The Progress Estate
Built in 1915 and once known as Well Hall Garden City, the Progress Estate is one of the best-known garden suburbs in London and is now a conservation area. Its cottage-style houses have steep roofs, roughcast or rendered walls and small-paned timber windows, with a deliberately varied but harmonious street scene. Exterior work here should respect that character. If you are thinking of changing a front door or window colour, check with the Royal Borough of Greenwich first. Inside, the rooms are modest, and careful work on doors, window boards and staircases keeps the cottage feel.
Edwardian houses on the Eltham Park Estate
The Eltham Park Estate was built between 1900 and 1914, and its Edwardian houses are full of joinery: panelled doors, deep skirting, moulded architraves, picture rails and turned staircase spindles. Woodwork like this often carries decades of gloss that has chipped and yellowed. Sanding, filling and priming before new coats bring the detail back. Staircases are often the centrepiece of the hall, and spindles and handrails take patient work. Our staircase and woodwork pages describe how we handle them.
Other conservation areas
Eltham Palace, Eltham Green and Well Hall Pleasaunce are also conservation areas. Houses in and around them may have their own expectations on exterior colours and materials, so it pays to ask before making changes.
Social, rented and communal housing
Across the Royal Borough, 31.0% of homes are socially rented and 25.5% are privately rented. That means plenty of empty-property decorating between tenancies and regular upkeep of shared hallways, stairwells and entrances in blocks. For voids, we work quickly with neutral, durable finishes and stain-blocking primers where needed. For communal areas, hard-wearing paints and, where useful, anti-vandal coatings help walls stay presentable longer.
The High Street and getting around
Eltham High Street has offices, shops and cafés that can be decorated in sections or out of hours by agreement. Avery Hill Park is close by. With the A2 and the South Circular passing through, parking and access vary a lot between streets, so let us know about restrictions when you enquire.
Halls and staircases
In Edwardian houses the hallway is often the showpiece, with a staircase of turned spindles, a moulded handrail and sometimes a tiled floor that needs protecting while we work. Spindles are sanded and painted one by one, and handrails get a hard-wearing finish. The tall wall above the stairs needs proper access equipment, which we plan on the first visit. Many people decorate hall, stairs and landing together so the colours run through.
Colour in cottage-style rooms
Progress Estate homes and other cottage-style houses have smaller rooms and windows than larger Edwardian homes, so colour choice changes how light the rooms feel. Soft, warm whites and gentle mid-tones often suit them, with woodwork picked out carefully.
Shared areas in blocks
Communal stairwells and entrances in blocks see heavy daily use. Durable paints on walls and handrails, stain blocking where needed, and anti-vandal coatings for problem areas help them stay presentable between visits.
Doors and windows in period homes
Many Edwardian and garden-suburb homes keep original panelled doors and timber windows. These are prepared carefully, with old runs and chips sanded smooth and bare timber primed, then finished in a paint suited to inside or outside joinery. Where timber has decayed, a joiner should repair it before we paint. Keeping original joinery in good order is one of the simplest ways to protect the character of these houses.
Arranging a quote
Eltham is within our working area of up to 40 miles from our base in Swanley. Send your postcode, a list of rooms and some photos, or call Eric on 07872 324935.