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A room papered in a large gold and green leaf pattern, with an amber glass tiered pendant light, a black framed window and a white painted sash window.

Barnet house, decoration to a number of rooms

An interior designer, for a private homeowner · Decorating subcontractor · Barnet · A house · Decoration and finishing to a number of rooms in a house: wallpapering, deep colour to walls, ceilings and cornice, a papered feature wall and fitted wardrobes installed · December 2024 to February 2025, returning August 2025 · Credits below

A number of rooms in a private house in Barnet, decorated across an initial two and a half month programme, with a return visit to complete specialist finishes. The work covered wallpapering, deep colour taken across walls, ceilings and cornice, a papered feature wall and fitted wardrobes scribed to the eaves. We completed our main decorating and joinery scope, then returned directly for the homeowner to finish the French washing once incoming contractors took over the wider site.

The brief

The designer had specified strong colour and patterned paper rather than a neutral scheme, which is a harder brief than it sounds. A deep colour on a cornice shows every soft edge, and a large repeat on a paper shows every wall that is out of plumb.

We took the rooms one at a time rather than stripping the house out at once. Each one had to reach a standard that would hold while we worked on the next.

Our approach

We took ceilings and cornice in the same deep colour as the walls in several rooms. Carrying a dark colour right across the ceiling leaves nowhere to hide: every profile of the moulding has to stay sharp, with clean lines maintained against windows and woodwork.

We hung two papers, one in an upstairs bedroom and one in a downstairs bedroom. We hung them to the pattern rather than to the wall, because on a large repeat the pattern has to start from the most visible corner and run out where nobody looks.

The second paper went up in a downstairs bedroom, a panel pattern across the feature wall, and we carried green over the ceiling with it. A panel pattern only reads if every joint lines up, so it is set out before a single length goes on the wall.

Our carpenter installed the fitted wardrobes, scribing them into a sloped eaves ceiling on one side of the room and running them full height on the other.

On site

An initial two and a half month run, working alongside other trades on site, followed by a separate return to finish the French wash after new main contractors took over. We wrapped and protected exposed roof timbers, and floor protection stayed down in every finished room.

We worked the house room by room, so a finished room sat alongside a room still in preparation for most of the programme.

The result

Rooms that hold their colour right up into the cornice. Papers that read as one pattern across a wall. A wardrobe run that follows the slope of the ceiling rather than stopping short of it.

The wider project did not run to completion, for reasons on the client side rather than on site. The rooms shown here are the ones we finished.

Photographs

A room mid works with a dark painted chimney breast, roof timbers wrapped in blue protective film and floor protection down
January 2025. Exposed timbers wrapped and the floor protected before any colour went on
A room papered in a large gold and green leaf pattern with an amber glass tiered pendant, a black framed window and a white sash window
The leaf paper hung. A repeat this size is set out from the corner you see first
A wall papered in a pale grey pattern beside an open stripped timber door, with a sash window to the left and a bare floor
A second paper going up in another room on the same visit
A room in deep teal with white cornice and skirting, sash windows to the left, a bare timber panelled door leaning against the wall
Deep teal taken up to a white cornice. The door is waiting to be hung and painted
A deep teal room with a chimney breast, white cornice and two sash windows, with the floor still bare and protection to the boards
The same room from the other end. Colour this deep shows every soft line at the cornice
A feature wall papered in a square panel pattern across the end of a room with pale sage walls, a ceiling rose and a bare floor
The panel-pattern paper hung across the end wall, set out so the grid runs true
The same feature wall seen across its full width, with pale sage walls to either side and cornice above
Across the full width. Every joint has to line up or the grid gives itself away
A run of full height fitted wardrobe doors in pale grey green along one wall, a deep teal wall to the right and a sash window
A full height wardrobe run, installed and finished. August 2025
A bedroom with a deep teal wall, wall lights, a radiator and fitted wardrobes in pale grey green to the right, with floor protection down
The same finish in another bedroom, with the protection still down
Fitted wardrobes scribed into a sloping eaves ceiling, beside a teal wall with a wall light and a ceiling light above
Scribed into the slope of the eaves rather than stopped short of it
A room with deep grey teal walls under a blush pink ceiling, wall sconces and built-in shelving to the right
A blush ceiling over a deep wall. The last visit on record, August 2025

Credits

  • Photography: SFS Interior & Exterior

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