High-end painters & decorators since 1959
Heritage-trade interior and exterior painting across the UK. Period homes, listed properties, hospitality, retail, schools and public-sector estates.
Borthwick Decorators are family-run painters and decorators with 65 years of craft, working on residential, commercial and public-sector property throughout the UK.
65 years of painting and decorating
Family-run since 1959. We work on residential homes and commercial premises throughout the UK — from a full interior redecoration of a Georgian townhouse to a programme-managed repaint of a hotel, school or council estate.
Three generations on the tools
Borthwick Decorators is a family firm. Three generations of decorators, six decades in the trade, and a 4.9/5 average across 175+ verified reviews. We are one of the longest-established painting and decorating businesses in the UK still owned by the family that founded it.
When the work matters — a listed townhouse, a hotel reopening, a school holiday programme — clients tell us they want the firm that will still be here in twenty years. That is the offer.
The work splits across three groups
Residential. Listed and period homes, country estates, family homes, tenement flats, apartment blocks, kitchens, exteriors.
Commercial. Hotels, restaurants, shops, offices, churches, schools, museums, galleries, healthcare and retirement homes.
Public sector. Council and government buildings, social housing, education estates, hospitality fit-outs.
What you get on every job
A written specification. A fixed programme. Hand-cut lines. The right paint system for the substrate. Dust-controlled preparation. And a decorator on the tools — not a project manager in a hi-vis.
The same standard whether the job is one room, one tenement close, or a fifty-room hotel.
Accreditations and paint systems
CHAS, SafeContractor, SMAS, PDA (Painting and Decorating Association), SDF (Scottish Decorators Federation), PPG Trade Elite. IPAF and PASMA for access work. PAL licensed. £10 million public liability cover. Annual independent assessment to every accreditation we hold.
We are specified by interior designers and architects for Farrow & Ball, Little Greene, Paint & Paper Library, Dulux Trade and Sikkens. We hold trade accounts with all of them. For exteriors we work with mineral systems (Keim, Beeck) for breathable substrates and with PPG Trade Elite for industrial and commercial coatings.
What we paint and decorate
Interior painting and decorating
Period homes, listed property, family homes, tenement and apartment blocks. Hand-cut lines, dust-controlled prep, low-VOC finishes.
Exterior painting
Sandstone, render, harling, joinery. Mineral systems for breathable substrates; PPG Trade Elite for industrial coatings.
Wallpaper hanging and murals
Hand-trimmed standard rolls, wide vinyls, and bespoke murals. Lining paper and substrate prep where the wall warrants it.
Hand-painted kitchen cabinets
Brush + spray hybrid finish for in-situ kitchen repaints. Solid lacquer system, hardware refit, full reassembly.
Spray painting
Airless and HVLP for joinery, doors, frames, larger interior elements and commercial mass-finish work.
Decorative finishes
Venetian and polished plaster, bespoke wall coatings. Sample boards before specification on every job.
Industrial coatings
Epoxy floor and wall coatings, fire-retardant systems, hygienic coatings for food-production, healthcare and education.
Exterior prep services
Jet washing, gutter clearing, render repair, masonry repointing prep — ready for the coating system.
A family firm in its third generation
Borthwick Decorators has been owned by the same family since 1959. Three generations of decorators have worked under the same name, and we are now one of the longest-established painting and decorating businesses in the UK still in family ownership.
That continuity matters when the work is on heritage property. Mineral paints, traditional joinery, Conservation Officer protocols, sandstone substrate diagnosis — the techniques are not learned in a year. They are taught from one decorator to the next over decades.
Our customer base is split roughly evenly between residential homeowners (often via interior designers or architects), property factors and management companies, hospitality operators, education and public-sector estates. The range is wide; the standard is consistent.
For work outside, our exterior painting service covers masonry, render and harling, window frames, fascias and soffits.
Common questions
Do you work UK-wide or only in Scotland?
Both. We have offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth, Stirling, Fife, Dundee and London, and we take on commercial and high-end residential work throughout the UK. Travel and accommodation are built into the quote.
Are you suitable for listed and Conservation Area work?
Yes. We work to Conservation Officer requirements and have a long catalogue of listed-property projects — sandstone tenements, Georgian townhouses, Victorian villas, churches and castles. Mineral paints and traditional finishes where the building demands them.
What does “programme-managed” actually mean for a commercial job?
A written programme with phased dates, off-trading-hours working where the building requires it, RAMS supplied in advance, daily progress reports, and a named lead decorator on site every day. CHAS, SafeContractor and SMAS gate the H&S side.
Do you supply paint samples and sample boards?
Yes — we expect to. We hold trade accounts with Farrow & Ball, Little Greene, Paint & Paper Library, Dulux Trade and Sikkens, and we sample-board the specification on site before any large area goes on the wall.
UK-wide — with offices in seven regions
We have offices in Edinburgh (HQ), London, Glasgow, Perth, Stirling, Dundee and Fife, and we take on commercial and high-end residential work throughout the UK. Below: a starting point for browsing what we do and where we do it.
- Edinburgh
- London
- Glasgow
- Perth
- Perthshire & Kinross-shire
- Stirling
- Central Scotland
- Dundee
- Fife
- East Lothian
Accreditations & memberships
Public liability insurance to £10 million.