Lamp Black Hall, Stairs & Landing Transformation
A complete hall, staircase and landing redecoration combining lighter walls with dramatic Lamp Black woodwork and carefully restored detailing throughout.
Overview
This project involved the complete redecoration of the hall, staircase, stairwell and landing, including the ceilings, walls, staircase, spindles, handrails, newel posts, skirting boards, architraves, doors, window sill and loft hatch.
The defining feature of the new scheme is the contrast between the lighter walls and extensive dark woodwork, finished in Little Greene Lamp Black.
Achieving that finish required considerable preparation. Much of the existing woodwork was in poor condition, with old paint runs, uneven coatings, damaged areas and areas where previous finishes had begun to fail. A dark colour would make those imperfections particularly noticeable, so the woodwork was taken through a thorough multi-stage preparation and priming process before the final finish was applied.
The Brief
The aim was to transform the hall, stairs and landing with a much stronger and more contemporary colour scheme while retaining and refining the property's existing architectural details.
Lamp Black was chosen for the staircase and surrounding woodwork, creating a striking contrast against the lighter walls and white ceiling.
For the scheme to work successfully, the existing woodwork first needed to be brought to a much higher standard. Rather than allowing years of previous paintwork and imperfections to show through the dark new finish, the surfaces were progressively repaired, sanded and refined through several preparation stages.
Before We Started
Before preparation began, the hardwood floors were carefully protected throughout the working areas.
Masking tape was applied tightly around the perimeter against the skirting boards before the protective floor covering was laid and securely taped down. This allowed the skirting boards to be fully prepared and decorated right down to the floor line while keeping the hardwood flooring protected.
The walls and ceilings were then thoroughly sanded using dust-extracted sanding equipment, with defects filled and repaired where required.
Attention then turned to the extensive existing woodwork, including the staircase, spindles, handrails, newel posts, skirting boards, architraves, doors, window sill and loft hatch.
Preparation & Repairs
The existing woodwork was extensively sanded to smooth the surfaces, remove old paint runs and address loose or failing previous coatings. Defects and imperfections were filled and sanded before the first primer coat was applied.
Once primed, the woodwork was inspected again. Creating a consistent primed surface revealed further imperfections that had been much harder to identify beforehand, allowing a second detailed filling stage to be carried out where required.
These repairs and the surrounding woodwork were then thoroughly sanded again to level the surfaces and further refine the existing profiles.
After another complete clean down, all of the woodwork received a second full coat of primer.
This progressive approach is why some of the preparation photographs show areas that appear heavily filled or worked. Rather than being close to the finished stage, they show the amount of correction taking place underneath the final coating system.
Junctions between the walls and ceilings were also caulked and refined where required. In an older property, these existing lines aren't always perfectly uniform, so careful preparation helped create cleaner transitions between the finished surfaces.
The Work
Once the walls and ceilings had been prepared and the woodwork had completed its two-stage priming and repair process, the ceilings were finished with two coats of Tikkurila Anti-Reflex 2.
The primed woodwork then received a final light sand and de-nib before being thoroughly cleaned again ready for the finishing coats.
The staircase, spindles, handrails, newel posts, skirting boards, architraves, doors and window sill received two topcoats of Benjamin Moore Scuff-X Satin, tinted to Little Greene Lamp Black.
The loft hatch was deliberately finished in white rather than Lamp Black so it would blend into the ceiling and remain visually unobtrusive. It still received the same thorough preparation and two-stage priming process before finishing.
The bedroom doors were decorated on both sides, allowing each face to work with the room it belongs to. The landing-facing sides were finished in Lamp Black to continue the dark woodwork scheme throughout the hall and landing. Existing door furniture was removed during decorating, with new handles and hardware fitted once the work was complete.
Once the dark woodwork had received its finishing coats and sufficient drying time, it was carefully masked along the adjoining edges before the walls were painted. The walls were cut in by hand and finished with two coats of Tikkurila Optiva Ceramic 3.
Masking the completed woodwork at this stage protected the new dark finish from roller splatter and helped create the particularly clean, controlled junctions between the lighter walls and Lamp Black detailing.
The Finished Result
The finished hall, stairs and landing has been completely transformed by the contrast between the lighter walls and deep Lamp Black woodwork.
The staircase now becomes a defining feature of the interior, with the dark finish drawing attention to the spindles, handrails, newel posts and surrounding architectural details.
A finish this dark is particularly unforgiving of imperfections, which makes the preparation underneath it an important part of the result. The repeated stages of sanding, filling, priming, further refinement and de-nibbing created a much smoother foundation before either of the final Scuff-X coats was applied.
Once decorating was complete, all masking and floor protection was carefully removed. The hardwood floors were thoroughly vacuumed and given a final clean before handover, leaving the completed areas clean, fresh and ready for the customer.
Products Used
Ceilings: Tikkurila Anti-Reflex 2, two coats
Walls: Tikkurila Optiva Ceramic 3, two coats
Woodwork primer: Dulux Aqua UniPrimer, two coats
Staircase, dark woodwork and doors: Benjamin Moore Scuff-X Satin, tinted to Little Greene Lamp Black, two topcoats
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