Newtown, Bucks County
Interior painting in Newtown, PA.
The borough's Queen Anne and Gothic Revival houses hide curved walls, steep ceilings and arched heads behind their turrets and gables. Each shape asks for its own preparation and a steady hand.
Interior painting for Newtown homes
Turrets, cross gables, steep roofs and arched windows are what people notice from the street, and each makes a room inside that is harder to paint than a square one. More than half of the borough's homes predate 1940, and a good many are the frame Queen Anne and Gothic Revival houses that filled the town east of State Street in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
A turret gives a room a curved wall. A steep roof and a cross gable give the upstairs rooms sloped ceilings that meet the walls at sharp angles, and an arched window needs an arched casing cut in by hand. None of it is unusual work, but all of it shows when it is done in a hurry.
Newtown
Curved turret walls and Gothic Revival gables
Curved plaster is unforgiving under paint. Light moves across a curve gradually, from bright to shadow, so a flat spot or an old patch breaks the gradient and shows from across the room. On the round turrets of the borough's Queen Anne houses the plaster has usually been patched more than once, and the curve has to be brought back before color goes on, checked by hand and eye as much as with a straightedge.
Gothic Revival rooms have their own demands: upstairs ceilings that follow a steep roof down to a short wall, a joint between them that tends to crack, and casings that curve over arched windows. Older still are the town houses of the Court Street core, built to the sidewalk, and the pre-1850 stone houses near Sycamore Street, plaster on masonry, not lath. Out in Newtown Township, about eight in ten homes date from 1980 on, and the work turns to drywall and builder trim.
Worth knowing
Flat on curves
On a curved wall, a flat or matte finish hides the small waves that any shine would pick out as the light wraps around it.
Arched casings
Arched window and door heads are cut in freehand, since a taped line on a curve tends to facet into short straight runs.
Township houses at middle age
Most Newtown Township homes were built in the 1980s and 1990s. At that age, settled seams and popped fasteners show under a fresh color unless they are fixed first.
The work
How the work goes
The same care on every job, in every town. The full guide to interior painting.
The walkthrough
Randy walks the rooms with you and looks at the walls in the light they actually get. He tells you plainly what they need, then puts it in writing. The walkthrough and the written estimate are complimentary.
Repairs first
Cracks, holes, nail pops and failing plaster are dealt with before anything else, and every patch is sanded flat. Paint doesn’t hide a poor patch; it shows it.
Primer where it’s needed
Patches, bare drywall and stains are primed. Joint compound takes up paint differently from a painted wall, and an unprimed patch can flash through the finish as a dull spot.
Finish coats
Ceilings, walls and trim are cut in and rolled or brushed, each in the sheen chosen for it. A big change of color takes more coats than a refresh, and the number is set by the wall, not the calendar.
Seen in the room’s own light
Before the drop cloths come up, the walls are looked at in the light the room really has, from its windows and its lamps. Low sun and lamplight show what an overhead work light hides.
Questions
Interior painting, Newtown.
Does Newtown Borough's review board look at interior paint colors?
No. The borough's HARB does not review interior changes, and it does not review colors on any project, inside or out. Its work is exterior changes that can be seen from a public street or sidewalk: additions, new materials and repairs that are not in kind.
Our township house still has the flat paint it was built with, and it marks easily. What should go on now?
Builder paint is often a flat finish throughout, which hides drywall seams but scuffs and resists washing. On a repaint, halls, stairs and family rooms can move to eggshell or a scrubbable matte while ceilings stay flat. Where the seams were relying on flat paint to hide them, a little sheen may reveal them, so those walls are checked in side light first.
Can a turret room take a deep color?
Yes, and a curved room often looks its most deliberate in one. A deep color does make the plaster work harder, though: it darkens the shadow side of the curve and shows any flat spot or patch, so the wall is brought back to an even curve and primed before the color goes on.
More in Newtown
Other services here.
- Level 5 drywall finishA skim coat over the entire surface, for walls that hold up under raking light and dark paint.
- Skim coatingRough, patched or uneven walls resurfaced smooth, often after wallpaper comes down.
- Plaster repairCracked, loose and failing plaster in older homes, repaired and made sound.
- Exterior paintingSiding, trim, porches, stucco and brick, prepared to stand up to Pennsylvania weather.
- Drywall installation & repairNew drywall hung, taped and finished; cracks, holes and water damage repaired invisibly.
- Drywall texture matching & removalTexture matched so repairs disappear, applied where you want it, or taken off for a smooth wall.
- Popcorn ceiling removalOld acoustic texture taken down and the ceiling finished smooth.
- Wallpaper removalOld wallpaper and wall linings stripped without tearing up the wall beneath.
- Wood stainingDecks, porch floors, doors and trim, inside and out, stained by hand.
Consultation
Request a private consultation.
Private walkthrough & written estimate, complimentary. Tell us a little about the house and the rooms, and Randy will be in touch to arrange a time.
- Hours
- Monday – Friday8:30 AM – 5:30 PMSaturday10 AM – 3 PMSundayClosed
- Service area
- Easton, Bethlehem, Allentown and the greater Lehigh Valley; Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
Fully insured — proof on request. Residential and commercial.