The Long Gallery at Hatfield House, looking down its length under the gilded ceiling — The Long Gallery, Hatfield House

Gilded foliate capital and gold stars on the blue painted vaults of the Speech Room, Harrow School — The Speech Room, Harrow School. Photograph: Paul Highnam

The South Drawing Room at Sir John Soane's Museum, walls glazed and stippled in Turner's Patent Yellow — The South Drawing Room, Sir John Soane’s Museum

The William Morris dining room at Palace Green, its frieze stencilled and gilded above green panelling — The William Morris dining room, Palace Green. Photograph: Boz Gagovski / REDD Real Estate

The dining and living rooms of a passive house in north London, walls finished in clay paint — A passive house in north London. Photograph: Matt Clayton

Decoration, gilding and conservation, London

Specialist heritage decorators, gilders and conservators

Gilding, decorative painting, fine decorating and conservation, for historic buildings, new houses and private residences.

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Kensington Palace · Hampton Court Palace · Harrow School · Hatfield House · Fishmongers’ Hall · The Travellers Club · Sir John Soane’s Museum · The Courtauld · Tiffany & Co

About Britain & Co

Britain & Co is a decoration, gilding and conservation practice in London, founded by Cathy Britain ACR and Chris Britain in 2015. It combines conservation training with decorative craft handed down through three generations. We work in listed buildings, museums, livery halls and churches, and in new and private houses. Based in London, we work across the south of England and on selected projects around the UK. We work with interior designers and architects, for owners and institutions, and as a specialist subcontractor to tier 1 main contractors. Finishes are sampled in the room and agreed with the designer before the work starts. We hold Constructionline Gold.

Selected work

Armorial panels in the Speech Room at Harrow School, cleaned, selectively regilded and glazed

The Speech Room, Harrow School

William Burges’s hall conserved, the armorial panels selectively regilded. Photograph: Paul Highnam

Fishmongers’ Hall

The entrance hall and corridor, with more than a thousand books of 23.5ct gold.

Sir John Soane’s Museum

The South Drawing Room’s Turner’s Patent Yellow returned to the room.

The Travellers Club

Charles Barry’s Coffee Room redecorated in its original colours, with new gilding and the original gold kept.

New joinery grained in a pale oak in the lobby of a new classical house in Wiltshire

A new classical house, Wiltshire

Panelling, doors and the lift doors grained in a pale oak, with limewash and glazed finishes.

The William Morris dining room at Palace Green: green panelling, a gilded and stencilled frieze and painted ceiling

Palace Green, Kensington

The William Morris dining room, painted, stencilled and gilded in 23.5 carat gold. Photograph: Boz Gagovski / REDD Real Estate

Kensington Palace

Queen Mary’s 1936 graining cleaned and retouched for Historic Royal Palaces.

A Passive House in North London

Walls finished in clay paint made from the earth of its own garden. Photograph: Matt Clayton

See more of our work

What we do

Gilded cornice enrichments above a red and gold Greek key in the entrance hall at Fishmongers' Hall

Gilding

Genuine gold and metal leaf in oil and water gilding, on ceilings, mouldings and exteriors, and on fixed frames, mirrors and gilded joinery in situ.

A pair of doors grained in flame mahogany at the Courtauld Gallery, Somerset House

Decorative art

Marbling, graining, stencilling, murals and trompe l’oeil, restored or newly made, with the specialist painted finishes that go with them.

Graining
Marbling
Stencilling
Trompe l’oeil
Murals and painted decoration
Specialist painted finishes

A painted panel in the Salisbury Chapel, St Etheldreda's, Hatfield, after cleaning and retouching

Conservation

Cleaning and repair of painted and gilded surfaces, paint analysis as the first stage of reinstating a lost scheme, and advice for listed buildings.

Conservation cleaning
Historic paint analysis
Reinstatement of decorative schemes
Gilding restoration
Murals

Walls, panelling and cornice in hand-applied warm brown limewash in a Westminster townhouse

Fine decorating

Fine and heritage decorating for historic and high-end interiors, including limewash, distemper, traditional paints and paperhanging.

Limewash and traditional paints
Paperhanging
Specialist painted finishes

The team

The work is done by our own team of specialist decorators and gilders, led on site by Lee Angel, our lead decorator. Laurence Britain-Cheng, our estimator and office manager, prepares estimates and programmes and handles the paperwork for clients and main contractors.

Cathy Britain ACR

Director. Icon-accredited Conservator-Restorer, in historic interiors since 2001, with a postgraduate diploma in building conservation from the Architectural Association; former Chair of the Traditional Paint Forum.

Chris Britain

Director. Master Decorator, the third generation of his family in the trade, awarded the Painter-Stainers’ Rose Bowl for the Silver Galleries at the V&A and a medal for the restoration of Windsor Castle.

About us

Credentials

Icon-accredited Conservator-RestorerCathy Britain ACR, Institute of Conservation
The Painter-Stainers’ Rose BowlChris Britain, for the Silver Galleries at the V&A
Freemen of the Painter-StainersCathy and Chris, the Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers
Windsor Castle restoration medalChris Britain, for the restoration after the fire
Traditional Paint ForumCathy Britain, former Chair
Building conservation, Architectural AssociationCathy Britain, postgraduate diploma; past lecturer for the SPAB, the AA and the RICS

Contact

Call or email us to arrange a visit, or send photographs and drawings for a price.

17 Cavendish Square, London W1G 0PH 020 7917 1724 · info@britaindecoration.com

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