Here’s a fun game: go into your Canary Wharf flat, run your finger along the top of a doorframe, and see what comes back. Dust? Old paint flakes? A weird greasy residue that’s probably been there since the last tenant moved out three years ago?
Now imagine what the person you’ve just hired to “give the walls a quick coat” is going to do about that. Spoiler: absolutely nothing. They’ll slap emulsion over it, pocket your money, and six months later you’ll be staring at paint that’s already peeling because nobody bothered with the prep work.
I’ve spent a decade painting flats across E14, and I can tell you the difference between a proper interior paint job and a bodge is about three hours of boring work that most painters skip. The tedious stuff. The prep. The cutting in. The second coat you can’t really see the point of until two years later when your mate’s place looks knackered and yours still looks fresh.
Let’s talk about what actually goes into painting the inside of an E14 property properly.
Why E14 Interiors Need Different Treatment
Your average painter rocks up with the same approach they’d use in Wimbledon or Clapham: bit of sugar soap, quick sand, couple of coats, done. That might work in a Victorian terrace with solid brick walls and decent airflow.
It doesn’t work in E14.
The riverside moisture problem: Anything near the Thames holds moisture differently. Your bathroom in Isle of Dogs is fighting a completely different battle to a bathroom in Hampstead. The air’s damper. Windows steam up faster. That corner behind the toilet where nobody looks? It’s probably got early stage mould starting right now.
The high rise ventilation issue: Modern Canary Wharf flats are sealed tight for energy efficiency, which is brilliant for your heating bill and terrible for air circulation. Moisture gets trapped. Paint that would dry in four hours elsewhere takes six. If your painter doesn’t know this and closes up the windows to keep the heating on while working, you’re going to get problems.
The mixed building stock: You’ve got brand new developments with plasterboard walls next to 1990s conversions with different substrates entirely. Each needs different primer, different paint, different techniques. A painter who treats them all the same is guessing, not working.
Room by Room: What Actually Matters
Living Rooms and Bedrooms
These are the straightforward ones, except when they’re not.
The light situation: Canary Wharf towers have either massive floor to ceiling windows or relatively small ones, depending on which building and which floor. This completely changes how paint looks. That lovely soft grey you picked from the sample card? In a south facing 15th floor flat with wall to wall glass, it’s going to look completely different at 3pm than it does at 8am.
Decent interior painters know this. They’ll warn you. They might even suggest testing a larger patch and living with it for a few days before committing to the whole room. Cowboys just paint what you tell them to paint, then act surprised when you’re disappointed.
The prep work nobody sees: There’s always something. Nail holes from the previous tenant’s pictures. Scuffs from furniture being moved. That weird textured bit where someone tried to fix a crack themselves and made it worse. A proper interior job means dealing with all of this before paint goes anywhere near the wall.
Kitchens
Kitchens are where you separate the professionals from the chancers.
Grease is the enemy: Even in the cleanest flat, there’s a invisible film of cooking grease on kitchen walls. Paint over it without proper degreasing and the new paint won’t adhere properly. It’ll look fine for a month, then start going patchy.
The solution is boring and involves a lot of sugar soap or TSP solution and actual elbow grease. Most painters can’t be bothered. We can be bothered, because we don’t want your call six months later saying the kitchen looks rubbish.
The splashback question: Some people want the area behind the hob painted. Some want tiles. If you’re painting, it needs specific paint that can handle heat and cleaning. Using standard emulsion behind a hob is asking for trouble.
Bathrooms
This is where E14’s riverside location becomes a proper consideration.
Mould isn’t just ugly, it’s a symptom: I can’t count how many E14 bathrooms I’ve seen where someone’s painted over mould spots. It looks fine for about three weeks. Then the mould comes back through, darker than before, because painting over mould doesn’t kill mould. It just hides it temporarily.
The right approach: treat the mould properly first with a fungicidal wash. Let it dry completely. Then use proper bathroom paint with anti mould properties, not standard emulsion that you’ve convinced yourself will be fine.
Ventilation is everything: Isle of Dogs flats, Limehouse properties, anything near the water needs extra attention to ventilation. If your bathroom doesn’t have great airflow, the paint choice becomes even more important. This is where having a painter who knows E14 specifically saves you money in the long run.
A Real Project: The Landmark Pinnacle Situation
Let me tell you about a two bed flat on the 38th floor of Landmark Pinnacle we painted last year.
The client called because their living room wall looked streaky. They’d had it painted six months earlier by someone cheap. The paintwork looked fine initially but developed these odd patches where you could see through to the previous colour.
When I went to look, the problem was obvious. The previous tenant had painted one wall dark purple. The cheap painter had tried to cover it with two coats of light grey. That never works. You need primer first, specifically a stain blocking primer for dark colours.
But here’s where it got interesting. The bathroom had similar issues, but also early mould growth in the ceiling corners. The previous painter had just painted over it. Now it was showing through.
The living room also had these weird texture marks where the previous painter hadn’t bothered to fill minor imperfections. In an E14 high rise with massive windows, natural light shows up every single flaw.
What we did: Stripped back the bathroom ceiling to bare plaster in the affected areas. Treated with anti mould solution. Let it dry properly over two days. Sealed. Then painted with proper bathroom paint.
For the living room, we used stain blocking primer on the purple wall, filled every single little imperfection, sanded smooth, then applied two proper coats. The difference between cutting corners and doing it right was about six hours of extra work.
The result: a flat that still looks fresh now, nearly a year later. No streaks, no mould, no texture marks. The client’s gotten their deposit back from the landlord and had multiple viewings already. Proper interior painting pays for itself.
What Professional E14 Interior Painting Actually Involves
Let’s be specific about what you should expect.
Proper protection: Everything gets covered. Floors, furniture you can’t move, doorframes, light fixtures. This takes time to set up and take down. It’s also the sign of someone who cares about your property.
Surface preparation: This is where the actual skill comes in. Filling holes and cracks. Sanding smooth. Cleaning properly. Priming where needed. A professional interior painter spends more time on prep than actual painting.
Cutting in properly: The edges where walls meet ceiling, where walls meet doorframes, around light switches and sockets. This is detailed work that requires a steady hand and patience. Rushed cutting in looks terrible and there’s no fixing it except doing it again.
Multiple coats: Two coats minimum for walls, often three for ceilings. Anyone offering one coat is cutting corners. The second coat is where the finish comes together. It evens out the colour, builds proper coverage, and gives you a surface that will last.
Building management compliance: In Canary Wharf towers and other managed buildings, there are rules about working hours, protecting common areas, and service lift usage. Professional interior painters know these rules and follow them. You shouldn’t have to coordinate this yourself.
The Questions You Should Ask
When you’re vetting interior painters for your E14 property, here’s what matters:
How do they handle the specific room? If you mention your bathroom is in a riverside property and they don’t immediately talk about anti mould paint or proper treatment, they’re not thinking about your specific situation.
What prep work do they include? If the answer is vague or dismissive, walk away. Prep is everything. Anyone who says your walls are “fine as they are” without even looking properly isn’t serious.
How do they deal with building management? For Canary Wharf flats, this is non negotiable. If they haven’t worked in managed buildings before, they’re going to learn on your time and your budget.
Get It Done Properly
E14 interior painting isn’t complicated, but it does require someone who understands the specific challenges of Canary Wharf flats, Isle of Dogs properties, and riverside locations generally.
We paint interiors across E14, from studio flats to penthouses, new builds to older conversions. Every surface gets proper attention, every room gets treated according to its specific needs, and every building management requirement gets handled before we start.
Need your E14 flat painted properly? Get in touch.
Call or WhatsApp: 07507 226422
Email: hello@havenedge.co.uk
Website: www.havenedge.co.uk
CSCS certified, fully insured, and actually experienced with E14 properties. We know the difference between painting a flat properly and just making it look acceptable for the next three months.
Looking for expertise in specific rooms? We cover everything from kitchen updates to bathroom treatments, living room transformations to bedroom refreshes. All across Canary Wharf, Isle of Dogs, Poplar, and Limehouse.