Decorating the hall and stairs

I am the lady wot does in our house, and - if you want the honest truth - I don't think satinwood is going to wash as well as gloss, although I prefer the look of it.
Wash the spindles?? Oh heck, I do give mine a dust from time to time .....

I've sent off for several tester pots and if he can't use the ones I choose I shall cancel him.

Thank you so much for all your helpful suggestions, they are very much appreciated.

Unfortunately the woodwork is already painted so now it's a matter of choosing gloss or satinwood. As people run their hands along the handrail it gets grubby. Would satinwood wash as well as gloss I wonder? and would the spindles not get dirty too and take more cleaning. My lady wot does might not appreciate washing them down every five minutes if that is the case and my days of washing paint are long gone.

And naked?

No, it was third time lucky for us me with the colour for the hall, stairs and landing.
Unfortunately the first choice was a full pot not a tester, so we will have to mix it with a couple of other colours and use it somewhere else.

Actually I think he's a little Grecian God. Very handsome.

My hall mirror is a retro gold painted job. Highly decorated with a little cherub on the top. Got it in an antique junk shop. I love it!

You can't possibly choose from his limited range! False economy hiring him. Find someone else.

If you're anything like me, the first colour won't suit and you'll need to start over again with another lot.

Sounds a lovely house, but is it cold? Has it got stained glass in the hall?

Perhaps you can persuade the decorator to reduce his price and let you buy your own paints. Ours did that, although it was he who suggested satinwood for the woodwork.

We've just gone from a darker colour below and light on top to a lighter emulsion all over the walls and satinwood on the woodwork.
It has brightened everywhere up considerably; we were going to change the carpet but it was an expense too far so still have a dark red carpet.

Our house is newer than yours though phizz (and probably not elegant, although I am looking for an elegant mirror for the hall ).

Phizz - you can't possibly choose paint from a colour chart. A tester pot lets you see the real paint colour, especially in different lights.
Perhaps decorator gets his Dulux paint at one price.....and charges you another price - a wee bonus !!

I've found a decorator but he wants me to use his Dulux trade paints, which means I have to choose from a thumbnail sized colour. He quoted me a very good price but I'm beginning to get fed up now. How on earth can one choose from such a small shade, I need tester pots to get some idea.
Grrrrrr.

I loved some of the panel designs of the Lyncrusta but they would not have gone well up the stair part but been great on the straight bits. It is wonderfully strong stuff - I think we glued both the paper and the wall to make sure it was secure - but worth the effort. If you fancy the grey scheme there are a great many shades out there and some are towards the warm colouring as opposed to being very cold. DGD has had a colour called - Elephant's Breath - put on her house. _apparently very nice.( I suppose all OK as long as no smell to go with it!).

Try these suppliers. They have a lovely range of period paint suitable for your style and age of house.

I don't know what your budget is, but with a house that age definitely look at the lincruster. We used the panels of lincruster below dado rail and lincruster wallpaper above.

I've never used gloss before, just thought it would bounce the light a bit, although at the right time of day the hall is full of sunlight. I shall rethink that one...

Grey is very elegant and very fashionable among decorators at the moment - of course that fact in itself may put some people off!

I think it depends on whether or not you have a lot of light in the hallway or if it gets sunshine. We lived in a Victorian house and it did get sun. We had a plain deep red carpet but it was not a wine shade - rather leaned towards a terracotta - we also had a dado rail. Under the rail we put new Lyncrusta paper with a small leaf design - an expensive heavy quality one (£30 a roll 20 years ago) and painted that a soft yellow - Egyptian sand. Satinwood white dado and a very pale cream emulsion above the rail. We had high ceilings and a lovely chandelier in the front section. It was the most welcoming hall we had ever had - friends loved it so much they got a similar carpet and in our last house we also had a deep red carpet but the walls were more boring! I think the hall is where you can do what you really like as it a passing through space rather than a sit and look at it room.

It sounds warm and welcoming. What about an embossed paper under the data rail, painted in two different shades of the same colour above and below the rail? A darker colour below is very practical.

Satinwood is good for woodwork and there are some nice warm creams that could look good.

Have a look at some paint websites or Pinterest. Give you some good ideas. I wouldn't go for white gloss, go for a satinwood, not shiny, something like Dulux Timeless , which is a white, but not in your face white IYKWIM. A soft dove grey for the walls would be elegant.

Turkish Red , oooh , I love the sound of it all ! But not the white gloss - can you just varnish the wood the same shade as the wooden floor ? Keep in 1890's style ?
Have you looked at the site' Houzz' - they have fabulous ideas !