A workshop
with a site diary.
Aone Decorations Ltd has been finishing London interiors since 2009. Thirty-four people, one Bermondsey workshop, and a stubborn preference for doing the slow parts slowly.
We started because two decorators got tired of being asked to paint over things worth saving.
The company grew out of a run of Victorian terraces in south London where the brief, every time, was to make the room look new. What kept happening instead was that something original turned up under the paint — a cornice, a grain, a scheme of colour nobody had seen in a century.
Sixteen years later that instinct is the business model. We take the work where the difficult answer is the right one: the cornice that can be recovered rather than replaced, the column that can be conserved rather than clad, the wall that needs seven coats rather than two.
It makes us slower to quote and harder to beat on quality. It also means our average client comes back — 41% of last year’s contracts were repeat or referred.
Four things we will not compromise on.
The substrate decides everything
A finish is only as good as what sits under it. We spend an uncomfortable proportion of every project on preparation, and we will tell you when a wall needs work you were not expecting.
Sample before you commit
Colour and sheen behave differently in every room. Nothing goes to full application before you have stood in front of a board, in your own light, at the hour you actually use the room.
The same hands throughout
We do not subcontract the decorative trades. The person who runs your cornice on week two is the person who runs it on week six, which is the only way a long run stays consistent.
Reversible where it matters
On listed and heritage work we use breathable, reversible, conservation-grade methods as standard — because the next generation of work on that building should not have to undo ours.
The short version.
- 2009
Founded as a two-person specialist painting outfit working out of a lock-up in Deptford.
- 2013
First heritage commission: lime plaster repair to a Grade II* stair hall in Bloomsbury.
- 2017
Bermondsey workshop opened, bringing joinery and spray finishing in house.
- 2021
First hospitality package delivered on a live, trading hotel floor.
- 2024
Conservation team formed; scagliola and photogrammetry capability added.
- 2025
£12m delivered across 41 contracts, with a team of 34.
16
Years in practice
Trading since 2009
340+
Interiors completed
London and the South East
£12m
Delivered in 2025
Across 41 contracts
24
Month defects cover
On every contract
- 01
Survey
We visit, measure, and look at what is actually there — substrate, moisture, movement, light. You get a written condition note whether or not you go ahead with us.
- 02
Specification
A line-by-line specification with materials named, quantities stated and a programme attached. No provisional sums hiding the difficult parts.
- 03
Samples
Every decorative finish is sampled on site, in your light, at a size large enough to judge. Nothing goes to full application before you have signed a board.
- 04
Execution
One site manager, one labour team, weekly photographic progress. Protection goes down before tools come out and stays down until the last coat is cured.
- 05
Handover
Joint snagging inspection, O&M pack, aftercare notes for each finish, and a 24-month defects period that we actually answer the phone during.
Come and see the workshop.
We are at Unit 4, Bankside Works, 118 Southwark Street, London SE1 0SW. If you are specifying a finish, it is worth an hour with the sample library before you commit.
Arrange a visit→