Decorating a Playroom in a London Home: Durable Finishes and Colour Strategy

Playroom Decoration: Where Durability Meets Design

A playroom in a London property is, from a decorator's perspective, the most demanding room in the house. It receives more physical abuse than any other space — toys dragged along skirtings, paint and felt-tip on walls, food and drink spilled on floors, furniture pushed and pulled across surfaces — and yet the temptation to cut corners on specification here is strong, partly because the space is seen as transitional (the children will grow up eventually) and partly because the room is not frequently seen by visitors.

Both instincts are misguided. A playroom finished with the cheapest available products will need repainting every two to three years as it degrades visibly under use. A playroom specified correctly — with hardwearing surfaces that clean up properly — will last five to seven years and reduce the total cost of decoration over the room's life as a playroom. It will also, for those years, look properly cared-for rather than perpetually battle-scarred.

Wall Finishes: The Case Against Flat Emulsion

In every other room of the house, a flat or very-low-sheen emulsion is often the correct choice for walls — it reads beautifully, disguises minor imperfections in period plaster, and gives rooms a depth of quality that higher-sheen products do not achieve. In a playroom, flat emulsion is the wrong specification.

Flat emulsion has poor washability. Finger marks, felt-tip, food splashes, and the general grime that accumulates on walls at skirting-board height and door-handle height cannot be wiped off a flat emulsion surface without burnishing or removing the paint itself. The correct finish for playroom walls is a durable mid-sheen emulsion — sometimes marketed as a "kitchen and bathroom" paint or a "washable matt" — that provides a wipeable surface without the clinical appearance of full satin or gloss.

Several manufacturers produce finishes that occupy this useful middle ground. Dulux Trade Diamond Eggshell, Little Greene's Intelligent Eggshell, and Johnstone's Aqua Guard all offer a surface that can be cleaned with a damp cloth and mild detergent without degrading. These products cost marginally more per litre than standard emulsion but substantially reduce the frequency of repainting and touch-up.

For walls below dado height — the zone of maximum punishment in a children's room — a full eggshell or even satin finish is appropriate. Some families install a timber dado rail and run a contrasting, harder-wearing finish below it and a more conventional decorative finish above; this is a sound practical choice that also introduces visual interest.

Blackboard Paint and Feature Walls

Blackboard paint — a flat, water-based product formulated to produce a writable surface — is one of the most practical additions to a playroom. Applied to a wall panel (either the full wall or a portion framed in timber moulding), it gives children a legitimate drawing surface and removes a significant proportion of the impulse to draw on the surrounding walls.

The correct specification for blackboard paint requires a well-prepared, smooth substrate — a skim-coated plaster surface or a correctly primed sheet of MDF — because the paint does not hide surface imperfections. Two coats are required, with light sanding between coats for best results. After the final coat is fully dry (at least 24 hours), the surface must be conditioned: rub a piece of chalk sideways across the entire surface, then erase it before first use. Skipping this step means that chalk marks from initial use permanently ghost the surface.

Magnetic paint beneath a topcoat is another popular choice for playroom feature walls. It contains iron powder and, when applied in three or more coats to a smooth surface, produces a surface that accepts standard fridge magnets. Magnetic paints vary in quality and effectiveness; using a high-quality proprietary product and applying a minimum of three coats is essential — single coats produce very weak magnetic attraction.

Floor Paint: Practical and Durable

Many London playrooms have timber floorboards or concrete screed subfloors, and painted floors offer a practical, easy-clean alternative to carpet in this context. A painted floor is wipeable, does not harbour allergens or food debris in fibres, and can be touched up or repainted at low cost when it wears.

For timber floors in a playroom, a floor-specific paint is required — never a standard wall emulsion, which will crack, peel, and wear through within weeks under foot traffic. Proper floor paints are formulated with harder resins that flex slightly with timber movement and resist abrasion. Products such as Farrow & Ball Floor Paint, Little Greene Floor Paint, or Dulux Trade Floor Paint all provide good performance on properly prepared timber. The surface must be clean, sound, and free of wax or oil contamination; a thorough sand and wipe-down with a degreaser before painting is essential.

For concrete screed or stone subfloors, an epoxy or polyurethane floor coating gives the most durable result. Two-part epoxy floor paint is significantly harder than single-part products and resists the point loading from toy wheels and chair legs that will quickly damage a softer finish. Application requires good ventilation and correct temperature and humidity conditions.

Colour Strategy: Functional and Considered

Children's rooms invite a temptation toward primary colours and intense hues that can make a room feel chaotic rather than stimulating. A more considered approach uses a neutral or mid-tone background — warm white, a soft sage, a muted ochre — and introduces colour through furniture, textiles, and the feature wall rather than painting every surface in a different bright tone.

This strategy has a secondary advantage: when the room eventually transitions from playroom to teenage bedroom or home office, the background colour does not require replacement. The primary cost of redecorating a playroom for a new use is not the wall colour but the fixed features — floor, skirting paint, any built-in joinery — and a neutral background extends the useful life of the existing scheme.

If bold colour is desired on walls — and in the right room with the right light it can work well — contain it. A single deeply coloured wall with the remaining three walls in a pale related tone gives the sense of energy and personality the room should have without overwhelming a small space.

For playroom decorating advice or to discuss a durable specification for a children's space in your London property, contact us here or request a free quote.