Painters and decorators · Woolton, south Liverpool · since 1998
The room stays. The colour changes.
Walls, ceilings, cornices and sash windows for the Victorian and Edwardian houses of Woolton, Allerton and Mossley Hill. A fixed price per room, and dust sheets down before a lid comes off.
- 4.9 from 212 Google reviews
- Fixed price per room
- Two-year guarantee
A Woolton firm
Priced by the room, not by the hour.
Most of our work is in the big houses between Menlove Avenue and Aigburth Road: high ceilings, deep cornices, sash windows with forty years of gloss on them, and lime plaster that does not want vinyl paint. We price every room before we start, in writing, and that is what you pay.
We are four people, with a shop on Quarry Street in the village. You will meet the person who paints your room before the day they start.
- Years decorating south Liverpool
- 28
- Rooms painted, give or take
- 3,100
- Guarantee on interior work
- 2 yrs
- From 212 Google reviews
- 4.9
What we do
Inside and out, cornice to front door.
Everything a period house needs from a decorator, done by the four of us. We do not subcontract, so the person who quoted is the person who turns up.
-
Interior decorating
Walls, ceilings and woodwork, two full coats over proper preparation. Furniture moved, covered and put back where it was.
From £420 a room -
Halls, stairs and landings
The tall Victorian stairwell is the hardest room in the house. We bring our own tower and stair platform, so nobody balances a ladder on a step.
From £1,350 -
Cornices and ceiling roses
Old distemper washed off rather than painted over, clogged detail picked out, cracks raked and filled. The pattern comes back.
From £180 -
Wallpaper hanging
Lining paper first on old plaster, then the paper you have chosen, matched at every join and around every awkward corner.
From £32 a roll -
Sash windows
Sashes eased, old paint cut back from the runners, sills made good and painted so they open again in June.
From £75 a window -
Exterior masonry and woodwork
Fascias, bargeboards, bay windows and front doors, and breathable masonry paint on render that has to let a wall dry out.
From £2,850 -
Kitchen cabinet spraying
Doors taken to our spray shop, frames sprayed in place under full masking. A new-looking kitchen in about five days.
From £1,650 -
Colour consultations
An hour in your house with the light you actually have, large painted sample boards, and a written scheme room by room.
£95, refunded on the job
Period plasterwork
Before the paint, the pattern comes back.
- 01
Washed, not painted over
Most cornices in south Liverpool are under a century of soft distemper. Paint over it and it flakes off within a year, so we soak it and wash it off first.
- 02
The detail picked out
Clogged leaves and beads are cleared with dental picks and soft brushes, a few inches at a time, until the pattern is sharp again.
- 03
Cracks raked and filled
Raked out and filled with a lime-based filler that moves with the old plaster instead of cracking beside it.
- 04
A paint that breathes
Soft distemper or a breathable mineral matt on lime plaster, so the ceiling can still dry out after a hot bath upstairs.
Fixed prices per room
What a room costs in south Liverpool, 2026.
Starting points for the houses we usually work in. After we have seen the room you get one fixed price for it, in writing, with materials, VAT and the tidying up included.
- Prices include VAT and paint
- Day rate for odd jobs: £240
- No deposit on jobs under £2,000
- Quotes are free and written down
-
Box room or small bedroom
from £420
Walls, ceiling and woodwork, two coats, materials included.
-
Double bedroom, Edwardian height
from £560
As above, with the picture rail and one sash window inside.
-
Front room, Victorian height
from £780
Ceilings over three metres, cornice washed and picked out, two sashes.
-
Hall, stairs and landing
from £1,350
Our tower and stair platform included. Spindles and handrail priced separately.
-
Kitchen
from £480
Walls, ceiling and woodwork in a scrubbable finish. Cabinets are a separate job.
-
Bathroom
from £360
Moisture-resistant paint, mould treated first, sealant renewed.
-
Feature wall in wallpaper
from £260
Lined first, then hung and matched. Paper is yours or ours at cost.
-
Kitchen cabinet spray, about 20 doors
from £1,650
Doors sprayed in our shop, frames in place, five working days.
-
Sash window, outside
from £160
Cut back, filled, primed and two coats, sill made good.
-
Front door and frame, outside
from £220
Rubbed down to a sound base, two coats of gloss or eggshell.
-
Exterior of a semi-detached house
from £2,850
Masonry, fascias, bargeboards, windows and doors. Access towers included.
-
Colour consultation
£95
An hour on site, sample boards and a written scheme. Refunded if we do the work.
Room calculator
How much paint, and what will it cost?
Put in a room. You get the litres and tins if you are doing it yourself, and our guide price if you would rather we did.
Recent rooms
Six rooms from this year, and what went on the walls.
Every job ends with a card of the colours we used, left in the house for the next touch-up.
-
Allerton · Off Allerton Road Victorian front room in Calderstones Green, cornice washed out and picked out in white. -
Woolton · Church Road Sitting room in Menlove Putty with the doors in Mersey Slate. Two sashes eased and painted. -
Mossley Hill · Rose Lane Main bedroom, dark green walls with the sash frames painted out in off-white. -
Childwall · Score Lane Guest room lined and papered in a textured blue-green, woodwork in a warm white. -
Calderstones · Harthill Road Shaker kitchen sprayed sage green in our shop. New handles, same cabinets. -
Wavertree · Off Picton Road Two front doors on a terrace, one navy and one red, and the fanlight frames picked out.
Outside
The street sees the outside first.
Fascias, bargeboards, bay windows, railings and front doors, and breathable masonry paint on render that has to let the wall dry out. In the Woolton and Gateacre conservation areas we check the guidance on colours and doors before we quote.
- Access towers included, scaffold priced in the quote
- Booked April to October, in dry weeks
- Semi-detached from £2,850
Kitchen cabinet spraying
Same kitchen, new colour, five days.
Doors and drawer fronts go to our spray shop in the village and come back with a factory finish. The frames are sprayed in place under full masking, with the windows open and an extractor running, so the house does not smell of paint.
- Day 1 Doors off and labelled, kitchen masked
- Day 2 Everything degreased, keyed and primed
- Days 3 and 4 Two coats, in the shop and in place
- Day 5 Doors back on, handles fitted, hinges adjusted
From £1,650 for about twenty doors and drawer fronts.
Colour consultations
Choose it in your own light, not the shop’s.
A colour that looks right on a card under the lights on Allerton Road can look very different in a north-facing room in Childwall. Rosa brings painted boards the size of a tea tray, and you live with them for a few days.
£95 for an hour, boards and a written scheme. Refunded if we do the work.
Book a consultation- No. 14 Calderstones Green
- No. 03 Woolton Sandstone
- No. 21 Menlove Putty
- No. 09 Mersey Slate
- No. 17 Gateacre Ochre
- No. 06 Allerton Rose
How we work
Most of the job is the part you do not see.
- 01
A look, and a written price
We come round, measure, look closely at the plaster and the woodwork, and send a fixed price per room within two days.
Within the week - 02
Colour, if you want help
Painted sample boards the size of a tea tray, moved round the room through a day, so you choose in your own light.
Optional, £95 - 03
Dust sheets before lids come off
Floors covered wall to wall in cotton sheets, furniture wrapped, doorways and stairs protected. Every day, not just the first.
Day one - 04
The preparation is the job
Filling, sanding with extraction, washing down, priming bare wood and mist-coating new plaster. Most of our time goes here.
Most of the week - 05
Two full coats, cut in by hand
No tape lines on the ceiling, no roller marks in the light. The room hoovered and the furniture back where it was.
Last day
Reviews
What south Liverpool says once the sheets are up.
- ★★★★★
Our stairwell is nearly four metres high and two firms said they would need scaffold. These came with a tower and a platform that fitted the stairs, and finished in six days.
Clare, Woolton
Hall, stairs and landing · May 2026
- ★★★★★
The cornice had about ten coats of paint on it and you could not tell it was grapes and leaves. Now you can. The fixed price was the price.
Imran and Beth, Allerton
Front room and cornice · February 2026
- ★★★★★
I was going to paint the whole house magnolia again. The sample boards talked me into Gateacre Ochre in the kitchen and I smile every morning.
Joan, Gateacre
Colour consultation · November 2025
- ★★★★★
Eleven sashes that had been painted shut for as long as we have lived here. They all open now, and they look smart from the street.
Phil, Mossley Hill
Sash windows · August 2025
- ★★★★★
Five days, no smell in the house, and the doors look factory new. Far cheaper than the new kitchen we were quoted for.
Aoife, Aigburth
Kitchen spray · March 2026
- ★★★★★
Tidy, polite, on time every morning, and they swept the path every night. The neighbours have asked for their number.
Ken, Hunts Cross
Exterior · September 2025
Who will be in your house
- Martin CalderDecorator since 1998. Does every survey and most of the cornices.
- Rosa HughesColour consultant and paper hanger. The Hue in the name.
- Dan OkaforDecorator. Sash windows, exteriors and the tower.
- Lauren CalderOffice and diary. Answers the phone and the form.
Fully insured, £5m public liability · Painting and Decorating Association member · Two-year guarantee on interiors · Licensed waste carrier
Where we work
South Liverpool, about a quarter of an hour from Woolton.
- Woolton Home Sandstone cottages and villas, a conservation area round the village.
- Gateacre 5 min The village green and its conservation area, Georgian and Victorian.
- Hunts Cross 6 min Thirties semis and newer houses, a lot of exteriors.
- Calderstones 7 min Big Edwardian houses around the park and down Harthill Road.
- Allerton 8 min Edwardian semis either side of Allerton Road and Menlove Avenue.
- Childwall 9 min Interwar semis off Queens Drive, and the old church.
- Mossley Hill 10 min Tall Victorian villas, the highest ceilings we paint.
- Aigburth 12 min Sefton Park edges, Lark Lane terraces, Cressington and Grassendale Parks.
- Wavertree 12 min Victorian terraces off Picton Road and the High Street.
Further afield, Garston, Belle Vale or Halewood? Ask. For a whole house we will travel.
Do you really give a fixed price per room?
Yes. After we have seen the room we send a price for it in writing, with what is included. If we find something we could not have seen, such as plaster coming away behind old paper, we stop and tell you before doing anything extra.
My house is in a conservation area. Does that matter for painting?
Inside, almost never. Outside, the Woolton, Gateacre and Cressington and Grassendale Park conservation areas have guidance on front doors, windows and masonry colours, and some houses have an Article 4 direction. We check before we quote and keep to it.
Can you paint over old lime plaster with ordinary emulsion?
It is the most common mistake we are called back to fix. Vinyl emulsion seals the surface, the wall cannot dry out, and the paint blisters. On lime plaster we use a breathable mineral or clay paint, and the calculator on this page prices it.
How much mess will there be?
Very little. We sheet floors wall to wall and wrap furniture every day, sand with dust extraction, and hoover before we leave each evening. You can usually live in the rest of the house as normal.
Do you supply the paint?
Usually, at trade price, and it is in the quote. If you have a particular brand or colour in mind we are happy to use it; tell us when you book so we can order it.
How far ahead are you booked?
Typically four to six weeks for interiors, longer in spring and summer for exteriors. Small jobs sometimes fit in sooner, so ask.
Fixed quotes, free
Tell us about the rooms.
We reply the same working day with a time to come and look.
- Office0151 496 0418
- Mobile and text07700 900 362
- Emailhello@calderandhue.co.uk
- The shop, colour cards and samples 18 Quarry Street, Woolton, Liverpool L25 6HE
Open Monday to Friday, 8 to 5:30
| Monday | 8am to 5:30pm |
|---|---|
| Tuesday | 8am to 5:30pm |
| Wednesday | 8am to 5:30pm |
| Thursday | 8am to 5:30pm |
| Friday | 8am to 5pm |
| Saturday | 9am to 12pm, colour consultations |
| Sunday | Closed |
Thank you. That is with us.
Lauren will ring you back today to find a time to come and look.
Reference CH-2610