Painting Skirting Boards

Walls & Woodwork: Ashes of Roses

Refreshing woodwork within a space is a simple and effective way of updating an existing scheme. Often, skirting boards are painted a neutral or white shade out of habit but their proportion makes them the perfect opportunity to add a little colour.

Upper Wall: French Grey
Lower Wall & Skirting: Tuscan Red

All-Over

Paint walls and woodwork in the same shade for an all-over wrap-around scheme that feels comforting and enveloping. This works particularly well with warm, jewel-tones or muted greens to evoke serenity and the calm of the outdoors.

Walls & Skirting: Sage & Onions
Dado Rail: Tea with Florence

Upper Wall: Shallows
Panelling & Skirting: Scree

Coordinated Colours

Combine colours from the same Colour Scales families for a harmonious finish. Use a deeper strength of the same pigment on woodwork alongside a lighter shade on walls for a gentle contrast. For example, 'Dorchester Pink – Deep' on woodwork with 'Dorchester Pink' on the walls.

Wall: Carlton House Terrace - Pompon Desk: Tea with Florence
Dado Rail: French Grey – Dark
Lower Wall: French Grey - Mid

Wall: Dorchester Pink – Pale
Detail Outer Stripe: Dorchester Pink
Large Inner Stripe: Dorchester Pink – Deep
Skirting: Dorchester Pink

Colour Highlight

If you’re using a wallpaper pattern within a space, consider pulling out a bold, bright shade from within the design to draw all elements of the scheme together. Here, ‘Loriini - Dorian’ is paired with the accent colour, ‘Trumpet’ for a stand-out, contemporary look.

Wallpaper: Loriini - Dorian
Skirting: Trumpet

Ceiling: Slaked Lime
Wallpaper: Hencroft - Punch
Lower Wall and Skirting: Jewel Beetle
Door: Slaked Lime - Mid

Neutral

For a timeless finish, use an off-white or clean white to compliment your chosen wall colour and enhance skirting and door frames. If white feels a little bright, consider a neutral like ‘French Frey Pale’ or ‘Slaked Lime’ for a softer contrast.

Wall: Oak Apple, Skirting: Loft White

Far Wall: French Grey Pale
Right Wall: Portland Stone Dark
Woodwork: French Grey Pale
Chairs: Sage & Onions

Wall: Pink Slip
Skirting: China Clay

How to paint Skirting Boards

Suggested finishes: Intelligent Satinwood, Intelligent Eggshell, Intelligent Gloss, Traditional Oil Gloss

For skirting boards, architrave, interior doors, panelling and architectural features such as dado rails and picture rails we would recommend following the below steps when beginning a project.

Woodwork tends to attract more dirt than walls so ensure you clean the surface before painting. Use a small amount of detergent wet ‘n’ dry abrasive paper to clean and sand the surface at the same time.

1. Protect the floor with newspaper or cardboard, using masking tape to secure it at the edges.
2. Ensure any old flaking paint is entirely removed and fill any surface abrasions and sand them to a smooth finish. The paint will provide a beautiful finish but it isn’t capable of concealing cracks and holes.
3. Previously painted woodwork in good condition should be sanded back to provide a key, this is particularly important for glossy finishes. If the surface is consistent, no other undercoats should be require, otherwise apply one coat of Little Greene Intelligent ASP.
4. Use a small brush to apply paint at the extremities of the surface and into any intricate mouldings, taking care not to let paint pool in crevices where it will slowly sag or drip while it dries.
5. Larger areas are efficiently covered with the use of a small foam roller or bigger brush, depending on scale. A popular way of painting woodwork is to use a roller to efficiently apply the paint, and a brush to ‘lay-off’ the surface while the paint is still wet. This avoids the orange-peel effect associated with overly-hasty paint application, or too long a nap (of the roller!).