Fit-out and refurbishment

Decorating a reception and meeting room refurbishment

A reception and meeting room suite is often refurbished on its own, separate from the wider office, because it's the space visitors judge the business by. That makes finish quality and neatness at every edge more important here than almost anywhere else in the building.

Freshly painted office reception wall with a precise masked edge against a glazed partition frame

Reception as the first impression

Reception walls take close scrutiny from waiting visitors with nothing else to look at, so surface preparation and an even, unbroken sheen matter more here than in back-of-house areas where the same defect would go unnoticed. Feature walls, branded colour blocks and any signage backdrop usually get a dedicated specification of their own.

Level 5 finish or equivalent smoothness on prominent feature walls
Branded colour matched precisely rather than to the nearest standard reference
Sheen level chosen to reduce glare under reception lighting

Meeting room glazed partition frame protected with tape ahead of wall painting

Glazed partition edges in meeting rooms

Where painted plasterboard meets a glazed partition frame, the paint line needs to sit crisply against the frame with no bridging onto the glass or visible undercoat showing through a thin final coat. This junction is one installers and decorators need to agree before either trade starts, since whoever goes second inherits the tolerance of whoever went first.

Working around continued office use

Reception and meeting rooms often need to stay partly operational during their own refurbishment, with visitors still arriving and calls still happening nearby. Screening the working area, using low-odour products and timing noisier preparation for quieter parts of the day keeps the rest of the office functioning.

How we work on this

We specify a smoother finish standard on prominent reception walls than on back-of-house areas.
We agree partition junction detail with the glazing installer before either trade starts that wall.
We screen and phase noisy preparation to protect continued reception use.

Questions we are asked about this

Can reception stay open to visitors during the work?

Often yes with careful screening, though a short full closure for the messiest preparation stage is usually quicker and tidier than working around a live desk the whole time.

How do you match a brand colour exactly?

From a supplied brand guideline reference or a physical sample, matched and tinted before ordering the full quantity, checked against the sample under the room's actual lighting.

What finish do you recommend at a glazed partition edge?

A crisp masked line against the frame with the frame protected throughout, rather than trying to cut in freehand against glass.

Send your brand colour reference and reception floor plan and we will spec the finish room by room.

Get a quote Call 023 9355 3460

Where this comes up locally

Chichester Petersfield Romsey

More on this kind of work

Final clean and defects periodDecorating involvement doesn't end at handover — final clean and the defects period both need the original record close at hand.Reveals and edges around glazed partitionsGlazed partitions turn narrow painted returns into the most visible surfaces in the room, so they need sequencing and preparation of their own.Timber decking and balcony soffits by the seaOn coastal decking and balconies, the underside usually fails first, so it needs its own inspection and its own coating.Harbour-facing shopfrontsA harbourfront shopfront needs a tougher stallriser finish, a UV-stable fascia colour and a schedule built around trading hours.

Reception and meeting rooms carry more visual scrutiny than the rest of the office, and the spec should reflect that.

Start your project

Planning a commercial painting or decorating project?

Speak to a Hampshire commercial decorating contractor that turns up, communicates clearly and delivers a finish that lasts.

Request a quote 023 9355 3460