you climb from the riverside toward the Hill, the more the housing stock talks back: lime plaster over brick, tall sashes, panelled doors, and cornices that have been repainted on roughly decade cycles since the days when the stagecoach was the alternative to the boat. Decorating here is not a colour decision first. It is a materials decision.
Start with what the walls are made of
Original lime plaster needs to breathe. Sealing it under layers of modern vinyl emulsion traps moisture, and in riverside streets that moisture has an easy way in. For walls with historic fabric we specify breathable systems — mineral silicate paints or limewash where the substrate suits it — and we test before we commit, because a wall that has been patched with gypsum over the years behaves differently from one that is consistently old.
This is also where the premium finishes earn their place. Limewash on original Richmond plaster gives a depth no plastic paint copies, but it demands the right preparation and the right expectations: it lives, it moves, and it tones over time. On a modern infill wall three streets away, the same finish would be pointless.
Sash windows are joinery work, not painting work
A Richmond sash that has been painted shut is a sash painted by someone in a hurry. We ease the beads, clean the grooves, ease and wax the cords' runs, and paint in sequence —glazing bars, rebates, then faces— so the window still moves the day we leave. Putty that is cracking gets raked out and renewed, not bridged. On listed streets and in conservation areas, keeping the original glass and its slight distortion is part of the building's character; painting around it carefully is cheaper and more honest than replacing it.
Woodwork: undercoat logic still wins
Skirtings, shutters, stair strings, and door linings in these houses were originally oil-painted and have often accumulated a century of layers. Where the stack is sound, we prepare and spot-prime; where it is failing — alligatoring, flaking back to bare timber — the honest route is stripping back, and we say so in the quote rather than discovering it mid-job. Traditional flows and modern water-based top coats both have a place; the choice follows the substrate and the sheen the room needs, not a default.
Living in the house while it happens
Most Richmond period houses we work in are lived in throughout. That changes the sequencing: room by room, dust sheets over the good floors, protection on stair carpets, and daily walk-throughs so the house still functions at six in the evening. Period properties reward patience —longer drying windows between coats on cold north-facing walls, and no rushing the fillers— and the finish shows it.
If your house has good bones and old surfaces, the best thing you can do is have someone look at them before choosing colours. We do exactly that: assess the substrates, propose the system, then talk palette.