How to Paint Architraves in London Period Properties
A trade guide to painting architraves in London period homes — preparation, filler, paint choice, brush technique, and the mistakes that ruin an otherwise perfect finish.
Why Architraves Demand More Attention Than They Get
Architraves sit at eye level, frame every door in the house, and accumulate decades of paint in London period properties. A coat of emulsion slapped over the top without preparation will look worse in six months than it did before you started. Done properly, freshly painted architraves transform a room — the line where wall meets joinery becomes crisp, the colour reads true, and the whole space feels finished.
London period properties — whether a Belgravia stucco villa or a Victorian terrace in Pimlico — typically carry between four and twelve layers of paint on their architraves. That build-up creates problems: brush marks from earlier decorators locked under later coats, chips where the layers have delaminated, and grain that has been filled and refilled with differing products. Before a brush touches the surface, you need to understand what you're dealing with.
Preparation: The Step That Decides the Result
Start by washing the architrave with sugar soap and warm water, paying particular attention to the top edge where grease and dust collect. Once dry, run your hand along every surface. Any proud brush marks, nibs, or ridges need sanding back with 120-grit paper before you do anything else.
Check the mitred corners carefully. In properties over a hundred years old, movement in the structure causes these joints to open. Fill them with a flexible decorators' caulk rather than a rigid filler — rigid products will crack again within a season as the timber moves. For chips and dents in the face of the architrave, use a fine surface filler such as Toupret Finafinish, applied in thin coats and sanded back between each application.
Prime any bare wood exposed by sanding. In period properties where you suspect lead paint beneath the surface, wear a P3 respirator and use wet sanding methods to contain dust. If the existing layers are sound and well-adhered, a light sand with 180-grit followed by a coat of water-based primer-undercoat is sufficient preparation.
Paint Choice: Oil vs Water-Based
The debate continues, but the position of most experienced London decorators is straightforward: modern water-based satinwood and eggshell products — Farrow & Ball's Estate Eggshell, Little Greene's Intelligent Eggshell, or Johnstone's Aqua Water-Based Satinwood — have closed the quality gap to the point where they are the practical choice for most projects. They dry faster, re-coat sooner, and are far easier to clean up.
Oil-based products retain one genuine advantage: penetration into bare or porous timber, making them the better choice when you are priming back-to-bare wood on an architrave that has been stripped. In that situation, an oil primer followed by a water-based topcoat is a workable hybrid approach.
For sheen level, full gloss on architraves is out of fashion in London's better homes. Eggshell provides durability with a low-lustre finish that sits well alongside flat wall emulsions. Satinwood is appropriate where the existing joinery scheme uses it throughout.
Technique: Working the Profile
Architraves are moulded, and the paint needs to enter every recess. Load the brush — a 50mm Purdy Sprig or Hamilton Perfection is ideal — and work the deepest recesses first with the tip of the bristles. Pull the brush along the length of the moulding in long strokes rather than dabbing. Once the recesses are covered, work the flats and arises.
Lay off with very light strokes in the direction of the grain, lifting the brush at the end of each stroke rather than dragging it back through the wet paint. This eliminates brush marks in the finished coat. Between the undercoat and topcoat, cut back lightly with 240-grit paper to remove any raised grain or nibs, wipe with a tack cloth, and apply the topcoat in the same sequence.
Common Mistakes
Caulking before priming is a persistent error — caulk applied to unprepared MDF or timber can crack as the primer cures beneath it. Always prime first, then caulk the joint to wall, then topcoat.
Painting with too thick a coat to save time creates runs on the vertical faces and a thick, plastic-looking finish on the flats. Two thin coats always outperform one thick one.
Cutting in against the wall before the wall paint is fully cured will pull the emulsion away from the surface as the brush passes. Allow wall coats a full 24 hours before cutting in joinery against them.
Finally, never underestimate drying time in London homes during winter. Lower temperatures and poor ventilation extend drying times significantly. Rushing a second coat onto a tacky first coat is the single most common cause of wrinkling on joinery.
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