Painting Doors, Skirtings and Architraves in St Kilda Homes

Walls get the attention in an interior repaint, but it is the trim that people touch, kick and bump every day. Doors, skirtings, architraves, window frames and picture rails are where paint chips first, where dirty handprints collect, and where a cheap job shows most. In St Kilda's Victorian and Edwardian terraces, and in the interwar Art Deco flats around Elwood and Balaclava, the trim is also part of the character of the house. Getting it right is slow, careful work, and it usually takes as long as the walls.

Enamel, water-based or solvent-based

Trim takes an enamel, a hard, washable paint in a semi-gloss or gloss finish. There are two families. Traditional solvent-based enamels flow out beautifully, level brush marks well and dry very hard. Their drawbacks are strong fumes, slow drying, and yellowing: whites and pale colours gradually turn cream, most noticeably in rooms with little daylight, such as hallways and behind doors.

Water-based enamels have improved a great deal. They stay white, dry faster, have far less odour and clean up with water, which matters when you are living in the house during the work. They can be slightly less forgiving to apply and need good technique to avoid brush marks, but for most St Kilda interiors a quality water-based enamel is now our default for trim. It suits occupied homes, apartments with shared corridors, and anyone who wants white skirtings to stay white.

Painting over old oil enamel

Most period homes have decades of solvent-based enamel on their trim. Water-based paint will not bond reliably straight over a glossy oil finish, so the surface has to be cleaned, sanded to break the gloss and primed with an adhesion primer suited to the job. Skip that step and the new paint can scratch or peel off in sheets, particularly on door edges and skirtings that take knocks.

Lead paint on older trim

Trim is the most likely place in an older St Kilda home to find lead paint. Many layers of enamel on skirtings, doors and window frames date from before 1970, when lead-based paints were common. Dry sanding them creates dust that is a genuine hazard, especially for children and pregnant people. Before any sanding we assess older trim, and where lead is likely, preparation is done with wet sanding, dust containment and careful clean-up. Our guide to lead paint in pre-1970 St Kilda homes covers what that involves.

Preparation, which is most of the job

Good trim work is almost entirely preparation. Surfaces are washed to remove grease and grime, especially on door edges and around handles. Loose and flaking paint is scraped back and edges are feathered so they do not show. Dents and gouges are filled, gaps between skirting and wall are caulked, and everything is sanded smooth and dusted off before priming. On a door that has been painted many times, built-up paint on the edges may need stripping back so the door still closes cleanly.

Period mouldings

Victorian and Edwardian skirtings can be very deep and heavily profiled, and architraves often carry ornate mouldings, corner blocks and plinths. Old paint builds up in those profiles and softens the detail. On a heritage repaint we sometimes strip the worst-affected sections to bring the crisp lines back, and we always brush rather than roll into the mouldings. Four-panel and six-panel doors are painted in a set order, panels and mouldings first and then rails and stiles, so the brush strokes follow the timber and no drying edges show.

Timing with a wall repaint

Trim and walls are usually painted together, and the order matters. The usual sequence is ceilings, then walls, then trim last, so the final enamel line against the wall is crisp and any wall paint that lands on the trim is covered. If only the trim is being done, the walls need careful masking and cutting in, and a fresh white skirting next to an old scuffed wall can make the wall look worse, so it is worth considering both together.

Enamels also need time. Doors can be touch-dry within hours but take much longer to fully harden, so we advise keeping doors propped open and avoiding knocking furniture into fresh skirtings for several days.

Colour choices

White or off-white trim is the St Kilda standard, and it suits both terraces and Deco flats. The key is choosing a white that sits well with the wall colour, a warm white with warm walls and a cleaner white with cool greys. Some heritage schemes use a darker trim colour or stained and varnished timber, and in those cases it is worth checking whether the original finish is worth restoring rather than painting over.

Getting it done

Trim painting is part of our Interior Painting service, and in older homes with original joinery it sits within our Heritage & Period-Home Repaints work. If you are preparing a property between tenants, see our guide to painting a rental property in St Kilda, where durable trim finishes make a real difference.

If you are in St Kilda, Elwood, Balaclava, St Kilda East or Middle Park and your doors and skirtings are chipped, yellowed or tired, send us a few photos and we will quote the trim on its own or as part of a full interior repaint.